Review: Silver Shadows by Richelle Mead

Sydney Sage is an Alchemist, one of a group of humans who dabble in magic and serve to bridge the worlds of humans and vampires. They protect vampire secrets—and human lives.

In The Fiery Heart, Sydney risked everything to follow her gut, walking a dangerous line to keep her feelings hidden from the Alchemists.

Now in the aftermath of an event that ripped their world apart, Sydney and Adrian struggle to pick up the pieces and find their way back to each other. But first, they have to survive.
For Sydney, trapped and surrounded by adversaries, life becomes a daily struggle to hold on to her identity and the memories of those she loves. Meanwhile, Adrian clings to hope in the face of those who tell him Sydney is a lost cause, but the battle proves daunting as old demons and new temptations begin to seize hold of him. . . .

Their worst fears now a chilling reality, Sydney and Adrian face their darkest hour in this heart-pounding fifth installment in the New York Times bestselling Bloodlines series, where all bets are off

Kerry-Mae's Review - 5 out of 5 Stars

I was going to do this review along with the ones that Shona and Claire posted back in August, but I was still trying to come to terms with all the twists and surprises contained with this book. Now my brain (and heart) have finally gotten over it here is my review of Silver Shadows.

I've Richelle Mead's books since I persuaded my dad to buy me the first Vampire Academy book way back in high school. Since then I've read every book in the series and its spinoff Bloodlines on the day that they were released. Silver Shadows was no exception. I started reading it as soon as I got up (it was automatically loaded on my Kobo thanks to preordering) and I didn't stop until I had devoured it entirely about four hours later. So clearly it was a pretty good book. After the cliff-hanger ending of the previous book, Fiery Heart, fans have been desperate to find out what happens to their favourite fictional couple Sydney Sage and Adrian Ivashkov, dubbed 'Sydrian' by Mead's large fan base. Much of the book focuses on the heart breaking separation of the couple, with Sydney trapped in 're-education' and Adrian struggling to hold it together back home and desperately searching for any clue to his girlfriend's location. 

There's not really a lot I can say about this book without giving away spoilers, so I'm just going to say that this book somehow manages to be heart breaking, exciting, surprising and happy all in an action packed thrilling 400 or so pages. Throughout the book you also get to see how each character grows through their darkest moments, becoming better people despite the bad things going on around them. Also, as per usual, Mead ends the book with a torturous cliff-hanger meaning that all us fans will have to wait until February next year to find out if 'Sydrian' will ever manage to find their happy ending. 

I definitely recommend both the Vampire Academy series and this spinoff series to readers, especially anyone like me who loves supernatural fiction and vampires. 

Now I just have to kill time for another three months until the next book, The Ruby Circle, comes out and I can return to the epic awesomeness of 'Sydrian' and all their friends...