The Series That Devours You

Zodiac Academy is not a book. It's a lifestyle choice. Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti (sisters known to their fanbase as the "Twisted Sisters") published The Awakening in 2019. Since then, the series has grown to nine books, sold over 15 million copies, hit #1 on both Amazon and the Wall Street Journal bestseller list, and consumed the lives of every reader who made the mistake of opening page one.

That's not marketing. That's a warning.

What It's About

Tory and Darcy Vega grew up as orphans in the mortal world. On their eighteenth birthday, they discover they're the lost heirs to the throne of Solaria: a hidden realm of fae, vampires, werewolves, dragons, sirens, and every other supernatural creature you can imagine.

They're sent to Zodiac Academy, where your star sign determines your magical element and your power determines your survival. The academy is ruled by the Celestial Heirs, four devastatingly powerful (and devastatingly cruel) fae males who consider the Vega twins a direct threat to their future thrones.

What follows is not a warm welcome. The Heirs set out to break the twins: publicly, repeatedly, and creatively. This is bully romance at its most intense, enemies-to-lovers at its slowest burn, and dark academia at its most chaotic.

What Works

The sheer addictiveness of the series is its defining feature. Peckham and Valenti write cliffhangers like weapons. Every book ends with a gut-punch that makes the next one feel physically necessary. The pacing is relentless across thousands of pages, which is a genuine achievement.

The four Heirs (Darius (fire dragon), Seth (werewolf), Caleb (vampire), and Max (siren)) are introduced as villains and slowly, painfully, over thousands of pages, become something else entirely. The romances that develop are earned through suffering, not shortcuts.

The worldbuilding is expansive. Solaria runs on zodiac-based magic, elemental powers, and supernatural politics. Vampires drink from weaker students in the corridors. Werewolves run wild in the Wailing Wood. The power system is complex enough to sustain nine books without feeling repetitive.

And Tory and Darcy themselves (while they start as fish-out-of-water) become two of the most resilient, fierce heroines in fantasy romance. They don't break. They bend, they suffer, and they come back harder.

What Doesn't

Book one is divisive. The bullying is intense, some readers find it thrilling, others find it uncomfortable or hard to move past. If you can't stomach the Heirs' cruelty in the first book, the series may not be for you, even though the dynamic evolves dramatically.

The series is long. Nine main books plus spin-offs means thousands of pages. Some middle books have pacing issues. The side romances don't always land with the same impact as the central ones.

The "Twisted Sisters" write in dual POV (Tory and Darcy), and some readers find one twin's storyline consistently stronger than the other's.

The Velvet Coven Verdict

Zodiac Academy is for readers who want to disappear into a world and not come back for weeks. It's messy, brutal, romantic, and wildly entertaining. The first book will make you angry. The ninth will make you cry. And somewhere in between, you'll realize you've read 5,000 pages and would do it all again.

Content note: Intense bullying, graphic violence, explicit sexual content (increasing through the series), emotional manipulation, character death.

Quick Reference

  • Authors: Caroline Peckham & Susanne Valenti
  • Published: 2019 (King's Hollow Publishing)
  • Series: Zodiac Academy, Book 1 (9 main books + spin-offs)
  • Pages: ~477 (Book 1: series total exceeds 5,000)
  • Setting: Zodiac Academy, Solaria
  • Tropes: Bully romance, enemies to lovers, dark academia, twin heroines, reverse harem elements, fated mates
  • Spice level: 4/5: explicit, escalating through the series
  • Status: #1 Amazon & WSJ bestseller, 15M+ copies sold