⭐ 4.5 Stars (Until Book 4…)
Swoony. Addictive. Slightly Raven-Adjacent.
Let’s talk about the Raven Academy series — though someone please tell me where the ravens are, because they must be on hiatus, or I totally missed them? One of the two.
📚 Book 1: Shadow Bringer
📚 Book 2: Shadow Dweller
📚 Book 3: Shadow Dance
Each of these? Chef’s kiss. I was hooked. Magic school setting, shadowy secrets, and a great love triangle. I proudly flew my Team Castian flag high. He had the tortured heart, the tension, the “I’d burn the world for you” vibe that gets me every time.
Then…
📚 Book 4: Shadow Queen
And that’s where it went downhill.
Listen, I love Castian. I do, I just said so above. I’d write his name in the margins of my notebook and doodle hearts around it. But the sudden switch to dual POV (Riley and Castian) totally threw off the emotional rhythm. It felt like the story lost focus. Riley’s perspective was the spine of the first three books — so why fix what wasn’t broken? Especially in the final book??
The last book left me underwhelmed, and honestly, like I was reading fanfic instead of its finale.