Zodiac Academy Volume 7 ~ Heartless Sky takes place in the year after that promise Darius makes to the Stars. This is the year of his life gifted to him by the Stars to prove that he is man enough to be Tory Vega’s husband. At the end of this time, he has to die.
Naturally, after the battle with Lionel in which everyone shows their true colors, they have to flee Solaria to a place called the Boroughs. Or it is the Burrows? (Not clear to me as I only heard this on Audible.) I’m going to assume it to be the Burrows as that makes more sense.
I am not sure where the Burrows are except that they seem to be north of Solaria, in a completely different jurisdiction (i.e. not under the thrall of psychopath King Lionel). And they are underground to save everyone from air attacks by furious dragons.
So the Vega Twins, the Celestial Heirs and all of their friends flee there, building new tunnels underground to escape the wrath of the Jade Dragon (aka King Lionel Acrux) and his dragon allies.
Early on in the book, we learn that Lionel means to cull (i.e. murder) all of the Pegasuses, and so Darius and his friends go on a rescue mission (without telling Tory or Darcy) and rescue the herd, including Xavier Acrux, the subject of his father Lionel’s wrath. (Lionel, the Hyper-Masculine Male is not thrilled at his younger son being a violet-colored glitter-endowed Pegasus.)
And so thing progress slowly (this volume is the longest yet at 30 hours and 10 minutes). Naturally Darius doesn’t get to spend much time with Tory as she and her sister are suddenly whisked off to a “training academy” at the Castle of Flames by their brother Gabriel to learn how to control Dark Magic with Queen Avalon Vega, a Ghost from Times Past.
Soon the Vega twins return, but something continues to not be right with Darcy. And when the book ends yet again with another Epic Battle against King Lionel Acrux, things go disastrously wrong, especially for Darcy. And Darius.
Five stars for wonderful characters and world-building.
Three stars for a too-long novel that left me feeling exasperated.
