Alright, folks. Buckle up, because this is a review for the Shadowcraft Academy series by Yve Hale and it was a wild ride of a read.
I discovered this romantasy series on a Reddit forum, where it was recommended by several different users. This is not normally where I get my book recommendations, but I was doing research for something else entirely, and the series sounded interesting so I figured I’d give it a go. I had low expectations.
Shayla just wants to run away from her abusive mother and live a normal life. Her twentieth birthday is approaching, and if she doesn’t display magical powers by then, she’ll be declared a ‘null’, and then she’ll be free to start a new life in the normal human world. All her plans are derailed when she hooks up with a cute guy at a party, only to discover that he’s her fated mate, a thing that should not be possible if she truly has no magic. He’s the son of the most powerful member of the Magical Council and rejects her immediately, thinking she’s just after his money. But she still has to go to the magical academy and figure out what her power is.
At the academy, she’s put in a dorm with her rejected mate, his best friend and lover, her childhood best friend, and an incubus. She’s also caught the attention of a hot wolf shifter professor. It’s a veritable cornucopia of sexual tension, especially when they are forced to work together to defeat a mysterious evil that is draining the magic from their realm.
So this series is not well written. At all. There is a lot of clumsy exposition, and the sentences don’t flow well or feel natural. The dialogue is a hot mess. Shayla has Sparkle powers. The author actually calls them that. These issues are not something I normally notice or dwell on, but it was glaring.
The writing doesn’t improve as the series goes on, to the point where it just starts to get funny. But for whatever reason I found myself enjoying it nonetheless.
There is a significant amount of male/male spice in this why choose series. Some of the guy-on-guy relationship moments felt a smidge forced, but by the time I hit that point in the series it was very much “Oh why not have these two fuck. Sure”. It’s hot or hilarious, depending on how you look at it.
The overall series is a fun story with fun tropes in the same vein as The Kit Davenport series or the Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac (although not as well crafted as either of those). Once the plot really kicked in, I stopped noticing the flaws in the writing and was drawn in by the magic and the spice.
To read this series, suspend all disbelief. There are no rules. We’re here for the vibes, and the vibes are wild. I read this entire series in a single weekend in a pure dissociative mental health mess, and it was exactly what I needed. Somehow this crazy series made me feel rather more sane. It felt like a fever dream, but a fun one. Maybe a really horny acid trip? Psychedelics are not in my wheelhouse but that feels like an apt descriptor for this series.
I know I don’t generally review books I don’t like, but I actually really did like this series. It’s a hot mess, sure, but as much as I’ve trashed the writing, there’s a lot to enjoy in this series. These are books you read for the spice and the laughs, and the general happy vibes in the happily ever after.
Writing: 2
Spice: 4
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