Zodiac Academy
Zodiac Academy
Maybe it's because I'm a Pisces, but...
After opening TikTok and being recommended Zodiac Academy again, I decided it was time to dive in. These books are everywhere, filling the ACOTAR void. Per the authors, the so-called “Twisted Sisters,” the Zodiac Academy series explores what it would be like “if Voldemort ran Hogwarts.” And yes, they are actually sisters.
The first book in the series was published in 2019 (a few years before we coined the term romantasy), with eight sequels published since. There are also spin-off series and novellas (including a Midnight Sun style spinoff with the events of the main book as told from the point of view of the main male characters), so a fan starting Zodiac Academy today has thousands of pages of story ahead of them, and I think that’s part of the appeal. There are, in fact, so many Zodiac Academy books that there is an entire genre of BookTok video explaining which order they should be read in. The below has 250,000 views and sparked a hot debate in the comments about reading order:
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Look at how tall that stack of books is!
Described as a “dark bully M/F paranormal romance series,” the books follow twins Darcy and Tory. They are, of course, Gemini. Ripped from their depressing and deprived lives on earth, they are transported to a mirror universe by Professor Orion, where they discover that they are in fact the long lost fae heirs to the throne of Solaria.
He brings them to the Zodiac Academy, where they will learn to control their elemental powers and discover their order (siren, vampire, werewolf, dragon - if it’s a magical creature, it is a part of the lore). But there’s a twist - the four (hot, male) Celestial Heirs to the throne are not thrilled that their power is about to be reclaimed by a pair of upstart girls who don’t understand anything about their world.
In this way, the first book does in fact seem to take place inside evil Hogwarts. A magical school with shifting corridors, an all you can eat buffet as a cafeteria, an in-house social network called FaeBook (yes), magical architecture, and even a fairy swimming pool. But you can’t trust any of the professors and also you’re constantly being bullied by your fellow students.
The magic systems in the world are very familiar and even prosaic, as the twins receive daily horoscopes to their tablets, take tarot class, and are feasted upon by vampires.
Maybe it’s because I’m a Pisces, but the never-ending misery that Darcy and Tory endure wasn’t entirely my thing. I’ve only read the first book so far, but it seems that this continues throughout the series. “Warning: rough waters ahead,” begins one Amazon review of the fifth book, Cursed Fates. “Oof. I zipped through the four previous books but this one? This one was harder. The emotional toll of this book is STEEP. By the 50% mark I didn’t want to continue because it all felt so hopeless and was making me sad. But I didn’t want to be a quitter so I powered through.”
Aside from this unrelenting misery and doom, there are a few other differences that set the series apart. At least in the first book, the POV shifts between the two twins, Darcy and Tory, and no one else. I found this confusing throughout, since the twins aren’t differentiated enough for it be clear whose perspective you’re in at any given time. Another difference - the main love interests for each twin aren’t immediately clear, even by the end of the first book. The romance arc takes several books to unfold, and in fact this first book almost felt like a prologue to me. A 420 page prologue, but a prologue nonetheless. In the world of the book, maybe two weeks pass from beginning to end of the story.
Something these books don’t particularly prioritize? Consent. BookToker @thtgrlreads breaks it down in a video about Zodiac Academy rumors (because these books are controversial): “This bully romance does not involve rape in any way, shape, or form. What is in here is unwanted, unwarranted, inappropriate touching in the form of like holding and dominance and bullying and shoving, pushing, things that you would think of when you think about bullying.” So they are attempting to walk a fine line. A key magical element in this world involves being able to use mind control powers to coerce others into following your orders, so that doesn’t improve the situation. This series is definitely exploring unequal power dynamics, but so do books like Fifty Shades of Grey.
One of my favorite BookTokers, @mariannasreads, described the reason these books have become a sensation best. “Is the book good? Debatable. Is the writing good? Absolutely not. The vibes, the characters, the drama, the emotional damage. A magical school, professor student relationships, mates, dragons, fae, vampires, werewolfs, dragons, phoenixes. I’m not really sure, I forget where I was going with that, but it’s a good fucking time.”
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Much like ACOTAR, there are dozens of AI-generated fan edits on BookTok illustrating the characters and the world, and an onslaught of videos describing what to read next if you liked Zodiac Academy. I do think it’s interesting that the world of these books is close enough to our own that the characters as pictured are wearing, essentially, normal clothes. Much like the Harry Potter series, these books are fantasy but also very grounded in the modern world.
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Something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately when it comes to romantasy is maximalism. Many of this post-ACOTAR wave of popular novels have an everything but the kitchen sink approach to world building. Dragons? Yes. Vampires? Yes. Faeries? Yessss.
There is a feeling of pastiche - a little from Harry Potter, a little from Sarah J. Maas, a hint of the dystopian wave of young adult fiction, a lot of Twilight. In reading some of these books, I can almost dissect where each plot point or setting comes from. There can be pleasure in familiarity, but when does it all start to feel a bit too same-y?
All of that said, will I read the second book? Probably. It seems like one of the twins is going to get with Professor Snape, excuse me, Professor Orion, and I want to see how it happens.
The Dramione of it All
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Speaking of Professor Snape - Zodiac Academy fits neatly into the wave of Dramione fanfiction that continues to sweep across BookTok. It’s surprising to me that Harry Potter fanfiction is still so vibrant that it is generating viral stories (see: All the Young Dudes) and working its way into traditional publishing with the serial numbers filed off (see: Alchemised). Stories about Draco and Hermione being forced together and falling in love are hugely popular, as are stories about the young Marauders.
The Dramione universe is so expansive that Slytherin side characters barely mentioned in the text of the actual series, like Theodore Nott and Blaise Zabini, have become fully realized characters in the shared fanon of these stories. And within this universe there is a surprisingly vast spectrum of narratives, from the bloody and extremely dark to something closer to a romcom, many of which run into the hundreds of thousands of words.
A personal favorite is Wait and Hope, in which Hermione has amnesia after a spell gone wrong and is shocked to learn that she has been married to Draco for several years. How could she have married her greatest tormentor? Has she really changed so much, or did he?
There’s a definite pleasure in watching a villain be transformed by the power of love, but so far in my experience of Zodiac Academy, we are only seeing the torment, not the transformation.
Where did I learn about all of these fics? BookTok, of course. Some of these stories are so popular that bound editions can be bought on Etsy and displayed on your shelf and fan made audiobooks are available on Spotify.
Imaginary Celebrity Book Club
Coincidentally, guess who is sharing their love for the Zodiac Academy series this week? Powerful Gen Z instagram influencers Brooklyn and Bailey, whose joint account has nearly 10 million followers. The twins have previously posted about ACOTAR, supporting my thesis that these books are filling the void left by the lack of a new Sarah J. Maas series. I think the length of the series and the fact that it is now complete is part of what is driving the popularity of these books in an increasingly crowded romantasy landscape. Why start a series where you’ll have to wait months or years for the next book when you can binge Zodiac Academy and have thousands of pages waiting for you?
I don’t particularly think Brooklyn and Bailey need a book club, although I’m sure their endorsement of a series can move the needle. But they are an excellent illustration of how mainstream these books and this type of reading is among Gen Z women.
Have you read any books in the Zodiac Academy series? Please tell me everything.
And a reminder that paid subscribers will receive my October link round up this Sunday, diving deep into publishing news, reading trends, and book recommendations.
I've been reading fanfic since college and I'm fascinated by how it's burst into the mainstream/the influence it's having on romance as titles get llonger and steamier and trope-driven marketing seems to be everywhere. The trope graphics that I always see authors posting on Instagram are basically AO3 tags in cute graphic form! I'm not on TikTok for many a reason but I've been *loving* your dives into BookTok trends and culture.
Similarly to that BookTok-er I'll give my assessment as someone who has read everything in the realm of Solaria: Is the writing good? I've DNFed a TON of wannabe romantasy from KU and Zodiac is surprisingly not that bad given the self-pub origins; my biggest complaint was all of the Britishisms coming out of the mouths of the twins (who were raised in Chicago) but the dialogue and page by page writing was not bad enough to pull me out of the story. Is the plot good? I'd say they made it into the SJM uncanny valley: if you look too hard on a close read of the plot and lore plenty of it will fall apart, but it's fast-paced and fun enough to make me not want to look that hard. The character motivations are on the better end of writing that I've found in KU romantasy (don't get me started on the damn mess that is the Beasts of the Briar series). I really liked the long series with interwoven romantic arcs--by the end of the series I had upwards of five prominent couples that I was really invested in. You just have to be willing to put in the time on the front end.
For the spinoff series (both of which are reverse harem), Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac (the prequel) is better overall than ZA, and you get to see the characters pop up later in ZA. Darkmore Penitentiary was extremely meh for me, not essential. Contrary to all of the popular reading orders, I recommend starting with ZA and sticking with it through the end of book 6 or 7, then taking a break to read Ruthless Boys before jumping back to finish ZA. And definitely don't skip book 8.5 before you read 9.