About the Book:
Twenty teenagers enter. Only five become guardians.
Yahshi Konya shouldn’t be one of them. With low test scores, his selection for the Empire’s boarding school raises red flags. The guardians are offering him the opportunity of a lifetime, but at what cost?
Taking a chance, he joins the aggressive military program and strikes an alliance with two trainees. Vell, the only girl, and Pinto, the overachiever. United, they tackle relentless challenges, watching their competitors dwindle.
But the Academy is not what it seems. When dangerous truths emerge, Yahshi finds himself killing his friendships—and possibly his humanity.
A gripping tale of power, betrayal, and redemption, Nightshade Academy will leave you walking the tightrope between good and evil.
My Thoughts:
The Nightshade Academy follows young Yahshi as he is selected to attend said academy. His selection comes out of the blue and even a quick warning from his father not to take it up doesn’t stop him from doing so. Little does he know that there is a lot more in store for his and he has to sacrifice more than he ever dreamed of for the so called glory of becoming a Nightshade. The things they learn, the things they see and even the things they are asked to do raise a flag in his mind as he realizes that this is not who he wants to become, but he has to survive.
This is a tale of good vs evil both in the physical world as well as within the characters. They are mostly developed as morally grey but some see the world in black and white. Some of them are coping with the circumstances that landed them in the situation they are in and this is seen through Cal’s character.
The plot is good but felt hastily put together. The story dives right in and at times it was a little confusing to understand what was going on or even the purpose of the Academy. However, I enjoyed the portrayal and character development of Yahshi. He doesn’t accept the way things are blindly and asks questions to understand.
There is more to the higher plot of attending the Nightshade Academy and what really held my attention was this subplot and hints of something more. The author brings out the importance of asking questions, sticking to your morals and even dealing with broken friendships or relationships. This story is for those who enjoy dark academia, politics, secret societies, found family, training for war, moral dilemmas and so on. The climax was well handled and though this book didn’t fully work for me considering that I have read a lot of books in this genre, I am still looking forward to reading the next book in the series.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.