Review: The Culling Trials book 3 - Shannon Mayer & K.F. Breene

You Don’t Choose The Academy. The Academy Chooses You.

The last of the Culling Trials is here. I foolishly thought I’d survived the worst.

My team is falling to pieces around me and my heart is shattered for the losses I’ve endured. But I can’t stop when I’m so close to the end. There are too many people depending on me.

I foolishly thought there wasn’t much more I could lose…until the nature of my bloodline comes to light.

I’m not what I thought I was. Not what anyone thought I was. But to tell people the truth would be to kill us all.

To fail the trials will mean death, but to succeed might damn me for life.

Shadowspell Academy Series:
The Culling Trials book 1
The Culling Trials book 2
The Culling Trials book 3

Visit Shannon Mayer's website or K.F. Breene's website for more information

Review:
As Wild and her team continue the trials the danger is greater than ever before and the challenge for the House of Night even sees them facing off against supernatural zombies! The team is still down one member as Gregory and the other missing students still haven't been found so not only is Wild trying to get her group through the last few trials in one piece but she's also determined to find out who is behind the disappearances.

This has been such a fun series to read, lots of fun magic, great characters and plenty of action. We finally start getting some answers about Wild's abilities here and we also see Wally coming into her own as she faces off against another necromancer. I've really enjoyed seeing how the team has come together  and that they always have each other's backs, even Ethan makes some positive improvements here although I'm still not sure he can be completely trusted.

The latest instalment has lots of twists and we finally get to see who survives the trials and which houses they get placed in. I'm really hoping the authors decide to continue the series so we can see how the gang get on inside the Shadowspell Academy.

Source: Received from the author in exchange for an honest review

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Review: The Culling Trials book 2 - Shannon Mayer & K.F. Breene

You Don’t Choose The Academy. The Academy Chooses You.

Being accepted into an elite school of magic, monsters, and assassins was not my idea of higher education. But here I am, fighting my way through the Culling Trials to claim my right to be taught.

As if the gauntlet-type physical and mental tests aren’t enough, people are going missing.

People that are my friends.

In a dangerous world where no one is as they seem, the golden rule is simple: Trust no one. They think we should just look out for ourselves. That we should leave the fallen behind and ask no questions.

They clearly think we’re idiots. I got this far by trusting my instincts, and I’m not going to back down now.

Those kids won’t be left to die.

Not on my watch.

Shadowspell Academy Book 1 and Shadowspell Academy Book 2 end with a cliffhanger

Book 3 will release June 11, 2019

Shadowspell Academy Series:
The Culling Trials book 1
The Culling Trials book 2
The Culling Trials book 3

Visit Shannon Mayer's website or K.F. Breene's website for more information

Review:
The Culling Trials book 2 picks up Wild's story immediately after the ending of the first instalment so please be aware there will be spoilers for the first book in this review. It's turning into a really fun series though so you should definitely check it out if you haven't already.

Picking up immediately from where we left off Pete has just walked into the bathroom and discovered that Wild is really a girl. Although he has a little trouble getting past the whole boob thing before he can even think about how her secret could affect the whole group if she's discovered! There is a very good reason that Wild has been hiding her true identity and her whole family will be in danger if anyone finds out who she really is so she's got to place a lot of trust in Pete to keep her secret.

I'm actually really enjoying seeing the friendship grow between Wild, Pete, Wally, Orin and Gregory, they're all from totally different backgrounds and have very different skills but there seems to be a genuine bond between them. You'll notice that I'm not counting Ethan in that grouping but he's a whole different kettle of fish and it's going to take a lot of work before I'll start trusting him.

Wild's secret is actually the least of their problem as the culling trials continue. There is danger from every direction and even working together is no guarantee of success but if they don't make it through Wild will never discover what happened to her older brother or why they tried to recruit Billy. She also needs to get to the bottom of whats going on with her childhood friend Rory, he's been holding out on her for a long time and it's clear he has information she needs if she's going to survive this experience.

I love how fast paced these stories are, lots of action and fun as they work through the trials but also a strong group of characters who are becoming fast friends. There are secrets galore that I can't wait to uncover and I'm just glad we don't have to wait long for the next book!

Source: Received from the author in exchange for an honest review

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If you have reviewed this book on your blog please leave a link to your review in the comments & I'll add the link here.

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Review: The Culling Trials book 1 - Shannon Mayer & K.F. Breene

You Don’t Choose The Academy. The Academy Chooses You.

I had no idea how those words would change my life. Or how they’d changed my life already…

Until the day the most dangerous man I’ve ever met waltzed onto my farm and left us a death sentence.

In an invitation.

My younger brother has been chosen for the prestigious, secret magical school hidden within the folds of our mundane world. A place so dangerous, they don’t guarantee you’ll make it out alive.

If he doesn't go our entire family will be killed.

It’s the same invitation my older brother received three years ago—the same place he mysteriously died.

The academy has already killed one sibling. I’ll be damned if they take another.

I do the only thing an older sister can: chop off my hair, strap on two bras to flatten the girls, and take my brother’s place.

Magic and monsters are real. Assassins are coming for me, and the dead are prone to rise. What’s a girl faking it as a boy supposed to do? That’s right—beat the academy at its own game.

Or die trying.

Shadowspell Academy Series:
The Culling Trials book 1
The Culling Trials book 2
The Culling Trials book 3

Visit Shannon Mayer's website or K.F. Breene's website for more information

Review:
The Culling Trials is the first book in the new Shadowspell Academy series by Shannon Mayer and K.F. Breene and it's kind of a cross between Harry Potter and Maze Runner with a hint of Mulan thrown in for good measure. We're introduced to main character eighteen year old Wild who has been helping to look after her family since her mother was killed and her father was badly injured. A few years ago her brother received a mysterious invitation to the Shadowspell Academy and although he passed the trials and won himself a scholarship he died in strange circumstances not long after starting school. Now an envelope has arrived for her younger brother Billy, only this time the invitation includes threats that if Billy doesn't attend the Culling Trials the whole family will be killed.

Wild already lost one brother and there is no way she's going to stand by and wait for another to be killed so she decides to go to the trials in Billy's place. After cutting off her hair and disguising herself as a boy she heads off to the Academy but what she finds when she arrives is nothing she could ever have prepared herself for. Magic is real but failing the Culling Trials could be a death sentence, and that's before she even starts taking classes. Joined by a ragtag crew of allies she makes along the way it's going to take everything Wild has to make it through the trials in one piece.

I was already a fan of K.F. Breene's writing but Shannon Mayer is a new author to me so I wasn't too sure what to expect from this story. I'm glad to say it was a very well written, fast paced and had me hooked from the first few pages. I still have a lot of questions about the world that the authors have created but I like the way things are unfolding so far and I'm already looking forward to the next book. Wild is a great character, she's protective of her family and she will do whatever it takes to keep her younger siblings safe but she's also at a complete disadvantage in the trials because her parents haven't prepared her at all for the possibility that magic is real. There are obviously a lot of secrets in the family that I'm sure we will uncover as the series continues but I really want to know more about the circumstances of her mother's death and how her father came to be badly injured.

Wild has already started making a few allies at the trials, some who seem more trustworthy than others, but it will be interesting to see how these friendships develop across the series. These friends are thrown together in dire circumstances and I think it will be the making or breaking of all of them. If the rest of the series is fast paced as the first book then I think we're in for a heck of a ride.

Source: Received from the author in exchange for an honest review

Other Reviews:
If you have reviewed this book on your blog please leave a link to your review in the comments & I'll add the link here.

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