Shadowspell Academy: The Culling Trials: Book 1

Name: Shadowspell Academy: The Culling Trials: Book 1
SKU: 121108
Availability: InStock

4.5 | 11,807 ratings

Price: 17.46

Last update: 11-16-2024

About this item

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 where 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.

Praise for the book:

"This book is Harry Potter meets the Hunger Games in a bold twist on a classic magical young adult adventure." (Jaymin Eve, best-selling author of Supernatural Academy series)

Crystal Morris

Yikes

Reviewed in the United States on November 8, 2024

Not beginning as expected but really engaging so far. Wild our main character is brave smart and destined for trouble.

Spinneretta

Good

Reviewed in the United States on May 2, 2021

**Cliffhanger Warning!** This book ends on a cliffhanger, so you might want to line up book two first!

When Wilde’s brother is called up to join Shadowspell Academy, she wants to make sure that he doesn’t fall victim to it, the way their older brother did.
So she disguises herself and takes his place... but is she ready for the magical world she never knew existed?

This was a fast paced, action filled, academy fantasy novel, from two brilliant urban fantasy authors.
The world is an intriguing one, with a fascinating premise, and the characters were interesting.
Told from Wilde’s viewpoint, we are introduced to magic and magical beings at the same time she is, and treated to a Texas tough farmgirl beating the odds.
An exciting introduction to a new academy fantasy series.

Such a strong FMC!

Reviewed in the United States on April 10, 2019

I love Wild! She is such a strong character! I love that she doesn't even hesitate, just makes the decision to take her brothers place when the 'invitation' comes to attend the Culling Trials. I laughed my butt off reading about her wrestling with the cow, I've been there and that's such a pain in the backside! Wild is so fierce and determined. She's such a mama bear with her siblings and then later with Wally, Gregory and Pete. Orin and Ethan haven't really come under the mama bear protection umbrella yet, but I'm sure they'll get there. There is so much happening in this book, so many interesting characters have been introduced and I'm overjoyed that this is just the beginning! Wally's commentary killed me, I love that she's so funny without meaning to be. Gregory tries to be grumpy, but I know he actually likes the group...well, most of them. Pete is adorable, I love his shifter form! Orin is mysterious, and I can't wait to read more about him. And Ethan...I don't think Ethan is going to be as big of a pain as he's seeming, I feel like there's something there that he hasn't brought to the table. But that could be said for all of them. Also, I'm not gonna lie, I think I have a crush on the Sandman/Sideburns/Sunshine, LOL. The backstory of her family and childhood is so sad. I am practically salivating waiting for the confrontation with Rory, I have a feeling its going to be emotional and intense and I am on tenterhooks! I can't wait to see where they take Wild and her cohorts. I have a feeling the magical world isn't ready for Wild, and she's going to turn it on its head.

Angelique

Definitely a five ???? read.

Reviewed in the United States on May 29, 2019

Shadowspell Academy by K.F. Breene and Shannon Mayer

Reviewed by Angi

This is one of those books I auto download because I follow the author. This can be good or bad. I've been disappointed and I've been super thrilled with my choices. Now if you have read my previous reviews you see I tend to get pulled in more by the author than the book. That's only to start with. A person's name can only pull me all ng so far.

Well this book ok took me to the end! And I've already downloaded the second.

We first meet Wild on her farm innocent and niave in her understanding of the world outside her farm l. Though I say niave that's only in her understanding of the magic in her world. She is very well versed and hardened to how unfair life can be. She's smart and strong. But is she smart and strong enough to handle the culling?

Taking the place of her brother she soon forms a ragtag group friends and allies. By being both protective and a quick thinker she leads them through the first trial. Her group is made up of a quarky doomsday statistic qouter, a shape shifting honey badger,and a goblin who shouldn't have made it past the 1st challenge, a secretive vampire, and a snobby pretty boy who's scared if there vamp. I love the depth of the character Wild, but I really hope to learn more about Wally the death statistics spouting girl.

This has mystery and adventure galore! The trials are very deadly an anything goes. Will they make it through alive? If they do will they be changed into something they don't recognize?

Warning it does end as a cliffhanger so you'll be downloading book 2 soon also!

Definitely a five ???? read.

Maggie

More like book sections than a series

Reviewed in the United States on April 5, 2021

Its really hard to rate this, given that it's too short to really develop much more than an introduction to characters and world.

I knew going into it that it is more serial than a series. Meaning it's more like a serial published in a magazine, for example. You get just enough to tempt you so that you have to buy the next volume of the magazine in order to get the next instalment of the story. That wouldn't bother me, but publishing BOOKS this way is a bit uncool for me. Lost a full star for that. I don't even like full-length novels that end without the story being resolved.

Take Harry Potter, for example. The overall storyline throughout the series is Harry being the chosen one who must destroy the evil Voldemort. But each individual book has its own plot. Book one is learning he's a wizard and becoming acquainted with Voldemort. Harry must defeat him while he possesses a professor. That plot is wrapped up at the end of the first book, even though we know Voldemort still lives. This can be read as a standalone, but we know t will be a series. That's how a series should be done. Not ending with a story barely begun and without a real sense of what the story arc is.

Enough about that. I think the story is off to a good start, and I certainly would be continuing the book if the end were merely another chapter break. I find Wild to be an interesting character and her crew-mates are equally likeable (or unlikeable, as the case may require). I'm interested in seeing where the story goes. I wish I could say with more accuracy what these books are about on the whole, but I'm impressed enough to find out on my own.

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