Published by Point on Published April 30th 2013
Genres: Contemporary, Paranormal, Young Adult
Source: Publisher
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What is this prep school preparing them for?Camden Fisher arrives at boarding school haunted by a falling-out with her best friend back home. But the manicured grounds of Lethe Academy are like nothing Cam has ever known. There are gorgeous, preppy boys wielding tennis rackets, and circles of girls with secrets to spare. Only . . . something is not quite right. One of Cam's new friends mysteriously disappears, but the teachers don't seem too concerned. Cam wakes up to strangers in her room, who then melt into the night. She is suddenly plagued by odd memories, and senses there might be something dark and terrible brewing. But what? The answer will leave Cam—and readers—stunned and breathless, in this thrilling debut novel
The Last Academy comes with an intriguing blurb and a great mysterious cover. I addition, I love boarding schools so of course I jumped when I got a Review Copy.
Upfront I admit that the book was sadly not what I expected. It starts with a very weird situation and then we jump ahead when Camden is leaving for this boarding school. The whole story is filled with all the weird and odd situations Camden tries to get behind all the mysteries going on in this weird school. I was confused. Most of the times I simply was confused and I had no freaking clue where this story was going. But, this had a certain allure that I wouldn’t completely dismiss and I’m sure some readers will enjoy this mystery.
Camden… *sigh* What can I say about you?
I just couldn’t connect with her – at all. One of my main problems was her obvious young age. Camden was 14 and she behaved very much this age maybe even younger. She was very (very) naïve and she sadly annoyed me with her behaiour most of the times. It was just impossible for me to feel for her and connect with her and obviously this ruined the mood for me ….
In addition the romance was just a no-go for me. I just didn’t get it. Why did she fall for Ethan, and why the heck did he fall for her? It wasn’t reasonably explained and I just didn’t feel it, at all. Ethan was also a little weird and some of the situations with him left me completely dumfounded with disbelieve.
The Ending! Oh you saving grace!
Well, the ending was extremely surprising and nearly managed to rescue this story for me. I figured out part of this a little earlier, still the whole story slowly lived up to this very moment of complete truth. I was shocked and it was like a lightbulp went up over my head. While the ending tried to connect all loose ends and explained everything we were wondering during the whole weird moments of the book. However, not everything was tied up neatly and some storylines weren’t left open. As this is a standalone, I didn’t truly liked this and I would have wished for a complete all-embracing ending.
For once now I have to give two ratings, as I spend so much time with the book being annoyed even the amazing ending didn’t manage to change my irritation with the rest of the story.
Bewitched Rating
2 Stars for the characters and the story and 4 Stars for the phenomenal ending
Bottom Line
The Last Academy definitely stands out among the YA Novels as it comes with a phenomenal, mind boggling and twisted ending. The characters completely annoyed me and I couldn’t connect to the story until the very last minute where it was sadly already too late. I’m sure though that this story will find it’s fans who will have nothing else than praise for this book!
So, what did or do you expect from the synopsis? Figuring out what this Academy was the biggest and most surprising mystery in this book. Did you figure it out early? And might you even be inclined to read it now because you would like to figure out the ending?
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Aw man, what a bummer! 🙁 I thought this book sounded cool, but now I think I will stay away from it. Thanks, Danny!
Ashley recently posted..Stacking the Shelves (50) – Demo the Ultimate Book Blogger Plugin
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Sounds like a book I will not like I think. I’m not too fond of such series which is about one academy:)
Elin recently posted..I love Jane Austen-movies!
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The ending was definitely killer! *haha* It’s the only reason I could give it three stars instead of the 1 or 2 I contemplated half-way through. I had such high expectations for this one and was so let down. I don’t think you can even call that bit with Ethan “romance”. They pretty much spoke to each other twice and then they were in love. Insta-love at its worst…
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I’m definitely gonna skip this one! I’ve seen similar reviews. Guess the editing just didn’t quite catch the holes and the crappy characters. So sorry for the book and the author. Thank you for the honest review.
Heather
Heather @ Buried in Books recently posted..In the Shadow of Blackbirds by Cat Winters Review
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This is pretty much what I’ve been hearing. The book is super confusing the first 3/4 of the book but then the ending is mind blowing. Even if the characters are annoying and I don’t get what’s going on, I would love to have my mind blown. This’ll have to go on my TBR list. Great review!
Kim @ YA Asylum recently posted..May YA Giveaway!
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It looks like we felt pretty much the same about this one, Danny! My review is coming up of this one and I plan on giving it a 3…ALL of the character’s behaviors just seemed really immature and annoying, including the teachers! But yeah, that ending. Wow, even with not having connected with any of the characters, the very end between her and her best friend had me in tears.
Great review!
Becky @ Stories & Sweeties recently posted..New Shelf Goodies & The Weekly Nutshell {46}
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At least the ending redeemed some of it for you. I think I would pretty annoyed with Camden as well. I wonder if 14 year old might connect with her better? I wasn’t really planning on reading this one anyway, but now I know in the future that it’s probably not the book for me. Thanks for the honest review!
Candace recently posted..Middle Grade Review: The Center of Everything by Linda Urban
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I am so inclined to read the Last Academy because I want to find out the ending of the book. The book description gives the story a very good mystery to solve.
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