Review: Silver Shadows (Bloodlines, #5) by Richelle Mead

Title: Silver Shadows (Bloodlines, #5)
Author: Richelle Mead
Rating: ★★★★★ (5/5 Stars)
Hardcover, 380 Pages
Published July 2014
Book #5 of 6 in the Bloodlines Series
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Summary: Sydney Sage is an Alchemist, one of a group of humans who dabble in magic and serve to bridge the worlds of humans and vampires. They protect vampire secrets—and human lives. In The Fiery Heart, Sydney risked everything to follow her gut, walking a dangerous line to keep her feelings hidden from the Alchemists. Now in the aftermath of an event that ripped their world apart, Sydney and Adrian struggle to pick up the pieces and find their way back to each other. But first, they have to survive. For Sydney, trapped and surrounded by adversaries, life becomes a daily struggle to hold on to her identity and the memories of those she loves. Meanwhile, Adrian clings to hope in the face of those who tell him Sydney is a lost cause, but the battle proves daunting as old demons and new temptations begin to seize hold of him. . . .

There's no denying that this book very truly did screw with my heart and my emotions. For some reason, I was never that big of a fan of Adrian (I never disliked him, but Amber was absolutely in love with him while I felt he was just okay.)

But he definitely brought about a feel or two for me with this book. In the previous book, The Fiery Heart, Sydney manages to give herself up to the Alchemists searching for her in order to keep Adrian and all of her friends safe. For the most part, she does--however, she herself gets sent to an Alchemist re-education center, tortured and naked and freezing and gassed and starved in the dark until she will admit her biggest sin. Which, of course, is falling in love with Adrian.

As much as it breaks Sydney inside, she manages to tell the Alchemists everything they want to hear in order to get herself out of their torture "reflection time" chamber and into the mainstream re-education society, which kind of reminds me of the setting of The Program by Suzanne Young. Throughout her time in re-education, both she and Adrian (who can't contact her through her dreams because of her gas-induced sleep every night) hatch a plan to bust her and the other inmates out of the re-education center.

I really did love this book, and if you're a frequent visitor here on the blog you'd know that I don't hand out five-star reviews very easily. It's actually pretty uncommon for me to give a book a perfect rating, but I really loved Silver Shadows and I felt like four stars wouldn't do it enough justice. 

Sydney's love for Adrian (and in turn, Adrian's love for Sydney) was determined and awe-inspiring, especially after a certain turn of events and something really major happens that asdfghhjkl I won't spoil for you but I really, really wish I could because AHHHHH. <3 (And if you read Silver Shadows already, I'm sure you know what occasion I'm talking about.)

My poor little fangirl heart. I almost couldn't take it. I had to send rapid texts to a friend of mine (along with Amber, who forced the spoiler out of me) to keep myself from spontaneously combusting. (I won't give you a spoiler, but I'll give anyone who read it a nice hint: Page 327!)

All in all, I really enjoyed this book. It was equal parts gripping, interesting, thrilling, romantic, and heart-warming. There were parts where I cheered, where I gasped, where I sighed, and most importantly: when my poor fangirl heart nearly exploded several times. But especially on page 327.

Great book by a great author, and I'm really looking forward to the final installment of the series, which comes out in February 2015!