The Indigo Spell by Richelle Mead

The Indigo Spell
By Richelle Mead
Published: February 12, 2013
Publisher: Razorbill
Pages: 401
Format: Hardcover
Book 3 in the Bloodlines series
5 stars

GoodReads I Amazon I B&N

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 aftermath of a forbidden moment that rocked Sydney to her core, she finds herself struggling to draw the line between her Alchemist teachings and what her heart is urging her to do. Then she meets alluring, rebellious Marcus Finch--a former Alchemist who escaped against all odds, and is now on the run. Marcus wants to teach Sydney the secrets he claims the Alchemists are hiding from her. But as he pushes her to rebel against the people who raised her, Sydney finds that breaking free is harder than she thought. There is an old and mysterious magic rooted deeply within her. And as she searches for an evil magic user targeting powerful young witches, she realizes that her only hope is to embrace her magical blood--or else she might be next.

Opening Thoughts
Mmm, guys, this book let me tell you.  So, this, if you, for some odd reason were not aware of it, is my third time reading this book.  My third time.  Aren't your feelings towards a book supposed to diminish your feelings?  Because this book brought back all the feels.  It had me close to tears, which makes me only imagine what rereading The Fiery Heart is going to bring.

Characters
In this book, Sydney continues to struggle against the barriers that the Alchemists have, breaking through them in ways that neither Sydney, or the readers would have ever thought possible from the kind of person that Sydney was in Bloodlines.  She's questioning everyone, not taking anything for granted, which makes her a million times more relatable than when she was just blindly following Alchemist orders.  Her magic is becoming stronger and stronger, and she's becoming more accepting of not just human magic, but also vampire magic.  She's finally seeing that maybe magic isn't the evil and unnatural thing that she has always thought it to be, it's just the people who twist it to their wills, and use it to do horrible things that are the evil in the world.  And Sydney's not just accepting it.  She's using it to kick some major ass!
And of course, how could we not have a discussion of the characters in this series without mentioning the wonderfully beautifully perfect Adrian Ivashkov.  Now to start this off, I tend to not get involved in fan casting.  I just feel like if people are going to make a movie of a book, then they are going to cast who they want to cast, regardless of what the various fangirls out there have to say about it.  However, I came across a review of this book saying that Max Irons was their ultimate Adrian casting.  Now, I don't know about you, but I only know Adrian from the movie of The Host, in which he looked like this:

Now, he's attractive, yes, I'm not going to lie.  But not exactly Adrian Ivashkov material, if you know what I mean.  So, I go ahead and put his name into Google Images, and I find these:

Look no farther casting crews, I have found your perfect Adrian Ivashkov!  I mean come on guys, this is him.  He's perfect!  Now, I think these pictures are from like three years ago, but still, I think that he can replicate this look.  You have to agree with me.  You just have to.  But fan casting aside, Adrian was wonderful, as always in this book.  His dialogue is as brilliant and swoon-worthy as always, and he's so adorably patient with Sydney and her denial.  He's so protective of her and it's wonderful.

“Because I can't help doing it," he said with a shrug. "And hey, if I keep loving you, maybe you'll eventually crack and love me too. Hell, I'm pretty sure you're already half in love with me."
"I am not! And everything you just said is ridiculous. That's terrible logic."

Adrian returned to his crossword puzzle. "Well, you can think what you want, so long as you remember-no matter how ordinary things seem between us-I'm still here, still in love with you, and care about you more than any other guy, evil or otherwise, ever will."

"I don't think you're evil."

"See? Things are already looking promising.”


“You're not as much of a lost cause as she was. I mean, with her, I had to overcome her deep, epic love with a Russian warlord. You and I just have to overcome hundreds of years' worth of deeply ingrained prejudice and taboo between our two races. Easy.”


“But when I touch you, your aura … it smolders. The colors deepen, it burns more intensely, the purple increases. Why? Why, Sydney?” He used that hand to pull me closer. “Why do you react that way if I don’t mean anything to you?” There was a desperation in his voice, and it was legitimate.”
I also want to briefly discuss Marcus, not too in depth, but I do have a few things that I would like to say about him. Now, excuse my language, but he's kind of a dick. Like, seriously dude, what the heck? He kept trying to move in on Sydney, and Adrian was like, oh no, I don't think so, yet Marcus still kept doing it. I don't like him, and I my opinion of his character doesn't improve as the series goes on. I have to say though, it is nice that he doesn't become a love interest for Sydney, and turn this into a love triangle, not only because I'm sick and tired of love triangles, but also because I feel like that would be very out of character for Sydney. I don't know about you, but she doesn't really strike me as the kind of girl to be balancing more than one guy at once.

Plot
The plot was as fast-paced and engaging as Richelle Mead's books always are, which I feel like I say in every review of her books, but it's totally true. The plot is more unpredictable than The Golden Lily, though I promise that the ending isn't as painful. There are lots and lots and lots of powerful Sydrian feels in this book, which got me even more pumped to dive into rereading The Fiery Heart, which as you may or may not know, is written in dual POV, from Sydney and Adrian. This book is the best in the series so far, but The Fiery Heart is even better. I don't even know how Silver Shadows is going to compare.

Overall, this is just another fabulous Richelle Mead work of art. The books are addicting and irrisistable, shocking and swoon-worthy, generally the perfect mix of anything you could ever want in a novel. I'd recommend this series to anyone, just make sure you read Vampire Academy first!

Let me know in the comments what you thought of this book! Who's your fan casting for Adrian, or really any of the characters?

Thanks for reading!
Amber