Celestial Academy: Essence cover art

Celestial Academy: Essence

Afterworld, Book 1

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Celestial Academy: Essence

By: Olivia Pharos
Narrated by: Amanda Leigh Cobb
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About this listen

In an Afterworld with Hell and Heaven on Earth, I'm the lowest a being can be. My life is one of drudgery, degradation—and danger. And that's before I started dealing Angelescence, a drug only I can produce, and everyone would kill for. Then I make one single mistake, and it gets me arrested, and my terrifying captor drags me to the Celestial Court—on a leash—to stand trial. My sentence?

Conscription to Celestial Academy—with Godric, the most powerful nephilim in history and Heaven's assassin as my mentor. He's been assigned with discovering the root of my unprecedented ability to capture Angel Essence.

We hate our forced proximity—and each other. But our private war takes a backseat as he unearths even more terrible mysteries within me. Meanwhile, lethal trials loom at mid-term, and a devastating internal war as well as another Apocalypse are brewing. And I'm at the center of it all.

©2022 Olivia Pharos (P)2024 Olivia Pharos Dark Fantasy Fantasy Science Fiction War

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All stars
Most relevant
A funny and fast paced (romance) fantasy with lots of action and banter. Such a great story and an amazing performance by the narrator

Fast paced, slow burn and banter!

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I tandem read the book and the audio at the same time after struggling with some of the world building when I initially picked it up last year. I was hooked right away as the narrator, Amanda Leigh Cobb, is amazing. Her delivery of some of Wen's one liners was so good and I genuinely found myself laughing with the character as I absolutely love Wen's snark and how she has zero filter.

This is super slow burn and I would have loved some of Godric's POV though as he's very detached for a lot of the book. There are definite flares of jealousy though and I was here for every one of them! A lot of the academic elements and character interactions seem to happen off page which was a shame as the side characters were all really interesting; Lorcan disappeared for a chunk of the book despite being name checked a lot and I loved Giddy and Wen causing trouble. I didn't really click with Sarah though. Although we saw Sarah and Wen's life at the beginning of the book, I felt like I was missing something about their relationship. Sarah is older and I couldn't grasp why Wen had put herself into big sister role as Sarah didn't seem particularly naïve and was also demon-owned. Jenny was also drawn into Sarah's orbit so I'm interested to see what else is going to unfold relating to her after the revelations towards the end.

My Bane is going on the nickname list too.

There is a lot of mystery still to be solved in relation to Wen and the twists towards the end have me hooked and waiting for the next book although it seems to be unavailable at the moment. Fingers crossed it is republished soon!

My interpretation of the star system;
3 stars - I enjoyed it; would read the author again
4 stars - I really liked it; I am invested and definitely want more from this author/series
5 stars - I loved it; I engaged with this book completely until I finished it and it is one I will re-read

Fantastic Narrator

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⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Zodiac Academy hangover? Don't worry, Olivia Pharos is here to save you!
 
For the category books that need all the hype, we have Celestial Academy: Essence, the first book in this new, adventurous, epic, sexy, urban fantasy.
 
First of all thank you NetGalle and IBPA for the ALC, if it weren't for you I would have never discovered what might be my newest obsession.
 
I loved how Olivia was able to put into this book so many of the vibes I love without copying any other fantasy.
Yes, we have Godric aka Godawful, the broody-powerful-possessive MMC; Wen, the sassy -apparently powerless but actually not- FMC, a deadly school, and many other tropes we all love and cherish.
But the plot, how the story evolves, and the slow burn, are so original and refreshing they immediately trapped me in.
 
I love all the female characters and I can't wait for them to form the ultimate girlbosses squad and just kill everyone in their path.
 
If you love:
- Morally grey characters
- Slow burn
- Hidden powers
- Academy
- Angels and Demons
- Friendship
- Amazing banter
Then what are you waiting for???? RUN!
 
The ALC was splendidly narrated and I had a super fun time listening to it!

This is for all my Zodiac Academy girlies

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