Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Celestial Academy: Essence by Olivia Pharos Narrator: Amanda Leigh Cobb
Series: Afterworld #1
Published by Self-Published on May 30, 2024
Genres: Fantasy Romance
Length: 14 hours, 57 minutes
Format: Audiobook
Source: NetGalley
Goodreads
Amazon, Audible
Orphan. Slave. Drug dealer.
As a Demon-Owned human, in an Afterworld that has Hell and Heaven on Earth, Wen White is the lowest a being can be. Her life is one of drudgery, degradation—and mortal danger. And that's before she started dealing Angelescence. Unlike anything in existence, it's a drug only she can produce, and everyone would kill, or die for.
With decommission and execution closing in, she’s desperate to buy out her and her best friend’s Indentures. But upping her operations only gets her arrested, and her terrifying captor drags her to the Celestial Court to stand trial. Her sentence?
Conscription to Celestial Academy.
As the most powerful nephilim in history, Godric is Heaven’s most ruthless soldier and assassin. And he’s been assigned with discovering the root of her unprecedented ability to capture Angel Essence.
Both hate their enforced proximity—and each other. Especially when the other provokes explosive emotions and cravings they never thought they can experience.
But being embroiled in their private war becomes the least of their worries as he unearths even more disturbing mysteries within her. Meanwhile, a devastating internal war as well as another Apocalypse are brewing...
...and Wen seems at the center of it all.
I don’t know what is going on…recently it seems like I’ve found a few more books that have angel/demon dynamics in them. I won’t say that Celestial Academy: Essence the first book in the Afterworld series has large religious intonations, because it definitely does not. It is more like various teams playing on the court. You have team Angels, they appear to be the upper crust of society now and make many of the rules in the human world. Then there is team demons who tend to run some of the shadier happenings in this world. There are also some fey, vampires, shifters, goblins and other supernaturals hanging out too. Then there is the bottom of the food chain so to speak, the humans. Most are sold into slavery to Angels, demons or others. They have been since the world was lost in the magical war twenty-ish years ago. This is the story of one of those Humans, Wen.
Wen, well what can I say I loved her from the beginning. She has sass, an unusual talent, a really high threshold to pain, a mouth that runs away with her when it should just shut up and a propensity to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Owned by a demon she is doing everything to get out of his clutches along with her best friend and roommate Sarah. Wen will do whatever it takes, even if that means selling Angel Essence (something only she seems able to collect) to earn the money needed to buy their freedom. After she is busted by Godrick one of the Nephilim, whom she dubs Angelhole (see sassy), she is swept away to the Celestial school to be trained by none other than the sexy half angel she just can’t help antagonizing. As Godrick tries to whip her into shape, Wen just tries to stay alive in this magical school that seems to want her dead.
There are fights and challenges to move to the next level. Wen, will have a shot to learn what she is capable of and possibly a little bit into the question of who/what she really is. With her bff Sarah also at the school, at least she has one ally.
I hear this is like Zodiac Academy (ZA), but I haven’t read that series yet and so cannot comment on the similarities. Still that said now I want to jump into ZA as well. I always enjoy the magical school set up. Wen is roommate with four other women of various background and the five of them make up one team. They are supposed to learn how to work together to pass the tests coming at them. A little had to do with a demoness, a fey, a paltry human, a Nephilim and whatever Wen is. It was also nice that all the characters are around twenty so them lusting a little here and there felt slightly more mature and less icky. The romance aspect of the story is a really slow burn. The forced proximity wore Godrick down as Wen is likeable overall and her needling of him turned from aggravating to flirtatious. It is a fun relationship to watch.
Come back to me – always
I’m really excited to see what is in story for the characters of this story in the next book. The ending wasn’t a cliff hanger, but the author definitively gave us a tease and dropped a little bomb to get the reader really excited to see where the next story is going to go.
“The world humans knew did end, if not in the way we thought it would. It’s now a whole new world – Afterworld – because of one tiny difference. We now have Hell – and Heaven – on Earth.”
Narration:
I have listened to a few other books that Amanda Leigh Cobb has narrated. I think she is a good pick for this series as it is through Wen’s PoV and Amanda delivers Wen’s humor and snark really well. She brings out both the tough and the vulnerable sides of the main character while not diminishing the performances of the other characters. I enjoyed her performance of the novel and believe it added to my overall enjoyment of the book. I was able to listen at my usual 1.5x speed.
Listen to a clip: HERE
| Rating Breakdown | |
|---|---|
| Plot |
|
| Writing |
|
| Characters |
 |
| Dialogue |
|
| Narration (Audio) |
|
| Overall: | |
Friend me at Goodreads.
- 🎧Blood of the Old Kings by Sung-Il Kim #Sung-IlKim @EuniceWongActor #SuzyJackson #MajorCurda @MacmillanAudio @torbooks @SnyderBridge4 #LoveAudiobooks - October 7, 2024
- It Will Only Hurt for a Moment by Delilah S. Dawson @DelilahSDawson @delreybooks @SnyderBridge4 - September 30, 2024
- 🎧 The Fake Wedding Project by Pippa Grant @ReadPippa #CJBloom @ConnorCrais #BrillianceAudio #LoveAudiobooks #KindleUnlimited🎧 @SnyderBridge4 - September 28, 2024
Wow. Great review. And the book sounds really good.
Definitely up my alley and I enjoyed it even more than I thought I would. Great debut novel.
I do like angel/demon stories. So this might be one I’d enjoy. Beautiful cover on it too! Great review!
They are growing on me. When they don’t dive too hard into religious doctrine I usually have a really good time with them.