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Silver Shadows (Book 5)

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“ Everything I'd fought for, every challenge, every victory … all of it was empty if anything happened to him. Without him, I wouldn't have had the courage to become the person I was. Without him, I wouldn't have realized what it truly was to live and love life. Centrum permanebit. He was my center, and there was nothing I wouldn't do, nothing I wouldn't give up, to keep him safe. ”

—Sydney Sage about Adrian Ivashkov


Silver Shadows, the fifth book in Richelle Mead's spin-off series Bloodlines, was released on the July 29, 2014. The book continues with the narrators from The Fiery Heart, Sydney, and Adrian.

Summary[]

In the aftermath of an event that ripped their world apart, Sydney and Adrian now 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.

Plot[]

The book opens with Sydney inside the same dark cell that she was last seen in The Fiery Heart. She mentions she doesn't know how long she has been inside the cell since the capture. She has been on a hunger strike, believing that the drugs that make her sleepy are inside the food, but she later works out that they were coming through the air itself. Sydney mentions that she knows they know she is off her pill, that her monthly cycles are up and down, and along with this, she notes that she isn't pregnant with Adrian's child. Fearing that if she were an alchemist, they would have complete control over her, she thankfully notes that it is only her inside her own body. A female voice pierces the silence of the cell, asking Sydney to confess her sins. Sydney replies "no" and says that she wants them to stop drugging her and let her sleep properly so that she can dream and talk to Adrian. The Alchemist gives her a thin dress to wear because their idea to get her to confess while naked didn't work.

A female voice tells Sydney that her betrayal has broken her father's and her sister's hearts, to which Sydney responds that both her father and her sister aren't at the top of her favorite list at that very moment and also tells the woman that her father didn't have a heart to begin with. Once more, the woman tells Sydney that she can see her family if she just confesses, but Sydney thinks of Adrian and refuses again. At this point, the drug is piped into her cell, and she falls asleep. Eventually, Sydney figures out that if she confesses her sins, she will be able to dream and finally see Adrian, giving her a chance to escape the re-education. The disembodied female voice demands that Sydney confess her sins, to which Sydney replies that she confesses. She is then asked what her sins are, to which Sydney replies, "I fell in love with a vampire," and moments after this, a bright light blinds her and the doors are opened.

In Palm Springs, Adrian takes his exam with Rowena and afterwards leaves to pick up Jill and the others. While there, he finds out that Jill had something related to her modeling career that Adrian had missed. He goes to his apartment and gets drunk. When he wakes up, his mother is back and takes him back to the Court.

Sydney is taken out of solitary and to a stall, where she has five minutes to take a bath. After that, her tattoo is refreshed, and Sydney is introduced to other detainees, who avoid her because she is tainted. In a class, Sydney talks back to the teacher, supporting the Moroi, and she is taken to a room where she's exposed to images of Moroi and injected with something to make her feel extremely nauseous and unable to throw up until the end of the torture session.

Later in the book, Sydney makes a friend called Duncan, who helps her learn her way inside re-education. He teaches her about the gases that make everyone sleep and helps her find a way to escape from her room. Adrian is finally able to talk to Sydney in their dreams, and Sydney tells him that she is in the same re-education center that Keith Darnell was in. The information Sydney gives him gets Adrian even closer to finding her, and Adrian also gets to speak with Sydney's older sister, Carly Sage.

Adrian and Marcus take a road trip to find Carly. She's suspicious of them at first until Adrian asks if college has changed her mind about Cicero's philosophy, which is what Sydney told her to ask Carly. She reveals that after Keith Darnell was released from Re-education, he showed up and begged her to report the rape to the police so he'd be safe from the Alchemists, but she chose not to so that he'd live in fear as she did once. Marcus appears very interested in Carly. She gives Adrian and Marcus Keith's contact information so they can figure out where the Re-education facility is.

Adrian and Marcus find Keith in Idaho, who's frightened of them, but they convince him to talk by saying it'll help Carly. He doesn't actually know where the Re-education center is, as he was blindfolded when he was released. He tells them that re-education made him feel hopeless and realize that's what he'd done to Carly. When Adrian presses for more information, Keith says that when he got out, there was dry heat and it felt like it was in the eighties. Based on that information and Adrian being sure Sydney's in the same time zone as California, Marcus theorizes that Sydney's Re-education facility is in Death Valley or Tuscon. They return to Palm Springs and begin a plan to find the exact facility. Jill invokes her royal status to release Eddie from his duties to protect her so that he can help find Sydney. Trey tells Adrian that a blonde human was looking for him and Sydney but left when she heard they weren't around. Adrian tries to talk to Sydney in their dreams, but when he isn't able to connect with her, he begins to worry that she is blocking him.

After turning off the chemicals for her floor, Sydney accidentally runs into the evil Alchemist Sheridan (the disembodied voice and torturer). The invisibility spell breaks, and Sheridan sees Sydney, who's then knocked out. Sydney is tortured but refuses to confess about how she managed to avoid detection until Emma is brought in and tortured. Sydney finally confesses that she used magic to avoid detection and is tortured. She is kept in a room with a permanent guard where she's tortured, constantly asked questions, and exposed to blinding light and irritating noises. On one side of the wall in her chamber are the ropes and devices used during the torture episodes.

Adrian comes up with a plan with the help of Marcus, Duncan, and Emma. Adrian, Marcus, and some of Marcus's ex-Alchemist contacts sneak into the re-education center pretending to be Alchemists. The detainees create a fire inside the building (using one of their teacher's cigarettes), forcing the Alchemists to flee and allowing Marcus's Alchemists to save the detainees. When it's discovered that the fourth floor (where Sydney is located) is locked to prevent the "most dangerous" prisoners from escaping, Marcus takes Sheridan's ID so that Sydney can be saved. Adrian and Eddie head down to the fourth floor and break out Sydney and Chantal.

Sydney convinces Adrian that they could escape so that the Alchemists will chase them and not Marcus and the detainees. Following the escape, the Alchemists go on a rampage, determined to capture Sydney, whom they now consider to be their most wanted criminal). They chase Adrian and Sydney all the way to Las Vegas (the re-education center ended up being in Death Valley, just a few miles away from Palm Springs). There, in a Moroi hotel called The Witching Hour, Adrian proposes to Sydney, thinking that if she becomes part of his family (an Ivashkov), then the Alchemists can no longer touch her since she would then become a part of the Moroi Society. Sydney accepts, and (being in Las Vegas) they marry. On their way to catch a helicopter, Sheridan and some Alchemists try to capture Sydney again by using Adrian as leverage. Sydney uses magic to force Sheridan to release Adrian, and the couple flee to the Moroi Court, where Queen Vasilisa grants them both sanctuary as long as they're both at Court. The Alchemists and Adrian's father are enraged, but Adrian's mother (Daniella Ivashkov) likes Sydney and feels that Adrian has made some good choices; she decides to leave Adrian's father.

Adrian, Sydney, and Daniella stay in a guest suite, and Adrian and Sydney finally have their wedding night. The next morning, the three of them are given some grave news by Rose and Dimitri: Jill has gone missing, and Lissa's position on the throne is in peril.

Characters[]

Shown[]

Mentioned[]

Translations[]

The book has been translated into Bulgarian, Czech, French, German, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Slovenian, and Turkish.

  • Bulgaria: Сребристи сенки - publ.: February 1, 2015
  • Czech Republic: Stříbrné stíny - publ.: December 3, 2014
  • France: Silver Shadows - publ.: January 1, 2015
  • Germany: Silberschatten – publ.: March 5, 2015
  • Poland: Srebrne Cienie - publ.: October 2015
  • Portugal: Sombras prateadas - publ.: February 25, 2015
  • Russia: Серебряные тени - publ.: January 1, 2016
  • Slovenia: Srebrne sence - publ.: April 7, 2016
  • Turkey: Gümüş Gölgeler - publ.: January 1, 2015

Quotes[]

“ Adrian. He was the reason I was able to survive in this prison. And he was also the reason I was here in the first place. ”

—Sydney Sage about Adrian Ivashkov

Trivia[]

  • Re-Education is explored during the book.
  • Adrian and Dimitri attempt to bond to try to form a friendship, though according to Richelle, it seems to be difficult.
  • Carly Sage will make her first appearance in Silver Shadows and will also have an important role throughout the book.
  • According to Richelle, this book is a romantic themed book rather than a hot and sexual tension book like The Fiery Heart.
  • Adrian will have contact with his mother in Silver Shadows.
  • Richelle has announced that the beginning of the book is dark, whereas the ending of the book is seen as being extremely romantic. She also describes it as being "intense" throughout the book.
  • Apparently, a part near the end of the book said it would change the entire Vampire Academy/Bloodlines world forever.
  • Like The Fiery Heart, Silver Shadows does have a cliffhanger ending, though according to Richelle, it is a 7/10 type of cliffhanger, not a 9/10 (The Fiery Heart).
  • Currently, it is the shortest of the Bloodlines series in both chapters and page numbers.
  • Adrian and Sydney get married in Las Vegas.
  • Daniella Ivashkov, along with Rose, supported Sydney and Adrian's marriage.

External Links[]

Book Covers[]

References[]

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