Zodiac Academy: The Awakening

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2020

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-5

Chapters 6-10

Chapters 11-15

Chapters 16-20

Chapters 21-26

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Discussion Questions

Themes

Self-Discovery as Empowerment and Confidence Building

Due to their own life experiences, Darcy and Tory Vega have not yet had the opportunity for self-discovery. They have deep-rooted traumas that affect their abilities to accept themselves. As children who grew up in difficult foster homes, they came to view themselves as unlovable and disposable. This belief leads Tory to seek out the “bad boys” who are prone to break hearts rather than remain faithful and loving to their partners. In contrast, Darcy becomes naively trusting, which leads to equal, if not more, heartbreak.

Coming to Zodiac Academy provides the twins with an opportunity to find validation within themselves rather than look for it in other people or things. When Darius requires Tory to “leave everything from [her] time with the mortals behind,” Tory finds the task extremely easy (89). Other than Darcy, there is “very little else in [her] life that [she] care[s] about enough to bring […] leaving the mortal world behind [i]s just fine by [her]. It had never seemed to care for [her] much anyway.” (90). Likewise, when her powers manifest in the Awakening ceremony, Tory feels “fearless, powerful, unstoppable” (47). Her small dreams from her previous life, which were restrained by her limited options and resources, now seem irrelevant. Her worldview and the possibilities of who she can be and what she can do within it are greatly expanded.

Darcy has a similar worldview to Tory. The mortal world was never kind to them and never felt like home. She fears that she’ll wake up one day and realize that Zodiac Academy was a fantastical dream. Despite “the fear the Heirs ha[v]e struck in [her], [the Academy] call[s] to [her]. It [i]s beautiful and a deep vibration in [her] soul that t[ells] [her that she] belong[s] here. Like the stars themselves had been waiting for [her] to arrive at this very spot” (68). The Academy feels like a real home where she belongs—a feeling neither twin has ever experienced before.

Their constant rotation of foster homes left them without a safe and secure environment in which to discover themselves. They became who they needed to be in order to survive. The only constant factor in their lives was each other. Therefore, when they must split into separate houses in the Academy, they have visceral reactions. Darcy thinks with horror, “Part with Tory? My twin? I mean…we were independent but we were also a constant in each other's lives. She was like my left arm. I could manage without it most of the time but if it was cut off I wouldn't be whole” (66). Their experience at the Academy, while profoundly difficult at times, helps each sister gain independence from the other.

Challenging Determinism

Challenging determinism is a common theme in astrological debates and an equally important theme in the novel. In Solaria, the entire Fae world revolves around astrology. The zodiac signs and constellations have a hand in nearly everything from magical abilities to Orders to determining fate itself. Tory overhears Darius say to Orion, “Sometimes I wish we didn’t live in a world where everything was mapped out for us as if our lives are nothing more than pieces in some greater fucking puzzle and we get no say at all” (224). This is the only instance in which a character in the novel, particularly a Celestial Heir, mentions the lack of free will in terms of astrology.

Tory and Darcy grew up in the mortal world, where magic does not exist and astrology generally only acts to provide self-reassurance and is not a governing component to society. Therefore, they do not view the world through the traditional Fae lens. While they may believe that everyone around them is acting strictly of their free will, Darius’s voiced desires to Orion to be free of fate’s predetermined course of action suggests that perhaps his actions are less of his free will than the twins instinctively believe.

This differentiating viewpoint that Tory and Darcy have from the Fae is evidenced in what Tory thinks as Caleb and Seth dangle her over the stalagmite cave: “I wasn’t going to let them rule my fate like that. I was born a fighter and if there was even the slightest chance that I could get myself out of this then I was going to do it” (264). Their surprise when she is able to overpower them with Coercion symbolizes an individual’s power to alter or at least redirect the fates that astrology has dictated. Another instance in which fate was thwarted was when the King and Queen switched out their children for human twins. The real, human Tory and Darcy “[took] the fate that was meant for” Gwendalina and Roxanya (383). Because Professor Astrum’s tarot predictions are all based on tarot and have rarely been wrong, the concept of fate does not bode well for the twins. However, if they continue to fight for their own free will as they’ve dedicated themselves to doing so far, there remains hope that they’ll be able to escape the potential dark fate that lies before them. The ways in which characters sidestep fate in various ways in the novel allude to the potential for them to do so again.

Navigating Power Dynamics and Interpersonal Complexities

Navigating power dynamics and navigating interpersonal complexities are interwoven concepts throughout The Awakening. The desire for power is a driving motivator behind the Fae race. When Tory and Darcy arrive at the Academy and put the Celestial Heirs’ claims to the throne in jeopardy, the Heirs become violently protective of what they believe now to be their inherent right. This potentially murderous animosity is prevalent in Seth’s early interaction with Darcy:

‘What’s really not funny is you and your sister showing up here to steal our throne. We've worked our asses off to earn that right. Our four families have ruled for nearly twenty years since the fall of King Vega and Solaria has been much better off for it. Our parents divide the power between themselves and as the sons of the Celestial Council, we will soon take that responsibility from them. So we don’t intend to just sit back and let you take the throne from us and return Solaria to the shitheap it was when your father ruled,’ he snarled, his eyes two hollow pits of cruelty. There was no friendliness left, his touches weren't curious now, they were possessive and degrading (74).

Not long after this interaction, Professor Orion says to Darcy, “Everything in Solaria is about power, Miss Vega. […] Everyone takes what they want. It’s our way. And if you don't start taking it yourself, you’re going to fail at this Academy before you’ve even attempted to pass The Reckoning” (160). The over-all-else importance of power in Fae society is outlined explicitly from their first introduction to Solaria and Zodiac Academy. However, having grown up in the mortal world where stricter rules govern this greedy behavior, the girls oftentimes forget to take these warnings seriously.

With everyone vying for power and willing to kill, maim, or betray to get it, the girls must guard their heads and hearts closely. Trusting the wrong person could mean their demise or, worse, their deaths. While they remain vigilant in resisting the temptations to trust the Heirs at first, their over-suspicion blinds them to potential allies or enemies hiding in plain sight. When their hesitancy to trust eventually wanes and they allow Caleb and Seth briefly into their confidence, that trust is immediately betrayed. The novel ends with the twins learning, finally, to the greatest extent how important power is to Fae and the extreme lengths they’re willing to go to in order to obtain or keep it.