Bloodshed Academy Series (Year 1-3) by Jen L. Grey

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Bloodshed Academy Year 1 by Jen L. Grey

Only the strongest survive … most of the time

Raven may be a shifter, but she’s always felt separate from her wolf. She never knew it should be different. Then, a stranger showed up in her hometown, turning her world upside down and recruiting her for the elite Bloodshed Academy.

Everything she’s ever known gets challenged, and Raven found herself in impossible situations. Making matters worse was the fact that one of the strongest alphas at school caught her eye. And he made her feel things she didn’t understand.

The school may only recruit the best of the best, the strongest in their world, but there was something more about Raven. When push comes to shove, she had to decide if she’s willing to fight for what she’s come to love … or run from a life she couldn’t quite accept.

Bloodshed Academy Series Year 2 by Jen L. Grey

Bloodshed Academy Series Year 3 by Jen L. Grey

---

Overall this was a good fantasy series complete with shifters, vampires, fae, and more! I liked the main character Raven (for the most part) and I liked the group of friends and the dynamics the author created. It also dealt with speciesism (aka racism between fantasy species), which while obviously being fictional, I think it’s important to talk about those things because prejudice towards others is still so prevalent in our real world. There was also a whole lot of misogynistic beliefs that I wish were addressed more widespread, rather than just watching the main female character realize her worth.

I do have a couple complaints. One, it was trilogy, but the book ends while the plot is not finished. There definitely needs to be a book 4, but from my understanding, the plot continues in a different series, Half-breed Prison. Correct me if I am wrong there and book 4 just hasn’t been talked about by the author. I think the half breed prison should be more of a spinoff rather than a continuation, but idk.

My second complaint is the amount of childish bully types depicted at Bloodshed Academy. Like enough already! The author literally made everyone who wasn’t the core group of friends out to be jealous, petty, insecure, catty, and any other adjective you could use to describe a traditional ‘bully.’ It was actually ridiculous and I would literally role my eyes at every interaction with their fellow classmates. I think without this, the book could have solidly been 4 stars rather than the 3/3.5 stars I gave it.

Sorry for the two very lengthy complaints because overall, I did enjoy this book and I do recommend it. I feel like I have been on a shifter fantasy roll lately lol. This series is available on Kindle Unlimited.