The Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac series by Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti is a captivating new adult paranormal saga filled with secrets, destiny, and complex relationships. This article explores the series, focusing on key characters like Ryder Draconis and Elise Callisto, plot developments, and the intricate dynamics that drive the narrative.
Key Characters and Their Development
Elise Callisto
Elise arrives back to the school, her and Dante Oscura run into Gabriel Nox at the dorm. We are seeing her relationships with all of the guys starting to really take off. Elise is finally starting to get some information regarding those she believes are involved with Gareth’s death.
Ryder Draconis
Ryder, publicly known as violent, ruthless, bloodthirsty, and psychotic, undergoes a massive transformation throughout the series. Ryder and Elise meet on her second day at Aurora Academy when Professor Colin Titan assigns Ryder as her Potions lab partner due to him being the best student in the class and her being a transfer. She brings out the best in him, and over time is able to help him find a sweet and caring side that he only shows to his loved ones. I feel in particular that Dante, Ryder, and Gabriel had the most character development in this book with regards to each other.
Initially, Ryder was known to never form a romantic connection with anyone before Elise. In their first encounter Ryder snared her in one of his hypnosis fantasies where he seduces her by taking his clothes off. Later, Ryder makes a deal with Dante where they promise to each other not to be sexually active with Elise.
His relationships with both Dante and Gabriel developed really well for me here and was happy to see him and Dante no longer hating each other. We saw his relationship with Gabriel grow in Broken Fae, but I felt like it grew even more in this book than the last.
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Ryder is tall and broad, with two hundred pounds of muscle. He has bronze skin. His black hair is shaved down so hard there's barely any hair left. His eyes are cerulean green. He has a deep voice. His body is covered in faded scars from being tortured. He has a tongue and dick piercing. He has multiple tattoos. One fist is tattooed along his knuckles with the word lust, and the other fist's knuckles have the word pain.
In his Order form, Ryder shifts into a snake with inky black scales. He can change his size, from as large as a bus to small enough to fit in a pocket. He can also change the color of his scales to camouflage. He has multiple rows of fangs.
Dante Oscura
Dante finds out someone broke into his stash and realizes what was stolen. Dante receives a letter from the head of the Dragon shifters and throws it in the bin. Seeing his family dynamic was cool to me as you can see how much he values his family despite being a leader of a gang.
Gabriel Nox
Gabriel gives Elise the USB with the videos from Dante’s stash. He heals her wounds and Elise heals Dante. He heals her wounds.
Leon Night
Leon puts the Mindys onto the job to hunt him down. Their interactions throughout Vicious Fae with all the Lion King references were hilarious to me, and I love that they actually had them watch the Lion King together with Elise. I especially like that out of all the guys, Leon seems to understand what she wants and tries to do what he can on his part to make her happy by trying to bring all of the guys together and form a friendship with them.
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Leon was ever faithful in believing that Ryder had a soft side. He always saw Ryder's love for Elise shining through.
Pathetic Aesthetic - Dimension Dragons
Plot Developments and Story Arcs
Secrets will be uncovered. Destiny will be decided. Death will deliver us all in the end. No one will escape the conclusion of this story without blood on their hands. There are so many secrets left to uncover, and I sense something terrible is about to come to light.
I wasn’t overall too surprised in getting the truth about how Gareth died though as I felt like I had that answer earlier in this series even with this book’s predecessor hinting at another possibility. I also wasn’t all too surprised about how Ryder’s gang reacted in this book because I felt like that was to be expected due to his relationship with his members throughout the series.
Vicious Fae
With this book, I also liked that the plot was actually starting to pick up. Elise is finally starting to get some information regarding those she believes are involved with Gareth’s death and we are seeing her relationships with all of the guys starting to really take off. In Savage Fae, while I enjoyed seeing Elise’s relationships with these guys, I felt like her looking into Gareth’s death took a backseat and that the story was mostly focused on her dynamic with all these guys instead of her focusing on who was responsible for her brother’s death.
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Broken Fae
What I also enjoyed when reading this book was continuing to see the different relationships between all of the guys Elise is with. After the ending of the previous book, these relationships were definitely put to the test. But I did enjoy what I did see of their dynamic once they all realized how much Elise cares about each of them.
Warrior Fae
Everything has led me to this moment and I’m ready to destroy the Fae who stole my brother from me. I also appreciate the storyline surrounding Elise and her Vampire relations because I wasn’t expecting that here as it explains a lot with what happened and why Elise didn’t have much in family besides her mother and Gareth growing up. I wasn’t expecting it at all when I read this series because I didn’t feel like I got a hint of it in the earlier books either in any way. I felt bad for Elise since she had a good relationship with this Fae throughout the series.
Relationships and Dynamics
I enjoyed seeing Elise’s relationships with these guys, I felt like her looking into Gareth’s death took a backseat and that the story was mostly focused on her dynamic with all these guys instead of her focusing on who was responsible for her brother’s death. I feel like character development continued on with this book, especially with all of the guys.
You can see how much each of these guys cares about her and understand why she likes each of them. And I feel like in this book in the series, we are slowly starting to see them understand that Elise cares about each of them and they actually starting to accept that about her.
Ryder and Elise
Elise eased Ryder into showing her his true self after he snares her in a vision showing him and his father, giving her a deeper side to this dark king that she didn’t realize had existed and he fell in love with her.
Dante and Ryder
Dante and Ryder are Astral Adversaries, a bond passed to the both of them through their fathers. Against all odds, and because they both love Elise, they often find themselves in situations where they have to put their differences to the side.
In Warrior Fae the stars call to them both and offer them the chance to break the bond, bonding them as Nebula Allies and leaving a mark of a half infinity symbol on one of their hands. Ryder calls Dante his "calm in the story" as Dante is nothing if not steady. Dante opens Ryder's up to having a loving family.
Criticisms
The biggest criticism I have for Warrior Fae (though this might be more of a criticism for the series as a whole than this book in particular) is how long it took for the plot to develop. I enjoyed seeing Elise’s relationships with these guys continue to grow and their relationship with each other as well. But I feel like that took up more of the book than defeating King and finding out who killed Gareth.
Another criticism I have for the final book in the Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac series is the ending. While I overall like that these characters get the happy ending they deserve, I feel like some of the epilogue is just too much. I was interested in seeing what happened after they all defeated King but the way the authors chose to go about it wasn’t what I was expecting for this series.
Character Appearances in Other Series
Though I was surprised at the new identity Ryder ends up taking on as it took me this book to realize that character makes an appearance in the Zodiac Academy series several times.
Ryder's Tattoos
Ryder adds an "X' over his heart, star signs, and a memorial tattoo for Gareth Tempa. Gabriel tricks Ryder into giving himself a tattoo of Scorpio on the inside of his left wrist. Later, he embellishes his Scorpio tattoo with intricate feathers surrounding it and the words "My Hope" curving underneath it. Above his Scorpio tattoo he has Leo tattoo of a lion with curling flames around it. His Leo tattoo has the words "My Joy" beneath it. Above that is the Gemini symbol with lightning daggering it and the words "My Mercy" under it. The Aquarius symbol is above that with a rainbow arching over it with the words "My Duty" under it. Above that is the symbol of Libra with small X's around it and the words "My Life" beneath it. He changes the tattoo of the word lust to the word free.
| Tattoo | Description |
|---|---|
| Scorpio | Scorpion with Scorpio symbol, "My Hope" |
| Leo | Lion with flames, "My Joy" |
| Gemini | Gemini symbol with lightning, "My Mercy" |
| Aquarius | Aquarius symbol with rainbow, "My Duty" |
| Libra | Libra symbol with X's, "My Life" |