Warrior Fae is the fifth and last book in the Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac series by Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti, the dark and twisty prequel to Zodiac Academy set five years before the events in Solaria.
The Ruthless Boys series blends dark fantasy romance, reverse harem (why choose), dark academia, and murder mystery vibes, all within the same universe as Zodiac Academy and Darkmore Penitentiary, complete with the Orders and familiar magic system fans love.
Warrior Fae is the last book of the Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac series. Elise and her four kings, Gabriel, Dante, Leon and Ryder try to uncover the true identity of the King who steals dark magic, navigate their deepening relationships, discover hidden lineages and try to get their happily ever after.
Read our full summary and review of Warrior Fae below.
This post contains spoilers.
Warrior Fae (Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac)
Description
I once thought one of my ruthless boys could be the killer I’m hunting. They’re all dark, deadly and more than capable of brutality.
But now I’m held by the King I’ve been stalking in the shadows and when I unmask him, he’ll realise he made a huge mistake in taking my brother from this world.
My Kings are coming for me, I know that in my soul. They’re on their way to rip me from my enemy’s arms and tear him apart for me.
My heart beats to the sound of their names.
But I won’t wait around to be rescued. Everything has led me to this moment and I’m ready to destroy the Fae who stole my brother from me.
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. I guess it’s a good thing I’m a Vampire then, because I just so happen to have a taste for blood.
Tropes
- Dark Academia
- Reverse Harem (RH/Why Choose)
- Found Family
- Murder Mystery
Review
Who is your favorite King?
Who is your favorite King?
Overall Impressions 😊
Although I’m a die-hard fan of the Zodiac Academy universe, I’ve made no secret about how fatigued I am by the Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac series. At this point, I’m just relieved to have reached the conclusion of this story.
The bromance between the Four Kings continues to enchant me, and the lingering mystery behind Gareth’s death was strong enough to keep me reading. But I just could not connect with Elise, no matter how much I wanted to, and the prequel series overall felt drawn out.
This installment leans heavily into character moments and spice, but in a sea of reverse harems and spice-heavy romantasies, I found myself wishing for a stronger plot to stay fully invested.
Perfect For Fans Of… 🌟
This series is a wild mix of romance, fantasy, murder mystery, dark academia, and reverse harem.
If you already love the world of Solaria, Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac adds a dash of mafia romance chaos into the mix.
The Twisted Sisters’ writing style carries their signature Zodiac Academy humor, but here everyone is a little poorer and not quite as childish, which makes for a fun contrast.
Warrior Fae leans hard into the why choose genre, so if you’re a seasoned reader of series like Bonds That Tie, Blood of Hercules, or Psycho Shifters, you’ll likely vibe with this installment even more than the earlier ones.
And if you enjoyed the cutthroat politics of the fae and want to see Solaria through the perspective of its biggest troublemaker, you’ll probably have as much fun as I did with this one.
Characters 👥
Over 2000 pages later, Elise never redeemed herself for me. For a why choose to work, the FMC needs redeeming qualities beyond just being fated to her mates. Unfortunately, she gave pick-me energy the entire time and was unlikeable for me. I appreciated her arc of vengeance driven by grief and the attempt to show how grief can shape a person’s future, but she still came off childish and immature for most of the series.
Leon is and will always be my favorite character in this series. He’s a golden retriever with claws. He’s smart, funny, always in a good mood, and he has depth and flaws that make him more than the “happy guy.” I’m really glad we get to see more of him in Zodiac Academy and Darkmore Penitentiary.
Dante and Ryder stood out with how they handled their feud, the Astral Adversaries becoming fast brothers once they let their war go. I’m not sure how I feel about Ryder’s arc at the end. His personality got reduced to being Elise’s boyfriend, but maybe he was meant to show us that love is all you need.
And then there’s Gabriel. I still think he is flat when it comes to personality, and I couldn’t believe the authors chose not to reveal his hidden past. I’ll give them credit for sticking to their guns and making us wait until Zodiac Academy for Gabriel to finally feel like a fully fleshed-out character.
Either way, the highlight of this series was the brotherhood and friendship among the Kings, despite Elise.
Plot 🗺️
The fact that this book took me a month and a half to finish should tell you everything you need to know. While I still love the worldbuilding and the detailed magic system, Warrior Fae was very much a character and spice-focused story rather than a plot-driven one.
It definitely could have been a trilogy, or even a duology. The story dragged in places that could have been tighter and more impactful with fewer pages.
I was promised stronger connections to Zodiac Academy, and while there is still time for that to develop, I really wanted to see the main villains of Zodiac Academy tied more directly to the dark magic plot here. The reveal of the final mysterious King felt a little too predictable, and I wish the details around how they stole their powers were clearer and more fully explored.
On the plus side, I appreciated that the stakes stayed high and that no one miraculously returned from the dead, which gave the story a genuine sense of consequence.
Some of the twists, especially around Elise’s father’s identity and Ryder’s powers, were interesting and left me curious to see how they will pay off in Zodiac Academy.
That said, I still have no interest in diving into Rosalie’s spin-off series set ten years after these events.
The epilogues were adorable and definitely tugged on my heartstrings. As the story moved beyond the Zodiac Academy timeline, the details became a bit vague, but they still managed to wrap things up in a satisfying and sentimental way.
My Favorite Quote to Hook You 📣
“It’s about time those assholes put a ring on it.”
Caroline Peckham & Susanne Valenti, Warrior Fae
Writing Style and Narration ✍️
The Twisted Sisters’ wit continues to be the shining star of this series. The world is so well thought out. The Orders, despite being numerous, are fleshed out. Nothing really feels like it’s thrown into the mix just because. Even when I got annoyed by RBOTZ, I still found myself spotting clues on how it will all tie back to Zodiac Academy.
Despite my complaints, I will likely read anything and everything these authors write, even if it’s just to enjoy the hilarious banter or the unserious way they poke fun at this world in what almost feels like a satirical manner.
Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac – Warrior Fae Synopsis
Time to pick your magical destiny: which Order do you belong to?
Time to pick your magical destiny: which Order do you belong to?
Elise’s Time in Captivity
After the gang war in Aurora Academy Elise is captured by the King. They need a vampire for their rituals so they can siphon more power from the Fae they’re using Killblaze. They suppress Elise’s powers, but keep trying to appeal to her to try and get her to be on their side of their cause. They blame the gangs, Oscura Clan and Lunar Brotherhood for all the violence in Alestria.
Dante, Gabriel, Ryder and Leon look for her. They find members of the Black Card and try and get the information out of them about Elise’s whereabouts.
Gabriel’s Sight is blocked by The King and he is unable to see where she is being held. In his frustration he’s becoming desperate. Each men try to get information about Elise’s whereabouts in their own ways.
Elise is being held in tunnels underwater which works as a reverse amplifying chamber blocking Gabriel’s abilities. She reluctantly drinks the blood the King offers her trying to get a semblance of her strength.
The men finally find Elise, after building an amplifying chamber of their own. Gabriel spots her under the water, and finds the chamber she’s kept in. The boys stage a rescue and get Elise out of the King’s grasp.
Dante and Ryder Break Their Astral Adversary Bond
Scarlett Tide challenges Ryder after he helps Dante when the academy was attacked. When Dante gets wind of the attack on Ryder he has to make a choice, to let Ryder live or die. Realizing her father wanted there to be an alliance between the Lunar Brotherhood and Oscura Clan, and for Elise’s sake, Dante saves Ryder’s life.
Since he chose help him, the stars realign and give them a choice to break their Astral Adversary bond. Both Ryder and Dante choose to break their bond, becoming Nebula allies.
Meanwhile, Elise, Gabriel and Leon are hooking up in the forest while looking for the perfect branch for Elise to give to Gabriel, the way the harpies mate. Called by the stars, Elise takes off.
Dante, Ryder and Elise are under the stars. They have their Divine Moment. Both Dante and Ryder become Elise’s Elysian Mate.
Elise’s True Identity
The starved vampire they rescued from the basement has memory issues. Ryder as a Basilisk can hypnotize him and help him unlock his memories. They enter his mind to realize that he is Marlowe Altair, Melinda Altair’s brother. Melinda Altair is the Celestial Councilor and Caleb’s mother.
Marlowe is also Elise’s father. He never left her mother, but instead was taken captive. They call Melinda Altair who arrives to help his brother. She also welcomes Elise, who is an Altair, to the family.
Lionel Acrux continues to hold Dante “hostage” by threatening Roselie and Roary. Instead of giving Lionel babies, they ask one of the Kipling brothers for sperm.
Meanwhile they attack the king and weaken him enough. When they block his concealment spell they realize the King is no other than Professor Titan whom Elise sees as a father figure.
When Scarlett attacks Ryder one more time they take refuse in Oscura household. Dante explains their Elysian mate bond and they’re all welcomed to Bianca Oscura’s house.
Warrior Fae Ending Explained
Gabriel keeps having visions about Ryder dying and he can’t find a way out of it. Ryder goes to confront her. Gabriel and Ryder go alone but Leon overhears their plans. Elise, Leon and Dante follow shortly after.
A big fight breaks out and Dante’s dragon form crumples a building on top of Ryder and Gabriel from the wreckage. They find Gabriel but they are too late as Scarlett has Ryder.
Scarlett cuts off Ryder’s tongue and then decapitates him. Elise attacks Scarlett to get revenge on her for killing her mate. It is revealed however that Ryder has learned how to use his basilisk’s camouflage skills and made himself look like Scarlett while he made Scarlett look like himself. So in the end, it was Scarlett who died.
Realizing nothing is more important than having love, Ryder fakes his own death. He crowns Ethan Shadowbrooke as the King of the Lunar Brotherhood and decides to live under a new identity, Carson Alvion.
Gabriel gets another vision where the King will perform his biggest ritual to collect the most power once in for all.
Elise confronts the King who tells her he is only trying to help. Titan also reveals that he killed Gareth once he realized he was trying to run away. He dosed him with Killblaze. Gareth died to the overdose, although he has never given him his power.
They use the dark magic book and draw star signs on the ground. They all channel to strip the King of his powers one by one. Elise, bites him at the end to drain the rest of his power and takes all of his air magic.
Elise kills Titan, ending the King once in for all. The Celestial Councillors arrive and take credit for it.
Beginning to get corrupted by the magic she took from Titan, Elise hunts those who hurt the souls the magic has come from. Gabriel catches up to her.
She uses the last of her magic to open a portal in the veil and calls Gareth. Gareth beyond the veil arrives and tells her he found peace. Elise begs him to cross the veil but Gareth refuses, telling her that his time on this plane is over. Elise bids goodbye to her brother, finally finding closure.
Elise sees Lionel Acrux and realizes he will cause a lot of pain and suffering. Just as she is about to end him to spare those from a lot of pain, the stars align themselves and Gabe and Elise have their divine moment.
Elise has a choice to make, go end Lionel now but Starcross herself with Gabriel or choose Gabriel. She chooses love.
They return to their final year in Aurora Academy.
Orion becomes the Cardinal Magic professor in Zodiac Academy and begin drinking a lot.
They win the Pitball championship.
Years pass, and Elise and the boys get married.
Gabriel takes up a position in Zodiac Academy as the Tarot professor and plays a major role in the battle against dark magic.
They have two children Luca and Ruby Jane (RJ). Luca emerges as a Monolrian Bear while RJ emerges as a duck egg blue Pegasus.
Gabriel builds them all a house.
Elise and her four kings, live happily ever after.
Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac Warrior Fae Spicy Chapters
How Spicy is Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac: Warrior Fae (Book 5): 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
Whether you want to get to the heat or want closed-door modifications here’s the list of spicy chapters below.
- Chapter 10
- Chapter 16
- Chapter 17
- Chapter 18
- Chapter 21
- Chapter 23
- Chapter 24
- Chapter 35
- Chapter 47
Tinfoil Hats On: My Zodiac Academy Universe Predictions
- No more predictions to be made, it’s over 🙁 I’m assuming Elise and her boys show up in ZA to eventually deal with Lionel Acrux.
- We already know Rosalie, Ethan and Roary will get their own series in Darkmore Penitentiary.
- Uh, are we getting an RJ story with that guy who tackled her though?
And that’s a wrap for the Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac Series. In case you don’t have the stamina for reading through the entire series, I’ll put together a quick recap post so you can brush up.
I like Why Choose series, and I’m obsessed with deep magic systems. Mixed with the irreverence of this series, and the friendship between the boys overall this was an enjoyable experience.
This series is not a reread for me although I truly enjoy getting to know side characters, so I think I would’ve been really sad if I didn’t read it if Elise and company showed up in Zodiac Academy and I didn’t know their back story. Besides, Leon alone was worth the adventure.
Still a very long series that probably could’ve been benefited from being 2 books shorter!
Did you like Warrior Fae? Where does Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac rank in overall Solaria for you? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
I’m heading into Zodiac Academy Origins of an Academy Bully next! Sign up for our newsletter to get notified when new posts go live.
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