Clara’s Verdict
Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti have built one of the more remarkable commercial fantasy operations in British self-publishing, and the Zodiac Academy series that made their reputation has an intensity of fan loyalty that I find genuinely interesting as a publishing phenomenon. Cinder Vale is the third book in their Sins of the Zodiac series, set in the same world as Zodiac Academy but framed, deliberately, as a villain’s story. I should say plainly that I have not read the first two books in this specific series, which means my perspective here is necessarily partial. The authors are quite clear in their own material that this is not an entry point, and I think they mean it.
The romantasy genre – fantasy with an enemies-to-lovers romance at its centre, usually involving morally complex or outright villainous protagonists and a dark emotional register that standard romance avoids – has become its own substantial category in the last few years. Peckham and Valenti are among its most prolific architects, and the promise of Sins of the Zodiac is that it pushes further into moral ambiguity than even their own previous work. Their description of Book 2 as the instalment that will leave you cursing the stars and perhaps the authors too is the kind of adversarial intimacy with readers that characterises the most devoted fanbases in genre fiction.
About the Audiobook
Published by the authors themselves in March 2026, Cinder Vale is Book 3 of the Sins of the Zodiac series. At 19 hours and 27 minutes, it is a substantial listen – comparable in length to a long one-volume fantasy novel. No Audible UK rating has been posted yet; the book is too recent for reviews to have accumulated. Bridget Bordeaux narrates. The series is set in the same world as Zodiac Academy, meaning listeners with background in that world will have contextual depth that newcomers lack entirely.
The series features Fae characters described by the authors as morally grey – which in the romantasy lexicon means characters whose actions include things that standard romantic protagonists would not do, and whose appeal depends on a reader’s willingness to sit with moral discomfort alongside emotional investment. The authors are direct about this in their framing: you have not met tainted souls like these before, or enemies that hate each other as deeply. For readers who enjoy that mode, it is an explicit recommendation. For readers who do not, it is a clear advisory.
The Narration
Bridget Bordeaux has established a reputation in romantasy narration, and her work here is consistent with that track record. She handles the dark emotional register that Peckham and Valenti’s writing demands without tipping into melodrama, and the enemies-to-lovers dynamic requires a narrator who can hold tension in the voice rather than simply signalling it through volume or inflection. At nearly 20 hours, the sustained intensity is a genuine challenge for any narrator; Bordeaux manages it capably. Listeners who have followed her work in other romantasy titles will find nothing here to disappoint them, and newcomers will find a narrator well-matched to the material.
What Readers Say
No Audible UK reviews have been posted at the time of writing. Given the recency of the release in late March 2026, this is expected rather than concerning. The Peckham and Valenti fanbase is vocal once titles have had a few weeks to circulate, and their Zodiac Academy series has accumulated very large review totals. The series description and the authors’ own characteristically provocative framing of their own Book 2 cliffhanger suggest that the audience is already engaged and already prepared for whatever Book 3 delivers. Early absence of reviews is simply a timing issue here rather than a signal about reception.
Who Should Listen?
Start with Book 1 of Sins of the Zodiac. That is not a suggestion but a genuine requirement if you want the character relationships and world-specific stakes to make sense – the enemies dynamic that drives the series is load-bearing from the first chapter and requires the history established in prior instalments. Existing fans of Zodiac Academy will have a clear advantage in terms of world familiarity, though Peckham and Valenti frame this as a story that stands on its own darker terms.
If you enjoy morally grey protagonists, enemies-to-lovers dynamics with genuine antagonism rather than performative bickering, and dark fantasy romance at substantial length, this series is well-suited to you. Readers who prefer lighter romantasy, who need their romantic leads to be fundamentally decent people doing understandable things for understandable reasons, or who are entirely new to this world should begin elsewhere – either with Zodiac Academy Book 1 to build world familiarity, or with a more accessible introduction to Peckham and Valenti’s broader catalogue. Cinder Vale is not a book that pauses to explain itself to strangers, and it does not apologise for that.
