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4.17 AVERAGE
4.17 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
adventurous
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A lesser writer would have made the first act the entire book. Instead, we're treated to a much more interesting narrative that ends up as a lovely character study entwined with great worldbuilding and plotting. A real treat.
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A delightful read, with solid world building (short-cuts were taken, but I'm not mad about it), a beautifully three-dimensional protagonist and lots of magic, demons and queerness. Strongly recommended if you need something fun that also has some depth and a tiny dash of romance.
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I think this book had a lot of potential and lots of interesting concepts, and I greatly enjoyed a lot of it, even the daily school interludes. That said, it felt like the magic was not nearly as ingrained in the world as it should have been, and I found it truly unbelievable that the main character was somehow still alive AND allowed to continue potentially teaching at the end.
challenging
medium-paced
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
There’s a lot to like about this book even though it could be tedious at times. The beginning of the book was overly detailed for a non-teacher reader. I’m sure teachers might love the many avenues of reaching students and running a school but I found myself skimming paragraphs frequently. Sure, it was character building and all that, but my mind wandered a bit at the beginning. At about the 2/3 mark things fell into place, picked up, and I started to enjoy it very much. Some characters were incredibly unrealistic, but this takes place on magical-earth and has some fantastical stuff happening at all times everywhere so the characters weren’t completely out of the ordinary for the setting.
Once I settled into this fantasy boarding school barely hovering above a demonic realm(think Sunnydale High but incredibly wealthy and magical happenings are everyday life on earth), I just let it ride. That said, a few of the characters gave me a chuckle because they reminded me of the Buffy cast. There were perfect nerd girls, awkward weak-willed boys, teachers with confidence complexes that bit them in the ass, gorgeous yet bullish authority figures, and the many non-magical folk either tripping over themselves for the magic-abled people or acting like it’s NBD that there are essentially millions of unrestrained sorcerers that could easily destroy the world whenever they wish.
Speaking of destruction, the plot was pretty fun and held my interest until the very end. The last few chapters were…different…and a little surprising. I didn’t love the ending, but I can’t say it wasn’t expected.
Once I settled into this fantasy boarding school barely hovering above a demonic realm(think Sunnydale High but incredibly wealthy and magical happenings are everyday life on earth), I just let it ride. That said, a few of the characters gave me a chuckle because they reminded me of the Buffy cast. There were perfect nerd girls, awkward weak-willed boys, teachers with confidence complexes that bit them in the ass, gorgeous yet bullish authority figures, and the many non-magical folk either tripping over themselves for the magic-abled people or acting like it’s NBD that there are essentially millions of unrestrained sorcerers that could easily destroy the world whenever they wish.
Speaking of destruction, the plot was pretty fun and held my interest until the very end. The last few chapters were…different…and a little surprising. I didn’t love the ending, but I can’t say it wasn’t expected.
adventurous
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
So unnecessarily long. The entire first half, save one event, was a slog. I had to force myself to keep reading.
If you ever wondered what it would be like to be a schoolteacher who is also a school administrator, the first half of the book will be somewhat interesting to you. Safety regulations! Meetings! Homework grading! Building maintenance! Budget concerns! Schedules! Oh so many schedules!
If you want a sapphic/bi fantasy story about demons at a boarding school for burgeoning young magicians, you will be bored to tears for the vast majority of the book.
The most interesting part of the book starts around 80% in and then is rushed to its conclusion.
Phoenix is the only character that drew my interest. The book needed way more of the demon's perspective, because it was actually interesting. This book would have been so much better from anyone else's perspective other than the predictable and dull POV of the world's most smug and overconfident teacher with her terrible taste in men.
If you ever wondered what it would be like to be a schoolteacher who is also a school administrator, the first half of the book will be somewhat interesting to you. Safety regulations! Meetings! Homework grading! Building maintenance! Budget concerns! Schedules! Oh so many schedules!
If you want a sapphic/bi fantasy story about demons at a boarding school for burgeoning young magicians, you will be bored to tears for the vast majority of the book.
The most interesting part of the book starts around 80% in and then is rushed to its conclusion.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Moderate: Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol
Minor: Bullying, Child abuse, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Sexual content