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adancewithbooks 's review for:
The Incandescent
by Emily Tesh
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Thank you to Orbit and Netgalley for the review copy in exchange for an honest review. This does not change my opinion in anyway.
The Incandescent should be everything I want from a magical school story. Yet I have some mixed feelings about it as a whole.
We meet director of Magic Saphire Walden as she is taking care of one of her mundane tasks at a magical school. We follow her for a whole school year as she preps her 4 eldest students for their A Levels (United Kingdom, senior year high school). Unfortunately that doesn't go quite according to plan.
This story is heavily character focused as we follow Walden in the mundane of her task with some magic thrown in here and there. While I liked Walden as a character I struggled with her lack of emotions. We're doing a deep dive into a character. But this character is hiding a lot from herself. She buries herself in her work to not have to deal with her emotions that go as far back as 20 years ago. Of course that comes with consequences. I don't think the story wrapped up that portion of Walden very well.
After the events of October it was like watching a slow moving train wreck that you can't really look away from. She is making all the wrong decisions. And the one character that would have called her on that, is removed from her vicinity. Well isn't that convenient. The wrap up of the consequences of that did not at all feel satisfying to me. It is like Walden just shrugs. Oh well. Oopsie. Again, she buries herself in learning something to not have to deal with her emotions and she shows no inclination that this will change in the future. So clearly she has learned so very little. I find that very frustrating.
Having said that, I was very charmed by the setting of the school, the mundane things that were shown and some of the relationships between the characters. Especially the bits and pieces we get from our four students through Walden I found great to see and the way she clearly knowns them felt very endearing to me. I thought the key keeper was also a great add. Walden is also a character that sees a lot. She observes a lot. And Tesh uses that to show us the rest of the school. It has a lot going for it in that regard.
This is marketed as a dark academia. It sits on the border of that. It doesn't quite hit the macabre I think. The mundane of the story shifted a lot of the mood where it didn't quite feel like a dark academia at a lot of times.
Despite my mixed feelings I do think that The Incandescent is worth a read to those who love magical school settings or those who would love to read these settings from the end of the teachers.
The Incandescent should be everything I want from a magical school story. Yet I have some mixed feelings about it as a whole.
We meet director of Magic Saphire Walden as she is taking care of one of her mundane tasks at a magical school. We follow her for a whole school year as she preps her 4 eldest students for their A Levels (United Kingdom, senior year high school). Unfortunately that doesn't go quite according to plan.
This story is heavily character focused as we follow Walden in the mundane of her task with some magic thrown in here and there. While I liked Walden as a character I struggled with her lack of emotions. We're doing a deep dive into a character. But this character is hiding a lot from herself. She buries herself in her work to not have to deal with her emotions that go as far back as 20 years ago. Of course that comes with consequences. I don't think the story wrapped up that portion of Walden very well.
After the events of October it was like watching a slow moving train wreck that you can't really look away from. She is making all the wrong decisions. And the one character that would have called her on that, is removed from her vicinity. Well isn't that convenient. The wrap up of the consequences of that did not at all feel satisfying to me. It is like Walden just shrugs. Oh well. Oopsie. Again, she buries herself in learning something to not have to deal with her emotions and she shows no inclination that this will change in the future. So clearly she has learned so very little. I find that very frustrating.
Having said that, I was very charmed by the setting of the school, the mundane things that were shown and some of the relationships between the characters. Especially the bits and pieces we get from our four students through Walden I found great to see and the way she clearly knowns them felt very endearing to me. I thought the key keeper was also a great add. Walden is also a character that sees a lot. She observes a lot. And Tesh uses that to show us the rest of the school. It has a lot going for it in that regard.
This is marketed as a dark academia. It sits on the border of that. It doesn't quite hit the macabre I think. The mundane of the story shifted a lot of the mood where it didn't quite feel like a dark academia at a lot of times.
Despite my mixed feelings I do think that The Incandescent is worth a read to those who love magical school settings or those who would love to read these settings from the end of the teachers.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Child death, Murder
Minor: Death of parent