Josh
I had a pretty good time with this book. I enjoyed the characters, the worldbuilding, and the magic system. El's sarcastic narration was especially enjoyable, as I've always been a sucker for witty banter and sarcasm.
I thought the premise was interesting, and the author did a good job explaining why anyone would willingly attend such a dangerous school. Combined with a magic system that has clear rules and enough depth to make the setting feel believable, which helped maintain tension throughout the story as the constant dangers of the Scholomance never felt far away.
While I wouldn't say the writing is particularly flashy, it does its job well and lets the characters and setting shine. All in all, it was an engaging read that consistently held my interest and that I moved through fairly quickly. It's an easy 4 reluctant doom mages out of 5 for me.
So why not 5? The biggest weakness to me in the book, is the diversity. It just feels more stated than realised. The cast is drawn from a wide range of backgrounds and we're frequently told where characters are from, but those different cultural backgrounds rarely seem to meaningfully influence how the characters think, act, or interact with one another. In most cases it just doesn't seem like something that genuinely shaped them. The only thing that did seem to hit that note, was whether they were from an enclave or not, but everything else felt somewhat cosmetic.
I had a pretty good time with this book. I enjoyed the characters, the worldbuilding, and the magic system. El's sarcastic narration was especially enjoyable, as I've always been a sucker for witty banter and sarcasm.
I thought the premise was interesting, and the author did a good job explaining why anyone would willingly attend such a dangerous school. Combined with a magic system that has clear rules and enough depth to make the setting feel believable, which helped maintain tension throughout the story as the constant dangers of the Scholomance never felt far away.
While I wouldn't say the writing is particularly flashy, it does its job well and lets the characters and setting shine. All in all, it was an engaging read that consistently held my interest and that I moved through fairly quickly. It's an easy 4 reluctant doom mages out of 5 for me.
So why not 5? The biggest weakness to me in the book, is the diversity. It just feels more stated than realised. The cast is drawn from a wide range of backgrounds and we're frequently told where characters are from, but those different cultural backgrounds rarely seem to meaningfully influence how the characters think, act, or interact with one another. In most cases it just doesn't seem like something that genuinely shaped them. The only thing that did seem to hit that note, was whether they were from an enclave or not, but everything else felt somewhat cosmetic.