Marketed as an "adult Harry Potter" so I was immediately in. A lofty comparison, however.
Synopsis: The Scholomance is a school for magically gifted children. However, this school is not in the best of shape. Dangers and enemies lurk at every corner and students are lucky to make it out alive after graduation. El has the power to survive these monsters, but her dark magical skills might also kill all the other students and turn her to a dark side she cannot return from. As she begins to uncover secrets and is saved by the school's greatest hero, she finds unlikely allies and may make it out alive after all.
Plot: My biggest issue, and this seems to be a common theme with other readers, is the writing style. There is minimal dialogue and the majority of text is told in a stream-of-consciousness format which made the story a slog to get through and hard to understand at times. There was so much info-dumping and mindless rambling that wasn't necessary and just added to the length. Despite the tedious format though, I was interested from the very first sentence and the storyline is fairly unique. Vibes were top-tier and spooky but there were also some disgustingly grotesque moments to be forewarned of.
Characters: Still not too sure how I feel about the main character. I can empathize with her since we're in her brain for the whole story, but she is very judgy and rude so definitely hard to like at times. The romance inclusion was fine and regardless of El's imperfections, the banter and (albeit minimal) conversations were witty and very funny. There are also multiple side characters but since the focus is largely put on El it makes it hard to get to know them on a deeper level besides her thoughts.
This was an interesting one. The writing style makes me not want to read the second book but the plot absolutely does.
3.5 stars.
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