This was my first time reading a series from this author, and I was extremely pleased by the quality of the writing. I had been tipped off to the author's quality from her work on the first Fantastic Schools short story collection, where the author had a story from this universe. I have to say that this novel wasn't quite as good as that story, but it was still really excellent, and I look forward to reading more from her soon (including the sequel).
Magical schools have been presented many times before, but this is one of the few takes I've seen where the school and the students seem so openly antagonistic towards one another. Partially this is because negative qualities are so openly praised in the students, but also because of the natural contention between the protagonist's natural characteristics and the school's expectations. I thoroughly enjoyed the characters, and the author's descriptiveness. The worldbuilding was thin, but held up decently well, and I appreciated that the author didn't try to stick extra world stuff into such a short book that flowed so well. The pacing was extremely good and the prose were transparent. I read the book in two sittings over a single day. The main reason that I'm not giving it five stars is because the final quarter of the book just seems to weaken and falter, with the plot rapidly diverging from what was previously established. The author has the skill to make it work, but the foreshadowing just wasn't there, and I felt a bit lost.
The characters are not fleshed out. This is an unfortunate oversight, but one that I would be willing to overlook considering how much I enjoyed the book while I was reading it. However, the ending lost me. I would still highly recommend this book, however. Just temper your expectations going in. A new epic this is not.
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