The Incandescent - Review
Link to the author's (E. Tesh) personal website
Genre: Fantasy
Publication Type: Book
Tags:
- Average Age of Main Characters (33)
- Length (4 / 10)
Link to Goodreads
Blurb: "Look at you, eating magic like you're one of us."
Doctor Walden is the Director of Magic at Chetwood Academy and one of the most powerful magicians in England. Her days consist of meetings, teaching A-Level Invocation to four talented, chaotic sixth formers, more meetings, and securing the school's boundaries from demonic incursions.
Walden is good at her job―no, Walden is great at her job. But demons are masters of manipulation. It’s her responsibility to keep her school with its six hundred students and centuries-old legacy safe. And it’s possible the entity Walden most needs to keep her school safe from―is herself.
Review: I recently finished the Scholomance series and it was fascinating to see how pieces of that series were used as clear inspiration for this work. Large parts of the world-building foundation were moved over and painted differently, but the story and perspective built on that foundation was entirely different. Following this analogy for another sentence: What a beautiful building it ending up being.
Saffy as a main character was a fantastic choice. I appreciated both how realistic her internal dialogue felt, and how realistic her various relationships with people felt. I think this was also the absolutely perfect size for this book. I was, however, hooked from the premise, so my predisposition towards liking this book was ratcheted up pretty high. Older main character with experience in academia? Some form of symbiotic magic that involves demons? Stitching that together with a magical school? Package that with some solid writing and an engaging story and the result is a strong recommend for all readers.