YA fantasy. This author’s take on the secret British magic school and the ‘chosen one.’ Was pretty skeptical before I picked it up, but it drew me in fairly quickly. It manages a good balance of taking things seriously and poking a little bit of fun at, ahem, a certain similar series. The book enters the story towards the end of the main character’s time in school rather than at the beginning, and the focus is on unearthing and resolving the origin story for this particular chosen one and for the ‘good vs. bad’ battle in which he has been unwillingly embroiled since finding out about the existence of magic. I think the book’s take on those things was interesting and somewhat more nuanced than more famous examples of this particular subgenre. I have to say, though – and to avoid spoilers, I won’t go into detail – that I didn’t love the implicit endorsement of a sort of pallid centrist politics in the resolution of the story. It would have been very easy to have exactly the same overall plot, but a firmer orientation towards not just peace but justice in how the broader political situation was wrapped up. Anyway, I enjoyed the story and liked the characters. The magic system, based on turning phrases said frequently by the non-magic population into spells, is clever. I enjoyed the openness with which the ‘chosen one’ was shown to be not the sharpest knife in the drawer. And I want Penelope Bunce to be my bestie. Overall, didn’t blow me away, but I enjoyed it, and I’ll certainly read the sequel.
Originally posted by Scott on Goodreads.