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juushikaTitle: An Academy for Liars
Author: Alexis Henderson
Published: Ace, 2024
Rating: 2.5 of 5
Page Count: 455
Total Page Count: 530,835
Text Number: 1944
Read Because: personal enjoyment, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: Our protagonist is recruited by a magical school whose students have the ability to persuade people, and perhaps the world itself, to change. I mean this as a neutral statement: this feels like serial numbers filed off fic for The Magicians (TV), feat. OFC/young Dean Fogg: similar premise and tone, the wonder of magic against the grime of new adults and power differentials, with some bonus moth imagery thrown in. The magic system is unique, and I like it; the pacing and character arcs increasingly strained, a racially-aware dark academia premise undermined by the narrative's endless patience for the protagonist, who is simultaneously the most flawed and the most powerful person on campus, an exaggerated combo that can't but feel tropey. None of this is bad, per se (except for the predictable, tonally-discordant climax); it's just kind of silly, wallowy and indulgent and weaker than most of its potential comparisons (Vita Nostra is thornier, Scholomance does tropey better, hell, The Magicians (TV) has better character arcs; it is, though, better than Magicians-the-book.)
(I had a very similar "nice premise, not very skillful execution, strong tropey/ficcy vibes" from Henderson's House of Hunger and, tbh, if I'd checked to see why the author's name was familiar I might not have read this.)
Author: Alexis Henderson
Published: Ace, 2024
Rating: 2.5 of 5
Page Count: 455
Total Page Count: 530,835
Text Number: 1944
Read Because: personal enjoyment, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: Our protagonist is recruited by a magical school whose students have the ability to persuade people, and perhaps the world itself, to change. I mean this as a neutral statement: this feels like serial numbers filed off fic for The Magicians (TV), feat. OFC/young Dean Fogg: similar premise and tone, the wonder of magic against the grime of new adults and power differentials, with some bonus moth imagery thrown in. The magic system is unique, and I like it; the pacing and character arcs increasingly strained, a racially-aware dark academia premise undermined by the narrative's endless patience for the protagonist, who is simultaneously the most flawed and the most powerful person on campus, an exaggerated combo that can't but feel tropey. None of this is bad, per se (except for the predictable, tonally-discordant climax); it's just kind of silly, wallowy and indulgent and weaker than most of its potential comparisons (Vita Nostra is thornier, Scholomance does tropey better, hell, The Magicians (TV) has better character arcs; it is, though, better than Magicians-the-book.)
(I had a very similar "nice premise, not very skillful execution, strong tropey/ficcy vibes" from Henderson's House of Hunger and, tbh, if I'd checked to see why the author's name was familiar I might not have read this.)
