Week 21 Review: The Incandescent

From Goodreads:

Naomi Novik's Scholomance series meets Plain Bad Heroines in this sapphic dark academia fantasy by instant national and international bestselling author Emily Tesh, winner of the Hugo and World Fantasy Awards.

"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.

My Review:
I was so interested in the synopsis, the comparisons had me really interesting, and yeah, this book lived up to that! The world in this book, with the magic and the way things work, was so interesting to read! Plus the way that this book was structured was pretty different! 

That there's a big major conflict less then 25% and is wrapped up fairly quickly, isn't something that I've seen before. Sure, there is also a pretty big battle at the end, but with what was going on with the story, and all the different reveals going on there, it was structured differently, too, from a standard novel, and both those different choices were so interesting to read! 

One big part of my interest in this book was the comparison to the Scholomance series by Naomi Novik, since I love that series. That kind of magical academia, but from the perspective of the adults, the teachers, was wonderful. Though my understanding of England's education system and labels is pretty fuzzy, so some details might have flown over my head. I know teachers have it rough, but this book showcased just how far they stretch themselves because they aren't given the proper amount of support and staff.

If this becomes a series, or there's more books set in this world, I would love to read them! The way the magic works with the different types, and the demons, was such a richly built world. It'd be too bad if we only got to spend this book-length time with it, and these characters! 

Loved reading this book and I need to read more by Emily Tesh! 

Author: Emily Tesh 
Read: May 22nd, 2025 
Source: NetGalley 
Reason Why: Sounded really good, and it's a SAC 2025 Book! 
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Published: May 13th 2025

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars