Let me start by saying I enjoyed Olivie Blake’s novel about dark academia where six gifted people were invited to join the magical Alexandria Society. The prose and characters were well written and I admire the author for originally self publishing before its runaway success led to industry publication.
But the narrative never lived up to its promise.
I was expecting a series of thrilling magical trials while the characters competed to join the Alexandria Society. Instead we were presented with six students of dubious magical ability who sat around reading books and quietly plotting against one another. At times I felt I was in an Agatha Christie thriller, stuck in a library without a murder to solve or propel the story. Its simply about trust and alliances where magic is slight and the plot even slighter with an unclimatic ending that felt tacked on like a explanatory montage from lesser interesting characters.
I won’t be reading more in the trilogy but I hope it evolves beyond it’s premise because this could have been magic.