Synopsis:
Grey’s Anatomy meets A Deadly Education in this dark academia fantasy from bestselling author Freya Marske.
At the Academie of the Grand Duchy of Sieuxerr, every mage with the healing gift has five years to master their power and to prepare for the infamous Grand Exam – a five-day trial whose results will determine their entire future.
The list of exam rules includes:
• You will perform five practical cases.
• Your exam group is chosen at random.
• You pass together, or fail together.
It does not include:
• On the first day, your exam group will find Ysabel Caudotte – the undisputed genius of your cohort – dead in the exam hall.
From Clement, the grieving best friend hiding a dark secret, to Estienne, the arrogant son of the Head Healer set to inherit Ysabel’s top rank, this particular group all have something to hide . . . and all have a connection to the dead girl.
Five scholars. Five secrets. Five days in which to solve a murder, pass the most important exam of their lives and uncover a secret larger than all of their own combined. One with the potential to change the world.
Are you ready?
Let’s begin.
Review:
This was exactly what the doctor ordered.
A magical dark academia set in a healing academy with a murder mystery.
Five medical students at a magical academy team up to solve the murder of their brilliant, top-ranked classmate during a high-stakes, five-day exam where they pass or fail together.
At first, I was hesitant. You are introduced to a whole new world with politics, prejudices, and magic systems. There are also alternating perspectives of five characters with different motivations and history.
Nevertheless, stick with it, and you will soon be sucked in to a book that combines stakes, an engaging plot, and amazing character study.
The body is a symphony. A collection of different instruments all placed together within the same skin, working to sustain life. Any one of them might fall away from their assigned tune. So then must a healer be a musician, able to identify the discordant note and correct it.
I truly appreciated the queer normative world. I am getting more and more tired by books where queer identity is the biggest obstacle to fulfilment. I know that’s normally the reality, but give me a fantasy, please.
The tension of the relationships weren’t quite as sizzling as I might have expected from Marske. I suppose that’s because of the existing and new relationships and the five-day timeframe. Also, one of the characters definitely got the short-hand in attention here.
The romances were more background and slow burn which created a better balance considering the highly-packed plot.
A tale of self-discovery amidst magic and mystery that healed😉 my trust in dark academia fantasy.
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