DNF @ 50% 

This book reads so pretentiously. We follow six main characters and they are all so insufferable. Some think they are the greatest thing to grace the planet, full of ego and cockiness, while others are self loathing and insecure. 

My biggest issue with this book were the characters. They were hard to like but very easy to dislike. All six of them. I got to the halfway point of this book and it seemed that the main focus of the story was to get a look at the characters. While the book had a great premise, it seemed very light on plot, and left me bored. 

The top review on Goodreads states "the author thinks the characters are much cooler than they actually are" and I agree with that 100%. I am fine with stories where there are some characters I dislike, but I need to be able to root for some characters. The author clearly had favorites, as we got a lot of Nico and Parisa, and they were the characters I disliked the most. 

I did enjoy the writing for the most part. I found the prose to be quite refined and the book was well written, but I was not a fan of the dialogue. The book was loaded with conversations, most of which was just pretentious drivel. Characters would speak in a way that no people actually would. It felt so unnatural and pulled me out of the story. 

We also don't get much explanation about anything. This is a dark academia-esque urban fantasy, but in the 200 pages I read, I felt that I knew so little about the world, the magic, and the academy itself. 

I have heard that the ending is exciting, but I couldn't see myself pushing all the way through to it.