You can tell this book is inspired by Harry Potter and certain elements of Tolkien. The main character, El, is a junior at the Scholomance - a wizarding school. But this isn’t your fun happy place where The Boy Who Lived always saves the day. At this school, bad things exist at every turn, feeding on energy from the students — and sometimes feeding on the students themselves. It’s basically Darwinism for Wizards, except with a more current societal twist: it’s not just the strongest who survive; the ones who have the most privilege and are the best connected are typically the only ones who make it out of the graduation hall every year. The rest die trying. But that’s how the school is fed and that’s what keeps the bad things at bay. So it’s a bit of a problem when Orion Lake starts saving everyone.

I can’t explain the book very well because fantasy is not usually my genre, but I enjoyed this book and look forward to the other books in the series. Especially after the cliffhanger of an ending!