The setup for this book is basically a Hogwarts-esque secret university hidden within the structure of Harvard. Kyle is a mundane and has no idea when he goes for a scholarship interview at Harvard that he's actually been accepted at Veritas. Suddenly he's in a whole world he didn't know existed and stop me if you've heard this before.
The main problem I had with this book isn't that this concept has been done before (and not just by Harry Potter), it's that the entire thing is basically written in shorthand. We are told that conversations occur in which Kyle learns about various aspects of the university or the particular magical world this book inhabits, but the reader is never actually informed of those facts. As a result the worldbuilding feels painfully thin and superficial; there's plenty of detail about Harvard and Cambridge, but that's not actually what the reader needs. This superficiality extends to Kyle's relationships with other students, which is a major problem since from about the first chapter on we're told that he wants to magically bond with his girlfriend Jess, whom he starts dating immediately. The source of their attraction and interest in each other is never clearly shown.
There's some interesting stuff in here about how Kyle's magic works via poetry, and in general the variation on how people's magical power manifests is intriguing. And I imagine that part of the appeal of writing about college students is including sex magic. But the characters and relationships are weak enough that it's hard to know why I should care, even about that.
Grade: C
The main problem I had with this book isn't that this concept has been done before (and not just by Harry Potter), it's that the entire thing is basically written in shorthand. We are told that conversations occur in which Kyle learns about various aspects of the university or the particular magical world this book inhabits, but the reader is never actually informed of those facts. As a result the worldbuilding feels painfully thin and superficial; there's plenty of detail about Harvard and Cambridge, but that's not actually what the reader needs. This superficiality extends to Kyle's relationships with other students, which is a major problem since from about the first chapter on we're told that he wants to magically bond with his girlfriend Jess, whom he starts dating immediately. The source of their attraction and interest in each other is never clearly shown.
There's some interesting stuff in here about how Kyle's magic works via poetry, and in general the variation on how people's magical power manifests is intriguing. And I imagine that part of the appeal of writing about college students is including sex magic. But the characters and relationships are weak enough that it's hard to know why I should care, even about that.
Grade: C
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