CBR Bingo – Strange Worlds
Our heroine Galadriel, aka El, a sort of magical Wednesday Adams, is fighting for her life at a teacher-less school of magic, only this Hogwarts is actively trying to kill its students. They attend classes, sleep in dorms, eat in a cafeteria, and are trapped there with no contact with the outside world as they make their way through this distorted high school experience. Everything is leading up to their graduation day, which tests the seniors’ mettle and skill and sees them going back to the world if they survive.
I found the concept of the book intriguing and enjoyed both the darkness of it and the magical elements of the Scholomance: books that would only reveal themselves to you based on your capacity (not your desires), vicious monsters dropping out of the ceiling to attack them in their sleep, etc.
That said, it took me a while to finish because when I put it down, I didn’t want to pick it back up. The characters were drawn with very broad strokes that never seemed to narrow into full characters: the loner, the jock, the popular crowd, the supporting friends. I liked the book more when El was in her head-down loner vibe than when she was transitioning into relying on others, it was a more interesting narrative for me. Though it ends in a bit of a cliffhanger, I don’t think I’m going to finish the series.
I don’t have anything bad to say about the book or the writing, it definitely had its funny moments, but this level of teen angst just wasn’t to my taste. My kiddo (or I guess I should say, teen, gulp) is (was?) a serious Potterhead so I think he’d dig this sort of Gothic Hogwarts situation, so I’m going to recommend the series to him.