The Incandescent by Emily Tesh follows Doctor Walden, a professor and head of the magical department at Chetwood School, a renowned private school in England. She’s constantly busy with staff meetings, lesson plans, marking assignments, and making sure the school is safe from invading demons. She’s excellent at her job, although her current sixth form magicians is proving to be a challenging group. And then there’s Laura, head of security, with whom Walden keeps butting heads. She certainly has enough to be getting on with, but when a new unforeseen demonic threat arises, she might not be able to overcome it without help.

Between this, Katabasis, and The Raven Scholar, I seem to be on a fantasy/dark academia kick lately. And this one has the added bonus of a queer love story!

Firstly, I quite liked Doctor Walden. It’s fun to see a book set in a magical school with an adult protagonist for once. You instantly root for her, as she’s so witty and capable, but also dealing with so many responsiblities—some relatable and normal, and some very much the opposite. The setting of Chetwood School has a wonderful old world, English stuffiness, yet also a quirky charm, since so much of the plot is in the magical departments. And the details about classes and the behind-the-scenes glimpses into life as an educator are fantastic. Teachers don’t get nearly enough credit, but Tesh presents them as the heroes they are!

I also really enjoyed the examination of adulthood versus childhood. Walden is an adult who primarily interacts with children during her workdays, and her perspective on them is so interesting. On one hand, we can see through her life that there are plenty of reasons to enjoy being grown up, but also that there are perks to being a kid, too. The interplay and complexity of these two states make for some of the most interesting thematic moments, as well as the most intriguing character interactions. Walden’s bond with her sixth form students is great, and her view of her own younger self (who also attended this school) is moving.

Another strong theme is about how elitist boarding schools—and education, particularly higher education—can be. This is a fantastic and timely topic, and we see constantly in this book how access to knowledge and learning is so often gatekept by the rich. While Tesh doesn’t appear to have a solution to this, she takes time to criticize this system, which I appreciate. So many times, she makes it clear how awful it is that so many intelligent people simply cannot achieve a good higher education because it’s financially inaccessible. Great, thought-provoking writing.

As for the love story, though, it didn’t entirely work for me. Not that I didn’t like Laura; I actually thought her to be quite a cool character and wanted to get to know her better from the first scene she appeared in. (Sidenote: since I’m currently watching the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation, I ended up imagining Laura as Tasha Yarr, wielding a demon-killing sword instead of a phaser.) However, while there is a solid foundation laid for Walden and Laura to fall in love in the first act, Laura ends up being absent for what seems like half the book, only to return at the end. This seemed like a strange choice. I understand somewhat; the plot had to be furthered by Walden getting close to a different coworker, and by some actions the students took, but was it really necessary to have Laura entirely gone for so many chapters? It made it hard for me to feel invested in their relationship when she returned, because she’d had so little impact on the plot, and barely been on Walden’s mind for so long.

That said, I thought the buildup to the final climax was great. Some aspects I predicted from a mile away, but others I was surprised by. The magic and demon action was exciting, and the way everything came together was quite satisfying. And overall, the ending was very good.

In the end, there was a lot I liked about The Incandescent. The characters were great, as well as their dynamics with each other. The setting was transporting, both familiar and foreign (especially the demon magic, but also the structure of English education. I think I know what sixth form, A-levels, and GCSEs are now, but it took a lot of reading between the lines to come to my conclusions). And while the romance didn’t really work for me, the themes about education, growing up, and dealing with the past were wonderful. I also thought that Zara Ramm’s narration of the audiobook was stellar. If you liked Katabasis or Magic for Liars, read this one!

The Incandescent is available now!