This volume really leans into creating magic as metaphor creative burn out. It’s very successful since it really hits thise insecurities creatives will be familiar with.

Even while reading the first volume, I did feel this was going to give me FMA vibes the more we dug into the world and this was the volume I knew I had been right.

This book promised a cozy, adult sapphic romance with spice which it delivered on. I do think the 1st 2/3rds of the book is strongest with a 3rd act breakup that is foreshadowed but a bit clunky but thankfully is about maybe 30 pages. As a result, it feels a lot of things happen off screen while our POV character was dealing with that that would have been more satisfying to see play out.

However, this book is earnest. It is legitimately very nice to read about these adults genuinely wanting what's best for their students despite older people in power desperately wanting to cling to tradition. It's also very cool to see a story where a magic school is modernizing to allow things like internet and phones instead of banning them arbitrarily but then dealing with the teachers not knowing to stop students from googling answers or worse using AI 🤢. The moral isn't that the students shouldn't have this tech but putting guards in place to prevent cheating as teachers have always done as students find new ways to cheat. It also does the heart good to see the teacher and headmistress working to make sure students with disabilities and learning about witch culture for the first time are accommodated.

I do think if you're looking for something that meets these boxes, it's not a perfect story but it is a good time.

This was a very enjoyable listen as Bob the Drag Queen is an excellent narrator and the two extra songs are both very catchy. I feel this is an excellent introduction into histories that have been sanitized or sugar coated if covered in American history classrooms. Despite imparting a lot of information, the book felt very engaging instead of just dumping the information on you.

As always, Wells writes such an engaging and tight story. Especially when these books are short, it’s very impressive how everything is delivered without feeling like we’re rushing through. I look forward to reading this again noe that I know who the murderer is too.

I listened to the graphic audiobook version and do not recommend over the regular audiobook. The graphic audio voice actors are good but there is a lot of unnecessary sound effects that feel thrown in to justify the graphic audio label.