This is one of those books I picked up with very little consultation to my TBR. I had a saw a review of it and I happened to be wrapping up my current read and the audiobook was available on Libby so I just went with it. Some of my favorite books have been spur of the moment reads like that. This one was quite charming. I thought it would be a bit more whimsical and light, but the darkness took me off guard, even though it is in the description. It such a short book but the characters left a strong impression. I'm really interested to see how the rest of the series is structured. I also really loved the language/categories they used to classify their different magic worlds. One issue I did have with the book was placing it in a time period. The fairytale quality of all the characters made it hard to set it in a time period. Like is this set in the past or present? Logically based on things mentioned like facebook, etc. I know it's present-ish, but I just didn't get those vibes. It was pretty ambiguous. Additionally, it was hard to get a grasp on the kids' ages. I knew their ages but I was constantly imagining them as younger until I would be reminded of their actual age. Those are just minor quibbles though, because I think that also added to the charm and was probably intentional given the subject matter and the magically air around the students and the school.

As my introduction to Sanderson, I really enjoyed this one and can't wait to read more. If anyone has recommendations on reading order, feel free to let me know. I loved the crew! Sazed was a particular favorite. I wanted to bop Vin over the head sometimes (but in a loving way). The magic system is super unique and I feel like this book just scratches the surface, same with the world building! The pacing did drag a bit in the middle, maybe because I was constantly waiting for the famous Sanderlanche to start. With all the hype around Sanderson and my excitement to finally read him, it was almost inevitable that my expectations were probably too high. I was expecting twists upon twists towards the end and for the most part it was pretty straightforward compared to what I was expecting. There were of course twists and I did enjoy them, but like I said, my expectations had been built up too much. That being said, I'm 100% planning on reading much more Sanderson in the future and hopefully now my expectations are set at a more reachable level!