This book is not going to please fans of nice, twinkly, all-ends-well fantasy, that's for sure. Kathleen Duey has written a very dark and disturbing tale about the pains undergone for the sake of magic. Young boys are starved, intimidated and abused in a school of magic that intends to separate the potential magicians from those destined to die because they are unable to magically produce their own food.

The story is actually split, alternating between the life of Sadima in a time centuries before we are introduced to the horrors of Somiss' magic academy. In Sadima's time magic is outlawed and it is only through the aid of Franklin that Sadima comes to realise the strength of her gift for mentally communicating with animals. But Franklin is just one half of a team hoping to resurrect magic, the other being the malicious and obsessive Somiss.

Then comes Hahp's story. He's a boy sent to Somiss' magic academy by his cruel father and there he discovers that he must learn to master the skills being taught to him or die. As boys around him slowly waste away, Hahp struggles with guilt when he alone manages to create food, and fear of what the wizards plan to throw at him next. In the dark dingy corridors of the academy, Hahp even starts to wonder if his sanity is still with him.

This is not the kind of novel that you can read by itself and gain any sense of fulfillment or resolution, it is clearly intended to be read as part of a series and the lack of answers means that I will be unable to do anything else. I really enjoyed this book, I often find that I can't resist a dark, disturbing story - not sure what that says about me, but oh well. I could see immediately what wouldn't appeal to the masses: the failure of the two stories to meet, the unresolved feel of the novel, and the abuse of the boys above all else.

But I found this a very refreshing change from the same old "nice" fantasy novels. Not a crowd pleaser but a good book for those readers who are looking for something different.