What do you think?
Rate this book
Schooled in Magic #3
Study in Slaughter
Brimming with new ideas for magical research, Emily returns to Whitehall School for her Second Year, only to discover that things are going to be different. Her friends have become sports-mad fanatics, her new roommates are strangers to her, her new classes are far harder and one of the teachers seems to actively dislike her. As she returns to the comforting routine of the only place she considers home, she finds that Second Year will be far harder than the first.
But as the students settle in to continue their studies, it rapidly becomes clear that all is far from well at Whitehall. There's a murderer running loose in the school. A murderer who may be a newborn necromancer. And then there's the spy watching Emily from the shadows, waiting for her to make one tiny, but fatal mistake ...
As the darkness falls on Whitehall, Emily may be their salvation...or the person who damns them all.
But as the students settle in to continue their studies, it rapidly becomes clear that all is far from well at Whitehall. There's a murderer running loose in the school. A murderer who may be a newborn necromancer. And then there's the spy watching Emily from the shadows, waiting for her to make one tiny, but fatal mistake ...
As the darkness falls on Whitehall, Emily may be their salvation...or the person who damns them all.
302 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 25, 2014
350 people are currently reading
436 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 60 reviews
December 31, 2015
Some things have gotten irritating, but it's still a good story
I like that Emily's ideas don't always work, and even sometimes backfire. I like that she doesn't know everything, and is often willing to admit it beforehand. I'm glad that she rarely feels she's being punished for no reason, and tries to learn from her mistakes. In many ways, she's an admirably imperfect character.
I'm about ready to scream if Nuttall writes "Emily scowled." one more time. It occurs on almost every single page of this book (in the font I'm using), and often is inappropriate. Once he wrote, "Emily frowned" but it was only once. In the whole book.
Another issue is Emily's continuing inability to think before she acts. An excuse for that is given at the very end of this book, and yet it's something Emily has done so often in the other books that it seems part of her character. I also didn't like how arrogant she's becoming, but maybe that just means she's human. The other thing that bothered me here was how careless her friends are of Emily's safety. They knew she had just been granted permission to use magic outside class after weeks of being hexed and attacked by other students, and yet Alassa hexes Emily to her seat at a Ken match, leaving her either still vulnerable to other students, or forced to reveal that she can use magic again. Emily makes excuses for Alassa on the grounds that Emily had hurt her feelings by leaving Alassa's first Ken match before it was over, but that didn't seem quite fair to me. Alassa and Imaiquah don't have the right to insist that Emily use all her free time to watch them play. Yes, it was their first game and Emily should have stayed the whole time for that reason, but she had shown up and stayed more than the first half, and they gave her no credit for that much.
In general, Emily seems to have trouble setting boundaries, she's very quick to agree with people who have something negative to say about her, and yet she's also not completely responsible or disciplined. Typical seventeen year old who's had a bad childhood and nowhere near enough love and support, and I do hope she begins to learn self-love and self-reliance soon. The experiences with her stepfather seem liable to break her otherwise, either directly, by crushing her self-confidence, or indirectly, by the habit they've taught her of freezing in dangerous situations. The story continues to intrigue, however, and is certainly complex, adult in many ways and broad enough in scope to develop into later books.
I like that Emily's ideas don't always work, and even sometimes backfire. I like that she doesn't know everything, and is often willing to admit it beforehand. I'm glad that she rarely feels she's being punished for no reason, and tries to learn from her mistakes. In many ways, she's an admirably imperfect character.
I'm about ready to scream if Nuttall writes "Emily scowled." one more time. It occurs on almost every single page of this book (in the font I'm using), and often is inappropriate. Once he wrote, "Emily frowned" but it was only once. In the whole book.
Another issue is Emily's continuing inability to think before she acts. An excuse for that is given at the very end of this book, and yet it's something Emily has done so often in the other books that it seems part of her character. I also didn't like how arrogant she's becoming, but maybe that just means she's human. The other thing that bothered me here was how careless her friends are of Emily's safety. They knew she had just been granted permission to use magic outside class after weeks of being hexed and attacked by other students, and yet Alassa hexes Emily to her seat at a Ken match, leaving her either still vulnerable to other students, or forced to reveal that she can use magic again. Emily makes excuses for Alassa on the grounds that Emily had hurt her feelings by leaving Alassa's first Ken match before it was over, but that didn't seem quite fair to me. Alassa and Imaiquah don't have the right to insist that Emily use all her free time to watch them play. Yes, it was their first game and Emily should have stayed the whole time for that reason, but she had shown up and stayed more than the first half, and they gave her no credit for that much.
In general, Emily seems to have trouble setting boundaries, she's very quick to agree with people who have something negative to say about her, and yet she's also not completely responsible or disciplined. Typical seventeen year old who's had a bad childhood and nowhere near enough love and support, and I do hope she begins to learn self-love and self-reliance soon. The experiences with her stepfather seem liable to break her otherwise, either directly, by crushing her self-confidence, or indirectly, by the habit they've taught her of freezing in dangerous situations. The story continues to intrigue, however, and is certainly complex, adult in many ways and broad enough in scope to develop into later books.
June 14, 2021
I clearly don't understand what other people look for in books since this book currently has a 4.13 star rating on goodreads.com. I look for intelligence but here we are subjected to a "magic school" where none of the teachers actually teach. Instead they fly off the handle at students for being students.
At this point in time the MC has wealth and even comments on how she could stay at her own barony and hire tutors. And yet she seems to forget that option immediately as next her friends are intentionally kept from her and she is persecuted by a teacher and most of the student body. And what about that teacher? In theory the teacher is overreacting due to a student of his being harmed in the past. So, while not at fault, the teacher isn't able to forgive himself for that incident. But the teacher's response to that guilt MAKES NO SENSE: the teacher forbids the one student who most of the student body wants to kill from using her magic, thereby making it exceedingly likely she will be killed. In fact pretty much the only reason that student isn't killed is because she is the MC.
The MC is only a second year so most students are more capable than her and this school encourages bullying to the point that students have died in the past. So the teacher is very much putting a student's life in jeopardy. But, if that isn't bad enough, part of the teacher's overreaction is put down to his politics, which the teacher acts on without even attempting to learn the facts first. Facts the teacher could have easily gotten just by asking the MC (except for one dangerous tidbit). BUT WAIT, IT GETS WORSE . . . \
The teacher actually wanted the MC expelled, something that likely would have worked to her favor since she then could have found competent private tutors. Instead the "head master" (I forget his actual title) curtails this to the ridiculous punishment that puts the MC's life in danger. And why does the school encourage bullying? On the theory that bullying will toughen up students for war (and on the already historically wrong assumption that students or teachers will step in before things go to far). NOTE THAT THE "TEACHERS" ALLOW BULLYING RATHER THAN TEACHING TACTICS, STRATEGY, OR ANY OTHER THING THAT WOULD ACTUALLY BE USEFUL IN WARTIME WHEREAS BULLYING WOULD ACTUALLY BE COUNTERPRODUCTIVE TO LATER COOPERATION IN A TIME A WARFARE.
BUT WAIT, IT GETS WORSE: the head master knows the secret reason for the behavior that makes the MC the target of teachers and students, but does the head master ever just say to the teacher "there are things here you don't know about and which I can't tell you but they make not only expulsion but your other planned punishments unreasonable". No. Apparently no one in this book, particularly the educators, ever even stops to think about what they are doing. The MC isn't any better- she, AS A SECOND YEAR STUDENT WHO BARELY KNOWS ANYTHING, attempts a magical experiment without running it by anyone and, of course, it could have killed everyone if she hadn't been stopped.
This book really does go from one stupid thing to another. The main story, however, is about a killer lose on school grounds so it is a murder mystery. The problem is the main story paled compared to the constant reminders that the MC didn't need to be at the school and had every reason to leave. The author's failure to adequately address that elephant in the room completely undermined the murder mystery he was trying to focus on.
Although I don't believe this book truly can be spoiled, the next two paragraphs discuss matters that some may consider SPOILERS so skip ahead to avoid them.
There is a spy in the story and upon initial impression the spy may seem smart until you consider that the spy isn't smart enough to put things back the way she found them. This is INCREDIBLY STUPID since the spy does this exact thing for the spells in her way. BUT WAIT, IT GETS WORSE: After discovering the spy does the MC do anything remotely intelligent? No. The MC confronts the spy in private and only survives thanks to dumb luck.
Perhaps the greatest stupidity in this book is that the magic school has a mimic in its "zoo" for years yet no one knows anyting about mimics, INCLUDING HOW TO ACTUALLY SAFELY CONTAIN THEM. So, of course, it is up to the second year student FROM ANOTHER WORLD to have any insight about mimics at all.
I found the first 3 books for free and if the fourth was available through my library I would read it because the author has created an interesting world and, in books 1 and 2, has shown himself capable of writing less stupid characters. I just wish I could have magically skipped this book.
Bottom line: Pretty much all the characters act stupidly throughout the book and the author undermined his own story by failing to give the MC adequate reasons for putting up with all the crap thrown her way.
At this point in time the MC has wealth and even comments on how she could stay at her own barony and hire tutors. And yet she seems to forget that option immediately as next her friends are intentionally kept from her and she is persecuted by a teacher and most of the student body. And what about that teacher? In theory the teacher is overreacting due to a student of his being harmed in the past. So, while not at fault, the teacher isn't able to forgive himself for that incident. But the teacher's response to that guilt MAKES NO SENSE: the teacher forbids the one student who most of the student body wants to kill from using her magic, thereby making it exceedingly likely she will be killed. In fact pretty much the only reason that student isn't killed is because she is the MC.
The MC is only a second year so most students are more capable than her and this school encourages bullying to the point that students have died in the past. So the teacher is very much putting a student's life in jeopardy. But, if that isn't bad enough, part of the teacher's overreaction is put down to his politics, which the teacher acts on without even attempting to learn the facts first. Facts the teacher could have easily gotten just by asking the MC (except for one dangerous tidbit). BUT WAIT, IT GETS WORSE . . . \
The teacher actually wanted the MC expelled, something that likely would have worked to her favor since she then could have found competent private tutors. Instead the "head master" (I forget his actual title) curtails this to the ridiculous punishment that puts the MC's life in danger. And why does the school encourage bullying? On the theory that bullying will toughen up students for war (and on the already historically wrong assumption that students or teachers will step in before things go to far). NOTE THAT THE "TEACHERS" ALLOW BULLYING RATHER THAN TEACHING TACTICS, STRATEGY, OR ANY OTHER THING THAT WOULD ACTUALLY BE USEFUL IN WARTIME WHEREAS BULLYING WOULD ACTUALLY BE COUNTERPRODUCTIVE TO LATER COOPERATION IN A TIME A WARFARE.
BUT WAIT, IT GETS WORSE: the head master knows the secret reason for the behavior that makes the MC the target of teachers and students, but does the head master ever just say to the teacher "there are things here you don't know about and which I can't tell you but they make not only expulsion but your other planned punishments unreasonable". No. Apparently no one in this book, particularly the educators, ever even stops to think about what they are doing. The MC isn't any better- she, AS A SECOND YEAR STUDENT WHO BARELY KNOWS ANYTHING, attempts a magical experiment without running it by anyone and, of course, it could have killed everyone if she hadn't been stopped.
This book really does go from one stupid thing to another. The main story, however, is about a killer lose on school grounds so it is a murder mystery. The problem is the main story paled compared to the constant reminders that the MC didn't need to be at the school and had every reason to leave. The author's failure to adequately address that elephant in the room completely undermined the murder mystery he was trying to focus on.
Although I don't believe this book truly can be spoiled, the next two paragraphs discuss matters that some may consider SPOILERS so skip ahead to avoid them.
There is a spy in the story and upon initial impression the spy may seem smart until you consider that the spy isn't smart enough to put things back the way she found them. This is INCREDIBLY STUPID since the spy does this exact thing for the spells in her way. BUT WAIT, IT GETS WORSE: After discovering the spy does the MC do anything remotely intelligent? No. The MC confronts the spy in private and only survives thanks to dumb luck.
Perhaps the greatest stupidity in this book is that the magic school has a mimic in its "zoo" for years yet no one knows anyting about mimics, INCLUDING HOW TO ACTUALLY SAFELY CONTAIN THEM. So, of course, it is up to the second year student FROM ANOTHER WORLD to have any insight about mimics at all.
I found the first 3 books for free and if the fourth was available through my library I would read it because the author has created an interesting world and, in books 1 and 2, has shown himself capable of writing less stupid characters. I just wish I could have magically skipped this book.
Bottom line: Pretty much all the characters act stupidly throughout the book and the author undermined his own story by failing to give the MC adequate reasons for putting up with all the crap thrown her way.
February 7, 2018
Best one so far. I had a bit of trouble with the obscure quotes, but Google even managed to track down the one from a David Weber war book (tautology). I did have trouble with the Heinlein quote, "an armed society is a polite society" - there are roving war bands in places like Afghanistan, central Africa and until recently Columbia, but hardly societies, in fact, the only armed society in the world is the United States, which is hardly known for people getting along with each other unless they have the same skin colour. Anyway, that is a sidetrack. The main story flows and I enjoyed it.
October 20, 2014
Definitely better than the last book. Less weird politics and more of the school and a new interesting plot.
I really like the variety in the plots of this series.
I really like the variety in the plots of this series.
September 15, 2017
What Emily, as a child of Earth, does not know about her new planet begins to catch up to her in book three Study in Slaughter as she begins her Second Year at Whitehall.
Common knowledge, stuff her fellow Whitehall students learned as toddlers (especially growing up in magical families), is a particular blind spot for Emily. After all, how do you know what you don't know?
Just to make it more interesting, her mutual request with her best friends to room together in year two is overruled on the basis that it would be better for the girls to widen their circle of friends. Instead, Emily finds herself paired with two roommates new to Whitehall, one a Gorgon (otherwise known as Medusa, complete with live snakes as hair) and the other a transfer student from Mountaintop, a rival wizard school.
Plus, it turns out that the Head of Second Year (lead Second Year teacher) dislikes Emily on sight!
So, Emily has her hands full and, of course this being Emily's life, much mayhem ensues.
I heartily recommend this entire series to anyone who enjoys fantasy, especially the crossover between Emily's Earth sensibilities (yes, she has not only read all of the Harry Potter books but she's seen Star Trek, etc. too!) and life in a medieval wizard society.
This series continues to strongly remind me of a Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, one of my all-time favorite Mark Twain books!
Common knowledge, stuff her fellow Whitehall students learned as toddlers (especially growing up in magical families), is a particular blind spot for Emily. After all, how do you know what you don't know?
Just to make it more interesting, her mutual request with her best friends to room together in year two is overruled on the basis that it would be better for the girls to widen their circle of friends. Instead, Emily finds herself paired with two roommates new to Whitehall, one a Gorgon (otherwise known as Medusa, complete with live snakes as hair) and the other a transfer student from Mountaintop, a rival wizard school.
Plus, it turns out that the Head of Second Year (lead Second Year teacher) dislikes Emily on sight!
So, Emily has her hands full and, of course this being Emily's life, much mayhem ensues.
I heartily recommend this entire series to anyone who enjoys fantasy, especially the crossover between Emily's Earth sensibilities (yes, she has not only read all of the Harry Potter books but she's seen Star Trek, etc. too!) and life in a medieval wizard society.
This series continues to strongly remind me of a Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, one of my all-time favorite Mark Twain books!
June 20, 2020
Rating 4.0 stars
Better. In actuality the story is about the same but it had less of the things that annoyed me in the previous books. Emily is back in school to start her second year. As hard as she worked in the first year, she might have to work even harder now. There are new problems for her to deal with now, including being a noble and having to deal with politics.
Deaths start to occur at the school that look like might be caused by a necromancer. Of course, everyone is looking at Emily as the cause. She has the unenviable problem of being a very bright and powerful student and being behind much of her peers at the same time. She is taking advanced classes because she needs to learn things as quickly as possible, but that just means she doesn't have as much knowledge as her classmates. There was foreshadowing early on to explain what happened in the end.
It still has a YA feel to the story though it is probably a little more sophisticated than other such stories I have read. Kind of like the Harry Potter stories where the teachers are all insanely competent and yet they can't seem to do anything and it is up to Emily to solve all the problems. There were still a couple of things that bothered me.
So far this series seems to average between a 3 or 4 star review. I enjoy the books when I read them, but never enough to want to go out and immediately read the next book. Maybe I'll read the next one in a couple of months or so.
Better. In actuality the story is about the same but it had less of the things that annoyed me in the previous books. Emily is back in school to start her second year. As hard as she worked in the first year, she might have to work even harder now. There are new problems for her to deal with now, including being a noble and having to deal with politics.
Deaths start to occur at the school that look like might be caused by a necromancer. Of course, everyone is looking at Emily as the cause. She has the unenviable problem of being a very bright and powerful student and being behind much of her peers at the same time. She is taking advanced classes because she needs to learn things as quickly as possible, but that just means she doesn't have as much knowledge as her classmates. There was foreshadowing early on to explain what happened in the end.
It still has a YA feel to the story though it is probably a little more sophisticated than other such stories I have read. Kind of like the Harry Potter stories where the teachers are all insanely competent and yet they can't seem to do anything and it is up to Emily to solve all the problems. There were still a couple of things that bothered me.
So far this series seems to average between a 3 or 4 star review. I enjoy the books when I read them, but never enough to want to go out and immediately read the next book. Maybe I'll read the next one in a couple of months or so.
June 10, 2021
Extremely well and cleverly plotted, absolutely love the in-depth explanation of magic in this world, and I am keenly interested in all the characters. I seem to like the ones set during school more, though it is early going for me to conclude that definitively.
Very happy I found this series. It is quite immersive and hard to put down.
Well-done!! I have enjoyed it more, re-listening, especially the non-mimic parts. I delved into the details more. But, I have this image of Emily with a sour expression in my head, because sourly and sour are seriously over-used to describe her thoughts and expression. The author is very talented, and a prodigious writer, but that sticks with me, and I loathe the spanking punishments. Those are the only two flaws, as far as I am concerned.
Very happy I found this series. It is quite immersive and hard to put down.
Well-done!! I have enjoyed it more, re-listening, especially the non-mimic parts. I delved into the details more. But, I have this image of Emily with a sour expression in my head, because sourly and sour are seriously over-used to describe her thoughts and expression. The author is very talented, and a prodigious writer, but that sticks with me, and I loathe the spanking punishments. Those are the only two flaws, as far as I am concerned.
February 13, 2017
Mystery and a creature., July 30, 2016
Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Study in Slaughter (Schooled in Magic Book 3) (Kindle Edition)
Volume 3 in Christopher Nuttall's Schooled in Magic series continues to owe much to Harry Potter without being a simple rewrite. I continue to prefer Emily to Harry. Both series are good but different, making it easy to enjoy both.
Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Study in Slaughter (Schooled in Magic Book 3) (Kindle Edition)
Volume 3 in Christopher Nuttall's Schooled in Magic series continues to owe much to Harry Potter without being a simple rewrite. I continue to prefer Emily to Harry. Both series are good but different, making it easy to enjoy both.
July 25, 2017
Very enjoyable
I have thoroughly enjoyed every one of the Schooled in magic series tat I have Read so far and I have already bought book 4. I would definitely recommend Mr Nutalls books the Empires corps series are a good Read to,I don't know how he finds the time do all these book's and keep his website up to date.
l
I have thoroughly enjoyed every one of the Schooled in magic series tat I have Read so far and I have already bought book 4. I would definitely recommend Mr Nutalls books the Empires corps series are a good Read to,I don't know how he finds the time do all these book's and keep his website up to date.
l
October 3, 2014
Awesome like always
Awesome like always
I loved it, it was fun to get back into the new world of Emily and her friends. I expect great things from the next book following the event of study in slaughter.
Awesome like always
I loved it, it was fun to get back into the new world of Emily and her friends. I expect great things from the next book following the event of study in slaughter.
July 22, 2017
Mostly nice book, and hey, about the first page in he corrected my nitpick from the previous book! While a bit claustrophobic, it unfortunately did (in my mind) suffer a bit from not much happening, and the idea of "no one else has thought of this before!" is starting to get drawn a bit far.
October 6, 2017
Pretty much the same as the other books, I liked it but can't give the author full credit or more than 3 stars as much of this ideas are not his and taken from others.
February 9, 2021
Basically enjoyable but with a few irritations.
Main mentions a couple times she's sufficiently wealthy should could return home and just hire tutors. And yet, stays in ridiculously dangerous situations by her own choice for no really good reason.
As usual for these kinds of stories, the teachers don't listen to her, the students think the worst and everybody is against her for the flimsiest of reasons. It's all explained away at the end with a few lines about espionage, politics and magic tinkering but it was some pretty ham handed ways of isolating the main. It's just poor device to use.
Still, that said, all the important characters are back and as enjoyable as ever. Last books sudden shift to political education was a bit odd so it's nice to be back at the school even if a lot of what happens doesn't make sense. The mystery grows and changes in an enjoyable way and we learn about more about the main, the staff and the world.
Enjoyable but not spectacular. Will continue with the series.
Main mentions a couple times she's sufficiently wealthy should could return home and just hire tutors. And yet, stays in ridiculously dangerous situations by her own choice for no really good reason.
As usual for these kinds of stories, the teachers don't listen to her, the students think the worst and everybody is against her for the flimsiest of reasons. It's all explained away at the end with a few lines about espionage, politics and magic tinkering but it was some pretty ham handed ways of isolating the main. It's just poor device to use.
Still, that said, all the important characters are back and as enjoyable as ever. Last books sudden shift to political education was a bit odd so it's nice to be back at the school even if a lot of what happens doesn't make sense. The mystery grows and changes in an enjoyable way and we learn about more about the main, the staff and the world.
Enjoyable but not spectacular. Will continue with the series.
June 22, 2018
None of the repetitions that the made the previous book mind-numbing. Only one mention of the 'Child of Destiny' and only one instance where Emilia was surprised by people walking in on her 'without her sensing it'.
The only gripe I have is the author like to use the word 'sardonically' a lot. A LOT. Other that that, the story telling is finally shaping up to be something I might actually like. There's actually more plot action than the previous books and an actual sub-plot and mystery tie-in that can set up the next books. The previous books tended to be more talking and inner-thoughts, many that seem irrational and annoying. But I actually like this book. I will continue and see if the next one is any improvement.
The only gripe I have is the author like to use the word 'sardonically' a lot. A LOT. Other that that, the story telling is finally shaping up to be something I might actually like. There's actually more plot action than the previous books and an actual sub-plot and mystery tie-in that can set up the next books. The previous books tended to be more talking and inner-thoughts, many that seem irrational and annoying. But I actually like this book. I will continue and see if the next one is any improvement.
February 10, 2019
It's back to Hogwarts just in time for Quiddich season and Professor Snape is sooooo mean but Dumbledore has protagonist's back. We are Schooled in Bullying and Racism about gorgons, and Slytherin shows up.
And just when the classes start to be interesting, the book stops them. Seriously. It takes the best feature of the series and once again stops it. (Last book it had no schooling at all to speak of).
And protag does a fine job in her military training while the mantra of "you'll have to repeat this year" makes no sense.
Anyway, if last volume was Reverse Cinderella without Shoes or a Marriage, this one is Agatha Christie Locked Door Mystery, complete with Checkov's Monster.
It was okay. Barely. Trying to decide whether to push on or give this series the old heave-ho.
And just when the classes start to be interesting, the book stops them. Seriously. It takes the best feature of the series and once again stops it. (Last book it had no schooling at all to speak of).
And protag does a fine job in her military training while the mantra of "you'll have to repeat this year" makes no sense.
Anyway, if last volume was Reverse Cinderella without Shoes or a Marriage, this one is Agatha Christie Locked Door Mystery, complete with Checkov's Monster.
It was okay. Barely. Trying to decide whether to push on or give this series the old heave-ho.
April 13, 2023
I still like this series. What i disliked in this book was a) the return of the game Ken - i had hoped it would vanish after not appearing in Book 2. But it is such an obvious try to have something similar to Quidditch it just hurts. This fantasy world is so different and has no need for that.
b) the adults are often way too responsive to anything Emily says. Sometimes you wonder who is the teacher and who is the student. Even if she is right I would expect them to be more critical to her ideas.
But anyway - i will continue to read Emilys adventures. Fun easy entertainment - and hey - it has magic and even a wizard school. ;)
b) the adults are often way too responsive to anything Emily says. Sometimes you wonder who is the teacher and who is the student. Even if she is right I would expect them to be more critical to her ideas.
But anyway - i will continue to read Emilys adventures. Fun easy entertainment - and hey - it has magic and even a wizard school. ;)
September 26, 2017
Surprisingly good series. Each time I pick up a book in this series, it's hard to put it down. I find the world well thought out. No it's not Harry Potter, and that's a good thing. It seems most of the nay sayers call it a bad rip off of the Rowling's books. They can both have a similar premise, and both be great collections of books. If you can't have books with like settings, then you can't have two songs about love.
January 20, 2020
I am a fan of the author and this is another good book, no politics and no romance - gotta love this.
OK, the main character is a bit of a Mary Sue but know what, I love Mary Sue characters, they make the author come up with interesting plots and villains 'cause these girls are not going to get robbed in the parking lot or mugged while jogging. No, like Superman, the author must come up with a worthy foe.
Series is getting better with every book
OK, the main character is a bit of a Mary Sue but know what, I love Mary Sue characters, they make the author come up with interesting plots and villains 'cause these girls are not going to get robbed in the parking lot or mugged while jogging. No, like Superman, the author must come up with a worthy foe.
Series is getting better with every book
October 6, 2023
With the characters back in school, we get more school scenes, which are not Nuttall's forte. That said, the weaknesses in this volume are much less pronounced than those in the first volume. The protagonist is gradually drifting away from full-blown Mary Sue and toward something a bit more sympathetic.
The underlying mysteries in this story are entertaining, there is some actual character development, and Nuttall's action writing is still good.
The underlying mysteries in this story are entertaining, there is some actual character development, and Nuttall's action writing is still good.
June 12, 2024
Its all starting to come back to me with some of these now. Still loving this series even though its a re-read for me. As much as I do love Harry Potter I find that I love this series for more. Highly recommend this to anyone who likes the Harry potter series but wished there was something more. This series will fill that void. With this series I feel like the world is more fleshed out and thankfully its geared to older readers.
January 16, 2018
Good but liked 2 previous books more
Little to complain about, just took longer for me to get into it this time. I listened to most, finished it on Kindle. I listen while I drive or do housework. Mindless occupations for the most part. Maybe having my mom interrupting me while traveling had something to do with that🙂
Little to complain about, just took longer for me to get into it this time. I listened to most, finished it on Kindle. I listen while I drive or do housework. Mindless occupations for the most part. Maybe having my mom interrupting me while traveling had something to do with that🙂
November 22, 2019
A refreshing take on magical academies, now in the third book. Mind you, I saw the ending twist coming from a mile away, but that's in the denoument, after the climax. Probably a lead for a subsequent sequel. The students are more adult than in the big name series you're probably thinking of, and the consequences they face are more real.
January 22, 2024
Yes this series copies a lot of the world building from Harry Potter, but I actually like this magic world more. My only negative with the entire series is how obsessed the author is with spanking as a discipline for these teenagers, it doesn’t add to the story at all so the author absolutely didn’t need to put it in.
December 28, 2017
Getting much better keep up with the plot a lot better not jumping around so much.
I liked this book better than the first one. There were more twists in the plot, and the three protagonists are thankfully still not more interested in getting married.
I liked this book better than the first one. There were more twists in the plot, and the three protagonists are thankfully still not more interested in getting married.
May 4, 2019
Another Christopher G. Nuttall Page turner
Emily has been moved from Earth, where technology is all powerful, to a world where magic is the only power.
She has very powerful magic but no experience with it. Her adventures as a naive but powerful sorceress are great fun.
Emily has been moved from Earth, where technology is all powerful, to a world where magic is the only power.
She has very powerful magic but no experience with it. Her adventures as a naive but powerful sorceress are great fun.
June 12, 2020
3 books in. I'm still loving this series.
I don't believe is writing spoilers & plot summaries in my comments. the back of the book does that.
It's a great read with strong characters & a create story
I don't believe is writing spoilers & plot summaries in my comments. the back of the book does that.
It's a great read with strong characters & a create story
November 13, 2020
Wonderful. I love his writing, whether this type (girls school with lot of magic) or military space operas. Now it's on to book four of this series, in addition to the others of his I'm reading. Thanks Christopher!!!
March 29, 2021
Although the book is well written, the lack of greater plot makes the book very hard to continue. The author spends too much time on nonsense rather than focusing on keeping the reader wanting to continue reading.
September 5, 2024
Quick easy read that scratched the magic school trope itch. I like Emily as a MC as she's clever and resourceful. The world is intriguing and the mystery involving who was the mimic and how to solve it was well done.
July 6, 2017
Emily continues to try to fit in to her new world, while becoming a powerful force there. I continue to enjoy the references to other SF and Fantasy works scattered through the series.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 60 reviews