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School of Sight
There is a world not everyone can see: a world of fairies and witches, shapeshifters and vampires. A world that co-exists with everyday life. When a young sibyl gets a first glimpse of that world, reality seems to crumble and everything becomes one big question mark. The world of the supernatural proves to be deeper and wider than the young sibyl could ever have guessed as the local sybil community is threatened and the young sybil is drawn into a dangerous game between powers too old to be understood. It is more important now than ever to have friends at your back, but in a world this secret, enemies and friends look just alike.
226 pages, Paperback
Published January 3, 2016
About the author
Alisha A. Knaff
6 books1 followerAlisha A. Knaff is the inventor of the time machine. She was president of the Jane Austen Fan Club from 1800-1806, and helped stop the Martian Invasion of 3003. One of her favorite hobbies is feeding pigeons with Nikola Tesla.
Alternatively…
Alisha A. Knaff lives in Seattle with her three cats, who consistently assure her that she is in no danger of becoming a crazy cat lady. She recently abandoned her day job of striving to impress upon teenagers the importance of the Oxford comma for the glamorous world of running a startup publishing company. By night she still weaves bizarre imaginations into hopefully coherent tales.
Alternatively…
Alisha A. Knaff lives in Seattle with her three cats, who consistently assure her that she is in no danger of becoming a crazy cat lady. She recently abandoned her day job of striving to impress upon teenagers the importance of the Oxford comma for the glamorous world of running a startup publishing company. By night she still weaves bizarre imaginations into hopefully coherent tales.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
June 13, 2016
I got this book at the Hugo House book fair in Seattle, I went with my cousin and we had a great day! So I got to meet the author and she was a joy and super nice! Also very encouraging about writing.
I liked this book because the characters seem very real and complicated. The main character is almost too oblivious, but it works to the reader’s advantage. The questions she asks are the questions we have too, and it provides a lot of the world building. I do have the same trouble with her as I do with other main characters that don’t pay attention to foreshadowing, but I can’t really blame them because that’s how foreshadowing goes. The villain is creepy on both human and magical levels so that was excellent as well.
The magic is traditional and unique all at the same time. “Powers” manifest for sybils, humans. Like levitating and the Sight, and then there’s specified magic like plant growth or electricity or tech. Then there are “creature” magics like Fae and Vampire and Werewolf and Elf and lots of great stuff like that.
The story progresses at a really nice pace. There were not spots where I felt like it was dragging on and no points I felt like things were moving too fast. My favorite part was when the main character was at a candlelight vigil and she notices how the two separate worlds she lives in, the magical and mundane, aren’t as separated as she thought or tries to keep them. I’ve had many moments like that growing up.
The setting is local to Seattle, WA which isn’t my home but close. At one point they DO go to the town I just moved from, Enumclaw, and that was a little amusing. I grew up in the town next to Enumclaw. I know a lot of the surrounding area too because I had really hoped to live out there, so I spent a lot of time on google maps looking at out of the way places. It game me an extra little edge to imagining where that secluded spot in Enumclaw was.
I want a book about the wolf pack featured in the book. I like the way it seemed to be set up! I would recommend this book to people who are looking for the modern magic type settings. There’s not an actual school, which is what I was expecting from the name, but much more a relaxed type community.
I liked this book because the characters seem very real and complicated. The main character is almost too oblivious, but it works to the reader’s advantage. The questions she asks are the questions we have too, and it provides a lot of the world building. I do have the same trouble with her as I do with other main characters that don’t pay attention to foreshadowing, but I can’t really blame them because that’s how foreshadowing goes. The villain is creepy on both human and magical levels so that was excellent as well.
The magic is traditional and unique all at the same time. “Powers” manifest for sybils, humans. Like levitating and the Sight, and then there’s specified magic like plant growth or electricity or tech. Then there are “creature” magics like Fae and Vampire and Werewolf and Elf and lots of great stuff like that.
The story progresses at a really nice pace. There were not spots where I felt like it was dragging on and no points I felt like things were moving too fast. My favorite part was when the main character was at a candlelight vigil and she notices how the two separate worlds she lives in, the magical and mundane, aren’t as separated as she thought or tries to keep them. I’ve had many moments like that growing up.
The setting is local to Seattle, WA which isn’t my home but close. At one point they DO go to the town I just moved from, Enumclaw, and that was a little amusing. I grew up in the town next to Enumclaw. I know a lot of the surrounding area too because I had really hoped to live out there, so I spent a lot of time on google maps looking at out of the way places. It game me an extra little edge to imagining where that secluded spot in Enumclaw was.
I want a book about the wolf pack featured in the book. I like the way it seemed to be set up! I would recommend this book to people who are looking for the modern magic type settings. There’s not an actual school, which is what I was expecting from the name, but much more a relaxed type community.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 11, 2019
As I read the reviews left on this title, I have to wonder if we read different books. Or maybe if I just didn't read far enough to start hitting the interesting parts. I really hate leaving bad reviews on books. Especially anything indie; it feels bad to tell other's that a small author at a small publishing company isn't worth the read. So I will try not to do that here.
School of Sight is about a normal person with very little personality beyond being attracted to a college guy and mocking other people who have personalities. This person, who believes they are going crazy, learns that their "delusions" are a result of "the sight," and that vampires, werewolves, witches, and faeries are all real.
Normally this would be right up my alley, but the flat, bland, boring main character didn't click with me. In addition, the writing style was not my cup of tea--it felt juvenile and unpolished. I find that sometimes that sort of writing is actually really fun to read; I even enjoy writing that sort of stuff--but in this case, it read like a middle or high schooler's writing. The main character and narrator's inner voice was just annoying to read.
In addition, the story... is there one? In the first chapter, main character meets a bland, handsome college guy who tells them all about the world of magic, while main character makes old pop culture quips and jokes that fall far from their target. At the end of this chapter, they encounter a vampire who we are told to believe is some kind of creep--clearly, because they refer to him as Creepy McCreepface--and at the end of the second, the vampire abducts main character and threatens them. Main Character reaches into their power and attacks Creepy McCreepface with ropes and a stake.
This is not as entertaining as it sounds.
None of the characters are interesting. I'm told that Finn is generically handsome and has a great smile and is fun to be around. I'm told that Main Character's roommates are great, fun people. I'm told that one of the other seers of the coven Finn is a part of "move like she's floating"-- but I don't get to see any of this. Nothing comes through in Knaff's writing. Knaff seems to immediately forget the qualities assigned to characters and never comes back to them. Are we at some point supposed to be shown what we're being told? The other characters introduced, members of the coven, are not bothered with. No personality, dialogue, or action is assigned to them; they exist to fill some space at the coven meeting and make us feel like there's something going on when there's not. Knaff wants us to believe that this world is very secretly magical and interesting, but it's too much of a secret if even the reader can't see the intrigue.
Back to the main character for a moment: I feel like they are given no personality, purpose, or even name so that we can be surprised by a twist reveal that there is actually something interesting about them. But by introducing a character with no traits, Knaff has doomed all of the book up until that twist to be completely unbearable and uninteresting.
I found myself constantly checking the clock on my lunch break to see if my reading time was finally over, and flipping to the start of the next chapter to see if I could wrap it up soon. I only got through a few chapters of this before I put it down and moved on to a more interesting book.
If you have the time and energy to invest in finding the parts of School of Sight that have character, intrigue, and plot, please have at it. But based on what I read of the book, I do not feel like I have the emotional energy to keep pushing myself through it. I would not recommend this book to a friend, but I will not tell you not to read it. Maybe it will click with someone else, and maybe it will be the book that changes someone else's life. It is not the book for me.
School of Sight is about a normal person with very little personality beyond being attracted to a college guy and mocking other people who have personalities. This person, who believes they are going crazy, learns that their "delusions" are a result of "the sight," and that vampires, werewolves, witches, and faeries are all real.
Normally this would be right up my alley, but the flat, bland, boring main character didn't click with me. In addition, the writing style was not my cup of tea--it felt juvenile and unpolished. I find that sometimes that sort of writing is actually really fun to read; I even enjoy writing that sort of stuff--but in this case, it read like a middle or high schooler's writing. The main character and narrator's inner voice was just annoying to read.
In addition, the story... is there one? In the first chapter, main character meets a bland, handsome college guy who tells them all about the world of magic, while main character makes old pop culture quips and jokes that fall far from their target. At the end of this chapter, they encounter a vampire who we are told to believe is some kind of creep--clearly, because they refer to him as Creepy McCreepface--and at the end of the second, the vampire abducts main character and threatens them. Main Character reaches into their power and attacks Creepy McCreepface with ropes and a stake.
This is not as entertaining as it sounds.
None of the characters are interesting. I'm told that Finn is generically handsome and has a great smile and is fun to be around. I'm told that Main Character's roommates are great, fun people. I'm told that one of the other seers of the coven Finn is a part of "move like she's floating"-- but I don't get to see any of this. Nothing comes through in Knaff's writing. Knaff seems to immediately forget the qualities assigned to characters and never comes back to them. Are we at some point supposed to be shown what we're being told? The other characters introduced, members of the coven, are not bothered with. No personality, dialogue, or action is assigned to them; they exist to fill some space at the coven meeting and make us feel like there's something going on when there's not. Knaff wants us to believe that this world is very secretly magical and interesting, but it's too much of a secret if even the reader can't see the intrigue.
Back to the main character for a moment: I feel like they are given no personality, purpose, or even name so that we can be surprised by a twist reveal that there is actually something interesting about them. But by introducing a character with no traits, Knaff has doomed all of the book up until that twist to be completely unbearable and uninteresting.
I found myself constantly checking the clock on my lunch break to see if my reading time was finally over, and flipping to the start of the next chapter to see if I could wrap it up soon. I only got through a few chapters of this before I put it down and moved on to a more interesting book.
If you have the time and energy to invest in finding the parts of School of Sight that have character, intrigue, and plot, please have at it. But based on what I read of the book, I do not feel like I have the emotional energy to keep pushing myself through it. I would not recommend this book to a friend, but I will not tell you not to read it. Maybe it will click with someone else, and maybe it will be the book that changes someone else's life. It is not the book for me.
January 7, 2018
Mankind lumbers through everyday life, oblivious to the blinding veil that covers the truth of the dangers and wonders lurking amongst them. The ongoing battles for power and magic between supernatural beings constantly threaten their mundane existence.
When one young sybl finally lifts her veil and sees the truth of the coexistence of magical beings surrounding her, she unknowingly becomes the key to empower an evil vampire.
However Fate has a different role for her to become but first, she must discover herself, her magical abilities, and the natural magic of love and true friendship.
School of Sight by Alisha A. Knaff is a story of truth and discovery. I was amazed at how Ms. Knaff made me feel the emotions of happiness, love, and sadness that her characters experienced. She has provided a tale of excitement and danger, keeping the reader glued to turning the pages and finding out what happens next.
There is an excellent story plot, grammar, and perfect editing. I give this wondrous story a rating of 4 stars. I am looking forward to seeing more from this story and recommend School of Sight to those interested in the supernatural world set in modern times.
When one young sybl finally lifts her veil and sees the truth of the coexistence of magical beings surrounding her, she unknowingly becomes the key to empower an evil vampire.
However Fate has a different role for her to become but first, she must discover herself, her magical abilities, and the natural magic of love and true friendship.
School of Sight by Alisha A. Knaff is a story of truth and discovery. I was amazed at how Ms. Knaff made me feel the emotions of happiness, love, and sadness that her characters experienced. She has provided a tale of excitement and danger, keeping the reader glued to turning the pages and finding out what happens next.
There is an excellent story plot, grammar, and perfect editing. I give this wondrous story a rating of 4 stars. I am looking forward to seeing more from this story and recommend School of Sight to those interested in the supernatural world set in modern times.
April 22, 2016
Very quick read, and well written. She has a way of writing that makes you not want to put the book down. Not your usual Fey book, but that only makes it better. I loved the character development, made me love the characters even more. I would love to read more from her.
December 22, 2015
A fantastic read that I greatly enjoyed! Set in Seattle, Washington with a paranormal/supernatural theme, School of Sight is a great book with an interesting plot that you won't regret reading.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews