This was so good??!! It almost feels like the traditional Magic School book but instead of the group of misfits being the main characters, it’s the adult professor who actually knows what the fuck she’s doing.


Dr. Walden is a 38 year old professor with a very exact schedule and not stressed at all! She genuinely loves teaching and seeing her pupils succeed. She knows beter how to be a professor than a person and lack of personal life kind of gives it away. But she’s a passionate and extremely smart main character and I loved reading from her perspective.

“It was satisfying, challenging, intellectual and totally unhelpful when a giant demon was trying to stab you with thousands of sorcerous knives”

I really enjoyed the romance too, it had the very matter of fact quality and no bullshit aura that you see in 38 year olds with no time for casual dating. Saffy (Dr. Walden) knew what she wants and isn’t going to waste time on anything else. (Although it caused some regrets of course, can’t do without that)

“””You’re not going to throw me off by telling me the girl I fancy is an awful nerd with a superiority complex “”
The magic system was intriguing and well built in my opinion. And I really enjoyed all the characters, they felt very alive and I cared for them all deeply. Nikki, Matty, Will and Aneeta are obviously my favorites, it was so awesome to see the drama of the typical “chosen one” group from the perspective of the professors. How issues that seem huge to 17 year olds are actually so minuscule and yet Saffy took them all seriously.

I absolutely adored this!!

“”You are burning down my school, go fuck yourself.””

I love the trend of dark academia. Usually it is from the viewpoint of a student, but in this wonderfully dark novel, it is a teacher, Doctor Sapphire (aka Saffy) Walden, a really cool teacher who tries her best to set her students on the right path and keep them from repeating mistakes of the past (namely trying to summon a demon much too powerful for them the control, which she actually has experience in that). You get to see the history of the school, Chetwood Academy, both the dark and the good, and the depths of character, strengths and weaknesses and what Doctor Walden will do to protect her students and keep the school safe (along with all the other teachers tasked with this), even if it may be from herself, and even possibly find someone to share her life with (or at least help kick demon butt with). Yes, it focuses a lot on schooling and testing for A levels and you get to know her students well with their struggles and strengths and such, but you also get some really good fight scenes, demon summoning, demon banter, and even some demons that weren't too bad (aka Phoenix, or an imp in the copier).

This was an absolutely wonderful story with depth, great world building, a tense showdown, and a happy ending for most (Doctor Walden certainly deserves it for all that she sacrificed and went through during that last school year!) and I adored this so much! I know I will definitely reread this in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this awesome novel! I highly recommend it!

I absolutely loved this! I don't usually read urban fantasy, but I love dark academia, so I decided to give this one a go. I'm so glad I did. It wss really fantastic.

I loved the worldbuilding of the demonic plane overlapping the normal world and the demons gaining sentience. The philosophical debate that took place between the students was excellent.

I loved the fact that this book was told from a British teaching POV. As a British teacher, myself, it was so very relatable. I found myself nodding along at several salient points, thinking, yeah, that's accurate. A lot of it really captured the essence of teaching.

I loved the characters. The fact that some were so full of themselves was just... typical of education.

Honestly, there was nothing about this book I didn't enjoy. I was hooked from the first page and have already told my teaching friends all about it.

Emily Tesh's The Greenhollow Duology is one of the best things to happen to fantasy in the last 15 years or so. Lyrical, atmospheric, whimsical, unapologetically queer - what is not to like. Of course, I was intrigued by her first long-form foray into the genre, especially since the premise looked intriguing. Imagine a magical school story, but from the perspective of the teacher - I was sold immediately.

The first 30% or so were excellent. Unlike Deadly Education, that death by infodumpting incarnate, The Incandescent seamlessly connects worldbuilding and character development. By about the 10% mark not only does the reader figure out the basics of the magic system in this world, but also gets to familiarise themselves with the protagonist, Dr Walden, and her core students (very much the secondary characters in this story). We are thrown right into the narrative, evoking long shadows from the past during the first major demon incursion of the story. Tesh's signature whimsical style makes the story shine. Equally, the last 20% or so are gripping, and the character dynamics - an overconfident middle class person and someone more down to earth to save them from themselves - are very reminiscent of the Greenhollow Duology. The middle 50% or so was of interest to me personally, but the pacing could have been tighter, whilst exploring the same themes of class, privilege and the role of old institutions.

The strengths of The Greenhollow stories are definitely all still here, but the text still feels like a bloated novella, not a tightly constructed and paced novel. One of the quirks of this book is that it is a story about being a teacher at a magical school and not, in fact, a magical school story told from the perspective of the teacher. The middle 50% or so follow Saffy/Dr Walden's everyday life as a Head of Department and an A Levels teacher, complete with marking, staff meetings, concerns about school maintenance and extended musings on the nature of private schools in the UK. The eternal question of whether a talented and highly educated middle class teacher would choose to work in the state or public sector was relatable for me, and it is a discussion I have heard many times in real life, but it might be a bit repetitive to a reader looking for a magical story. Additionally, for something supposedly focused on the mundane running of a school, we get very little detail on Saffy's relationship with her colleagues. Extra characters might have overstuffed the core narrative, but they also would have filled the void of the middle section a bit. I understand that Saffy is meant to be somewhat of a loner, but she does not have to be besties with the other teachers for them to be present in the story. The student characters rarely get to be more than stereotypes they are written to be, and the sense of true connection between the teacher and the students rings somewhat false as a result.

The pacing and somewhat thin selection of characters to follow and get invested in aside, the development of the core characters was excellent. Dr Walden herself is a three-dimensional person, and Tesh does not shy away from exploring her flaws. Laura the Marshall is clearly in the supporting role, but her story arc is written well. I also really connected to the complex relationship Saffy has with the school itself, the institution, both seeing its indefensible privileges and being drawn to it as her only true home and only place where she ever felt like she belongs. The sorts of discussions we see in other fantasy critically interrogating institutions, such as Babel, rarely succeed at showing what is alluring about these places and capturing not just the blinding glamour but the more homely sense of community, safety and love they can foster, which can make any critique of them emotionally complicated for the characters at their centre. The dichotomy between Saffy, a middle class white woman feeling at home in the magical school, and Laura, a working class white woman from Essex who has much more complex feelings about her place of work, is a great way to discuss places like this in a more complex way.

Overall, I really enjoyed this, but I can see how the pacing might not be for everyone.

The Incandescent follows Dr Walden, a teacher of invocations (think demon summoning!) at Chetwood Academy. While a lot of the plot is quite ‘slice of life’, it still manages to fit in epic magic battles and plot twists galore!
This had got to be one of the most realistic ‘magic school’ books I’ve read. And it was so much fun too! It had humour and heart and flawed but loveable characters. I’m definitely going to be checking out Emily Tesh’s other books before this.
I have a love for books set in our world with a magic twist, and this really hit the spot. The worldbuilding was exquisite and detailed and so fun to think about and imagine. And as I happen to be a year 13 student in the UK, there was an added factor of relatability with the crazy magic for me that really made this something special. The things that year 9s used magic for is definitely what would happen in real life! The different types of magic and how they interacted was also really interesting. Petition for Emily Tesh to release Dr Walden’s invocation textbook!
The characters were really well done too. The young adults actually *felt* like real young adults, and I really enjoyed Dr Walden as the protagonist. She had a lot of faults but her earnestness and integrity shone through and I really loved that. I also loved her dynamic with a certain nonhuman character in the book (I won’t say much for fear of spoilers!), I definitely cracked a laugh several times.
The romance was really sweet as well, I just wanted everyone to be happy together!
The pacing was a little odd: we got a scene that felt like a climax very early on, and then a much slower pace throughout the rest of the book. It was a little bit jarring, but the humour and interesting worldbuilding carried it through for me. However, I think this quirk will make the book not to everyone’s taste.
That said, if you’re looking for a super unique, funny, creative and unique twist on the typical ‘magic school’ trope then you’ve got to pick this one up! It was a lot of fun and its little bite of social commentary tied it together really nicely.

Deadly Education by Naomi Novik is one of my all time favourite series, so the fact that The Incandescent was being compared to it had me excited but also apprehensive - that is a lot to live up to. However, I'm so glad this book was brought to my attention because it ended up being something really special.

The Incandescent is a fantasy academia from the view of a talented and competent magic teacher, and we spend a school year experiencing a brilliant mix of mundane and fantastical with Dr Walden. I was totally gripped from the start with the clever world building and intriguing magic system, and honestly couldn't put the book down. I can't recommend it enough!

I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

The pacing of this didn't feel right to me and this felt a bit of a slog to get through. The story-telling was fine but life is too short to push through books you're not enjoying. May pick this up after publication.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. - Freya, arc & monthly book box pick reviewer

I am a big fan of the author's, since their previous sci-fi novel Some Desperate Glory made me fall in love with sci-fi when I am not even a fan of the genre. I have been looking forward to reading The Incandescent since the author first announced it on their Instagram pitching it as: "we love chaotic bisexuals but what about bisexuals who have their lives in order?" I am a highly organized bisexual myself so I longed to see myself understood and seen in this book, especially in a dark academia setting. I have two Bachelor degrees so I have experienced my fair amount of academia haha In fact, Saffy reminded me of myself so much that it was surreal.

The beginning was brilliant with the first 40% of the book being phenomenal even. Then came a plot device that I didn't enjoy, and ultimately the last 20% being a fairly great ending. The plot device involves the mc suddenly not being the bisexual who knows better and has order in their life, and it threw me off a lot. It's like a nagging little voice that keeps asking, "Why?"

Saffy is a thirty-eight year old Director of Magic at Chetwood Academy, which is a boarding school that teaches magic alongside other subjects. She is also (self-professed and otherwise) one of the most powerful magicians in England, and I looooove seeing women in positions of power! I loved Saffy's perspective and insight on education, privilege, teaching, teenagers, and on authority. I truly loved it all. She is irreverent and brilliant and has such a sharp, keen mind. I'd freaking love to have a drink with her.

She is also a fantastic teacher and a brilliant magician, and yet, all of a sudden, when Laura leaves, she falls to a half-charming man's flirting and deceit? It was so in contrast with how Saffy has been that for the life of me, I can't understand it.

Laura, our lesbian love interest, she is a fantastic character. With her own emotional baggage, witty lines, and clear character development, she was amazing throughout the book.

The worldbuilding was great, and the author's writing very unique and intriguing, but at least in my earc, there were a lot of long paragraphs, as in single paragraphs took over the entire Kindle screen. Some terms I had a very fragile grasp on, and the paragraphing didn't help me much. The final version may not have these long paragraphs, I have no idea, but alongside terms that I didn't understand, it made my reading experience not so easy. But hey, demons and magic in a school setting will always be a favourite!

The author's perspective on teaching and teachers was also spot on, and this comes from an actual teacher (me!) so the author earned tons of respect just for that.

Overall, The Incandescent offers an insight on teaching, learning from one's mistakes, forgiving oneself and others, and realizing that it is never too late. Unique prose, great dark academia vibes, demons, and queer women conquering the world.

Alright, this book was good, but not exactly what I was expecting. It had an almost slice of life feel, while still being very much magic and school. It's mundane, in a way. There was less actions than I expected, which isn't an issue at all, the story is built for that, I simply had to shift my reader's focus.

Our main character, Dr Walden, is a 38 years old, with stressing and complicated task of overseeing a magical boarding school. She still teaches a few courses, but her main job is to deal with all the administrative and managing part of the school. She is, also, a very powerful magician, with a secret. Delightful to have a dark academia focusing more on the teaching side, with magic playing somewhat of a secondary, albeit important, role.
I enjoyed her a lot. She has a little bite, hidden under her mask of Dr Walder. It's easy to feel for her and her position, how she struggle to manage the balance between her professional life and personal life (the latter being nonexistent). When some of the teenagers she teaches try to summon a demon, it opens up an old memory box and create a series of events leading to Dr Walden's secret to bite her back.

'The incandescent' is a very well thought book, playing with the mundanity of managing a magical school, but also thinking deeply about the implications of having magic known to all society and as an academic field. Emily Tesh tackles subject like privilege, elitism and trauma.
There is little romance on the side, but it is not the main focus of the book at all. I did feel like the turn was a bit quick and couldn't really get invested in that part of the story, but it didn't hinder my enjoyment at all.

So glad to have read it!

So far, I have loved and devoured everything I read by Emily Tesh. And while I did like The Incandescent (4/5 stars), it didn't even come close to Some Desperate Glory or Silver in the Wood for me. I will say though, this might just be a genre thing. Contemporary Fantasy is not my favourite of the SFF subgenres, so it might just be that. It was still very good, and I do reccomend you pick it up if you are thinking about it.

The Incandescent is set at a british magic school, but the main character is not one of the students but a teacher. I have not read many books from that perspective so it was a nice change, and how much Docotor Walden cared about her students was the best part of the book. Her whole perspective on teaching was great to read.
The comparison to A Deadly Education and Rivers of London is very fitting, the Scholomance books were exactly what sprang to mind the minute I started this. As for Rivers of London, it has been a few years since I read those but while I don't think it's a wrong comparison, I think Her Majesty's Royal coven is more fitting, just because of the strong female and queer voices.

What you need to know about this book going in is that it leans more towards cozy fantasy than the more dark fairy-tale vibes of Silver in the Woods. I'm not saying it IS cozy fantasy, because it isn't, but a lot of the book is about the day to day problems that come with running a demon attracting magic school, as opposed to deep lore or epic magic battles (but don't worry those are there too).

Overall, the book was just a little to mellow for me. To me, it lacks both the atmosphere of Silver in the Woods and the feminist rage of Some Desperate Glory.
The high point of tension comes, weirdly enough at about 30% of the book and then it struggles to build it to the same level for the climax.

I also think, and I can't belive I'm saying this, notorious Romantasy hater that I am, the romance plot point could have used a little more attention. Either that or turn it down even further, because as it is I found it to be lacking but to0 prominent to just be in the background.

The high point, as hinted at above, are the characters. Doctor Walden, as a woman in her late 30s, is a rarity among fantasy protagonist (though it is getting better!) and her age and life experience make for a deep and complex character that is centered in herself and her belief system. All the more fun to watch her loose herself. Her core conviction of doing a grounden, underapriciated job well, instead of striving fo 'higher' things was such a nice breath of fresh air. I also liked that she stayed true to this will the very end. The other cast of characters, from her students to her collegues were of course less detailed but no less lovingly crafted. As said above, I loved her interactions with the students.

So, conclusion: Well crafted novel that lacked a bit of excitement that would have made me love it but definetely still a reccomendation from me.

A heartfelt thanks to netgalley, the publisher and the author for gifting me this book in exchange for an honest review.
The Incandescent is the first Emily Tesh novel I’ve read, so I can’t compare it to her previous works. What I can say, however, is that The Incandescent delivers exactly what its premise promises: a magical academy, from the perspective of the professors. And by that, I mean paperwork, endless meetings, departmental drama and all the bureaucratic headaches that come with academia.

I really, really liked the lessons. In so many magical school books, actual lessons are either glossed over or skipped entirely. Here, the classroom has a real presence, and it felt fresh and grounded. Another major plus: the protagonist is 38 years old! More older protagonists in fantasy, please! Seeing magical academia from a faculty member’s perspective is a rare gem, and Emily Tesh executes the concept with intelligence and originality.

However, while I was intrigued by the premise, I struggled a lot with the execution. The plot's _incandescence_ is buried under layers and layers of paperwork, digressions, meetings, and Walden obsessively managing every detail. I had a really hard time getting into it, mostly because of the stylistic choices. The novel is constantly derailed by long, unnecessary tangents that appear at the most inappropriate times (even during life-threatening scenes involving demons!). Why? These digressions often made me lose focus, and I started zoning out pretty frequently.

And if it wasn’t a tangent, it was an infodump or a character dump. The entire second chapter is one long block of exposition. All of this dulled my reading experience. I get that it’s probably intentional, because Walden is a character who sees the world in a very methodical, categorized way, as she breaks everything down into lists, boxes, checkmarks. But it made for a very dry, almost clinical reading experience, with little emotional connection or warmth. At times, the reading experience was genuinely frustrating, I felt like I was constantly waiting for the story to move forward, only to be pulled into yet another digression or detour that drained all the tension and momentum.

I’m honestly sad for not liking this book more, it genuinely had the most exciting premises and a well-developed plot . However, I think it might appeal to readers who enjoy character-driven novels and a slower pacing. If you liked The Scholomance and are curious about a behind-the-scenes take on magical education, this could be the right book for you.

An addictive twist on fantasy academia where the school and academic program are essential to the plot. The story follows a school year in teacher Saffy’s life, as she teaches at a magical boarding school. If you ever wondered about Minerva McGonagall’s day to day headaches, this gives some insight. I loved the premise for this and really enjoyed the character driven story.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for allowing me to read this early, I’m rating it 3.75 stars.

I liked it, I didn’t love it. I feel like my understanding of what this was going to be didn’t quite live up to my expectations which is totally ok.

Here’s what I did enjoy, the mix of demons and magic in an academic setting. I love fantasy in an academic setting, I feel like I would’ve enjoyed this more with some multi POV.. I respect Walden an odd amount, she was quite cool, witty and knowledgable.

I think this is perfect for fans of Deadly Education & Atlas six. It’s entertaining and sophisticated without being pretentious. There’s some awkward teen energy at points as it follows some steep learning curbs when dealing with magic and everything that comes with it. I would read a spin off from this world for sure.

The Incandescent was a story about a year(-ish) in Saffy Walden's life as a teacher in a magical boarding school, which mostly involved a lot of 14-hour busy workdays, but there were also a couple of serious magical disasters. I very much liked how academia-oriented the story was: the school was not just a backdrop; it was Saffy's life and blood. How she taught and her relationship with her students was one of the high points of this story (they were very lovely students). I really liked the worldbuilding as well, it was quite detailed but you may have to look up British school system a little if you're not already familiar with it.

What I'm not really a fan of was the pacing. So, there were a couple of high-tension fast-paced situation but there was also a stretch where this book slowed down into a cozy, mundane, academia pace. Which was not my preference, so it was kinda hard for me to go through that part, especially because this book also had some fast-paced parts.

Overall, I found it very refreshing to read a magical school story from the PoV of the teacher, who was also a woman in her late thirties. There was also a little romance, but it was not too prominent, like it's there because it's a part of life.

eARC provided by NetGalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK.

Thank you so much to Little Brown Book Group and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC!

This book is a very high 4 stars for me. It had me hooked from the first page, and this has been one of my most highly anticipated reads this year and it did not let me down! This is also my first book by Tesh, and I absolutely love their style of writing in this one. The whole book is so well-crafted and I loved the way the story was broke up into terms.

The story follows Saffy Walden, the Director of Magic at Chetwood Academy, a magical boarding school. We see how she interacts with the students and her fellow staff. We see how she juggles being the director of magic and teaching the most talented kids and grading and lesson plans and dealing with demon incursions. It's never-ending for Walden and I really liked seeing the slightly more mundane part of her life. It was also so refreshing to read from the POV of an older character.

When I was reading this book I kept thinking about the teachers I had when I was younger. I didn't like school and I think if I had been sent to boarding school I would've hated it even more, but I did have a few teachers who were passionate about their jobs and kept encouraging us. It made me think of how much work they put in with all the grading and marking and lesson plans, AND they didn't have to deal with demon incursions! Just annoying teenagers!

I suppose my only issue with this book is that I feel the ending wrapped up rather abruptly. It was a solid ending but I think I would've wanted a bit more, you know?

I highly recommend picking this one up!

Thanks for the opportunity to read this one.

Unfortunately while I loved the concept (and REALLY loved having an older protagonist), the writing style just wasn’t working for me.

I will be the first to admit the charm of dark academia is largely lost on me, but I was still greatly looking forward to The Incandescent because the promise of showing a magical boarding school from the perspective of an elder millenial teacher seemed right up my alley. Plus, Emily Tesh has done some really interesting things with her debut novel and novellas, so there was a lot to look forward to.

First off, things I liked:
- the book is really easy to read. It has this vibe of a magically mundane slice of life anime, slow to unfurl, full of delightful detail and (I assume, never having gone through a British school) minutia of a British public school, but from the perspective of an adult who makes sure it's running smoothly. I read it pretty much in two sittings.
- Saffy Walden is a very good portrait of an overachieving, academically brilliant loser millenial, and I say that affectionally, as a tired thirtysomething academically brilliant loser millenial.
- The school itself came to life easily, like something I could recognize even without having experienced it. Can only imagine how it feels to people who've had similar experiences. It's so vivid and full of life.
- Saffy's ill-timed romance with Laura, and generally Laura's character that refuses to be charmed by the privileged idyll as she remains firm in her ideals and in her pursuits. Honestly we should have had more Laura, she is great.

Things I didn't like so much
- There were a few elements to the story that remained largely arbitrary: the whys behind the protracted plot arc involving the security expert (so many whys, both on doylean and watsonian level), a few magical blind spots, pacing and stylistic choices in the last fourth of the book. I couldn't help feeling that this could have been smoothed out with more editorial work on a structure level and had the intended wham! effect rather than leaving me bewildered.
- honestly, the more I think about the secury expert arc, the more bewildered I get.
- the open secret of Phoenix - I am failing to imagine the magical society as a whole agreed to sweep this into the carpet until the events of the book. How?
- the resolution with the Phoenix also seemed a little too convenient.

Overall, this is one of the books where I can say I am glad I read it, I had a good time reading it and I will continue to await what else Emily Tesh will write, but I wasn't as impressed as I was with SDG - not because this is a different book, but because it seemed at a different stage of polish.

Thank you to Netgally and the publisher for the arc.

The Incandescent follows Dr Sapphire Walden who is the Director of Magic at Chetwood School. She loves teaching but her job consists of a lot of meetings and securing the school from demonic incursions. Walden loves her job and needs to keep her school safe but demons are masters of manipulation and the school may need protecting from herself.

I’m giving this 3 stars. It was written well and gave me vibes of Carry on by Rainbow Rowell. It’s obvious Walden cares about her school and her students. This book shows how much work goes into keeping a school running particularly a magic school. That said, this was a little boring and it wasn’t the most engaging read for me. I personally found it too focused on the monotony of running a school but maybe that was the point of the book.

This book follows a year in the life of a magical boarding school, but from the headmistress’s POV. It has a slice-of-life vibe, just with demons thrown into the mix. If you liked Naomi Novik’s Scholomance series, this has a similar atmosphere, but shifts the focus to the adults trying to keep everything (and everyone) from falling apart.

I love an 'older' FMC and I've been well treated recently with excellent FMCs that are my age (like the FMC here in The Incandescent, Dr Saffy Walden) or older. I'm hoping that FMCs over 30 become more common because I generally find them more interesting than younger protagonists since they've already lived a bit (or a lot) of a life! Saffy felt like a real, flawed person and her actions throughout the book made sense.

The Incandescent had a lot of technical lore dropping to do in the first 10-15% of the book to explain the world and how the magical school runs, but once that was all established, things really got going and I was surprised by where the plot went. I expected that most of the storyline would be about Saffy and Laura taking down Old Faithful, but instead that was resolved pretty quickly and time moved on through the school year.

The book was full of British humour and references (I don't know how much a reference to John Lewis will translate in America, for example) but as a Brit, I liked it. There were a few things that kept it from getting a higher rating. Sometimes it got a bit too much into the minutia of teacher life, and I'd have liked to have seen more of Saffy and Laura together. There were some unresolved questions relating to the 'villain' that I'd have liked answers on as it was a bit vague - mainly 'why?' and 'what happened to them?'

I definitely get The Scholomance comparisons after reading The Incandescent, but it's nice to see it from the adult, teacher perspective. I was getting a bit of Gideon the Ninth vibes as well, but obviously not the space bits!

Disclaimer: I received an Advance Reader Copy from NetGalley, but this is my voluntary and honest review.