This book starts off strong. Like, jump-right-into-the-darkness strong. Our protagonist, Sophia DeWinter, is an illusionist who has a contract bound to her powerful and terrifying uncle, a.k.a. The Collector. There's a contract carved into her wrist that has controlled her actions from the age of four, making her perform these mission-type tasks. Essentially gathering intel that points to someone's murder. This is her only method of staying alive, and she knows it's a lousy one, but it's that or nothing, and she has nothing else. No parents, no protection, and this is how she's managed to survive.
Freedom for her is dependent on acceptance by the elite magical school, Killmarth, which accepts students with magical abilities. She gets to leave The Collector’s grip with this opportunity. The only catch is that one has to survive the Crucible for this to happen. Sophia finds herself in this world because she has more skills compared to others. She is not only an illusionist but has the ability to create and discern illusions, a skill not many people possess.
She meets Alden Locke (our MMC) in a bar to learn more about the entrance examination, who is charming, talkative, and obviously meant to be attractive. She flirts, fishes for information, and before she knows it, the two are at the Crucible: teamed together for the trials. From there, it's deep into Killmarth's dark academia atmosphere-ancient rules, perilous magic, the constant threat of death on every choice.
The trials themselves were, genuinely interesting. The first one-a massive chessboard filled with deadly vines and fake-versus-real fires-really was a fun one to read. This is where the book shines: the setting. Killmarth is atmospheric, feels full of magic, and is dangerous in that classic dark academia way, and I was sold on the world.
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Characters, Romance, and Some Questionable Choices
Characters, Romance, and Some Questionable Choices
Let me talk about Sophia, because I have mixed feelings.
I conceptually love her: a morally grey heroine caught in a system that's totally exploiting her? Sign me up. But in execution, she sometimes made choices that just didn't sit right with me. This became clear pretty early on in the book, during the invitation incident.
She recieves an invitation that she must have to enter Killmarth, which she's explicitly warned not to lose. It's her passport to freedom and she just… forgets it. Somewhere in a city she's already left.
I'm sorry, but no. I couldn't buy that. Stress or not, that invitation is her lifeline. I wouldn't get out of my house to board a flight without checking if I had my passport a million times, and I'm not even magically enslaved person who is desperate for escape. That felt less organic in terms of character behavior and more like forcing drama, which made Sophia seem careless in a way that didn't quite fit with her survival instincts.
Next up is Alden Locke. Not a lot to say about him honestly. He's okay. Nice, even. But that's about it. He is helpful, charming, and morally sound, but not all that deep. No brooding, he doesn't hate the heroine, and no slow boiling tension.
Instead, the romance kicks off right from the first page. These two flirt almost right away, kiss within the first few pages, and then bounce back and forth between banter, arguments, and intimacy at breakneck speed. Not really my thing, but to each their own. I was expecting something darker and slower, too, given the setting.
Nevertheless, I was not reading this book for the romance. The magic trials were what I was completely into, so although the romance was something I didn’t enjoy, it certainly didn’t impact my reading experience negatively either.
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What Worked, What Didn’t, and Why I Still Liked It
What Worked, What Didn’t, and Why I Still Liked It
This is the part that will blow your mind: in spite of all my complains, I was absolutely hooked on this book.
Objectively, I could list its faults. The romantic plot has whiplash. Sophia is a paradox. A woman who claims she’s too weak to perform a task but takes offense if people agree with her assessment only to leave them when they act accordingly.
And yet. I enjoyed it somehow.
I really can’t pick out one thing that stands out as exceptionally good. The magic system is not particularly original. The characters are flawed and complicated. The romance is rushed. Yet somehow, the book kept me engaged. The mood and the challenges and the feeling of peril kept the pages turning for me. Sophia’s need to escape her circumstances kept me hooked even when I was angry with her.
In the end, I decided to give this book 3.75 stars, and to be honest with you, it surprised me. It’s definitely not perfect and has some rather rough edges but it does have some sort of compelling quality that is difficult to put your finger on. Sometimes it’s simply enough that it encourages you to read further.
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