2.5 Stars
The cover of this book (and the whole series) is quite beautiful, and it's what drew me to this series.
However, I can't say the book lived up to it. First off, this book is full of so much lingo. I get it, as they're a different race and from another planet, but it was a bit distracting with just how much there was.
Also, this book was kind of slow/boring for the first bit, because of how fast it moved. :P I kept waiting to get to know Sage more, but the book was so focused on showing me the campus and telling me about the world. I would have cared more about those things if I had known more about Sage first, and had a reason to care about her--and, by extension, the school she's so excited to go to.
The only reason I kept reading was because I wanted to see how Sage dealt with Earth. The book did get more interesting once she finally went, but I also had an issue or two then, which I'll talk about below, in the spoiler section.
Maybe if I was younger I would have enjoyed this more, but I think, even then, I would have grown bored with all the lingo and the waiting. So, it has an interesting premise, with there being beings that grant our wishes, but the book put more focus on the setting than it did the characters.
SPOILERS BELOW!
Okay, it was way too obvious Sage had the wrong girl for the wish. I'm not sure how I would have made it less obvious, other than maybe have her bump into that other girl first, and have the pendant glow as she's stumbling towards Jane. It would still be obvious, but I think reversing the scenario would have made it a little less so. Maybe another solution would need to be found, but something there needed to changed.
Then there's how little Sage knew about the world. I get that's the whole reason she's going to school, but you would think she and the other first years would have a special class to get them up to speed about the most important things.
The only reason Sage had an easy time was because she randomly has the power to influence/control adults. This power didn't bother me too much, as I'm assuming it's specific to her (if they all could do it, I'm sure it would have been mentioned in class or something).
So, I wanted to enjoy this book/series, but this first book had too many issues for me to really enjoy it. As such, I won't be picking up the rest of the series.