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Bodies of Magic
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Expected 15 Sep 26Win a free print copy of this book!
17 days and 08:22:07
75 copies available
U.S. only
Grey’s Anatomy meets A Deadly Education in this dark academia fantasy set at a magical medical school, with murder, magical discovery, and burnt-out medical students
At the Academie of the Grand Duchy of Sieuxerr, mages with the healer’s gift undergo a demanding six-year course of study before facing the Grand a five-day trial whose results will determine what shape their future holds. For five of this year’s students, what awaits them on the first day is—murder.
Ysabel was not well liked, but she was one of the brightest students to come through the Academie in
years. The institution has reasons to want to pass her death off as a suicide, but as her best—or only—friend, Clement knows they’re wrong. And when the five members of their Exam group receive a letter from Ysabel from beyond the grave, it becomes clear she was up to something someone was willing to kill for.
The friend who stood in the dead girl’s shadow.
The academic rival who was battling her for the top class ranking.
The girl no one ever thought would amount to anything.
The foreigner conscripted into this life who would rather be doing something, anything else.
The boy whose traitorous secrets Ysabel had already uncovered years ago.
If they can solve her murder, they may find more answers than they bargained for—but if they don’t, one of
them may be forced to take the fall.
At the Academie of the Grand Duchy of Sieuxerr, mages with the healer’s gift undergo a demanding six-year course of study before facing the Grand a five-day trial whose results will determine what shape their future holds. For five of this year’s students, what awaits them on the first day is—murder.
Ysabel was not well liked, but she was one of the brightest students to come through the Academie in
years. The institution has reasons to want to pass her death off as a suicide, but as her best—or only—friend, Clement knows they’re wrong. And when the five members of their Exam group receive a letter from Ysabel from beyond the grave, it becomes clear she was up to something someone was willing to kill for.
The friend who stood in the dead girl’s shadow.
The academic rival who was battling her for the top class ranking.
The girl no one ever thought would amount to anything.
The foreigner conscripted into this life who would rather be doing something, anything else.
The boy whose traitorous secrets Ysabel had already uncovered years ago.
If they can solve her murder, they may find more answers than they bargained for—but if they don’t, one of
them may be forced to take the fall.
490 pages, Kindle Edition
Expected publication September 15, 2026
About the author
Freya Marske
19 books3,626 followersFreya Marske lives in Australia, where she is yet to be killed by any form of wildlife. She writes stories full of magic, blood, and as much kissing as she can get away with, and she co-hosted the Hugo Award nominated podcast Be the Serpent. Her hobbies include figure skating and discovering new art galleries, and she is on a quest to try all the gin in the world.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 164 reviews
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I NEED ♾️ MORE BOOKS LIKE THIS RIGHT THIS SECOND!!
I am so incredibly glad I requested an ARC of Bodies of Magic by Freya Marske, and so grateful that I was sent a copy! 🙏
This book was like a 200-step recipe with completely random elements that didn’t seem to make sense together—until the very last moment when your mouth exploded with flavor! 💥
Why you need this standalone on your TBR immediately:
📖 Magic medical school & a high-stakes murder mystery
📖 A brilliant, chaotic motley crew to found family dynamic
📖 Refreshing, closed-door queer romance in a world where it’s completely normalized
📖 Complex, intense magic systems that feel both dangerous and fascinating
If you love dark academia vibes, incredible character growth, and stories that leave you screaming for more, do not skip this one.
CHECK OUT MY FULL IG CAROUSEL
Pre-read
I'm so excited to be starting this! 🤩✨
______________
Jun 8:
REQUEST ACCEPTED!! 🥹✨ I'M SO HAPPY!! 😭 🎉 🎉 🎉 🎉 🎉
May 22:
🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻 This looks very much like a book I'm gonna love. I'm really hoping to be accepted for this ARC! 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻
I am so incredibly glad I requested an ARC of Bodies of Magic by Freya Marske, and so grateful that I was sent a copy! 🙏
This book was like a 200-step recipe with completely random elements that didn’t seem to make sense together—until the very last moment when your mouth exploded with flavor! 💥
Why you need this standalone on your TBR immediately:
📖 Magic medical school & a high-stakes murder mystery
📖 A brilliant, chaotic motley crew to found family dynamic
📖 Refreshing, closed-door queer romance in a world where it’s completely normalized
📖 Complex, intense magic systems that feel both dangerous and fascinating
If you love dark academia vibes, incredible character growth, and stories that leave you screaming for more, do not skip this one.
CHECK OUT MY FULL IG CAROUSEL
Pre-read
I'm so excited to be starting this! 🤩✨
______________
Jun 8:
REQUEST ACCEPTED!! 🥹✨ I'M SO HAPPY!! 😭 🎉 🎉 🎉 🎉 🎉
May 22:
🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻 This looks very much like a book I'm gonna love. I'm really hoping to be accepted for this ARC! 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻
Want to Read
April 23, 2026PLEASEEEE I HAVE HAD THIS ARC PENDING FOR 21 DAYS IF YOURE GOING TO ACCEPT THEN ACCEPT IF YOURE GOING TO DENY THEN DENY😭😭😭
August 24, 2026
No one is more disappointed than I am that I didn’t love this as much as I thought I would. It has all the ingredients for something I’d devour - fantasy, murder mystery, healing magic, and an academy setting. So what’s not to love? The writing, the pacing, the character development, and the cohesiveness of the story all felt severely lacking. I finished the book and thought “alright, anyway.” Unfortunately, there was just no attachment formed to any of the characters. The healing magic itself has multiple components (singing, drawing an array, physical touch) and none of them were ever explained very well.
The writing was very clunky and the wording/sentence structure felt so awkward. I kept thinking, does this need another round of editing? The metaphors were bizarre. The dialogue was juvenile despite the characters being adults. The entire book is very long for a story that takes place over the course of five days. Too many things happen for it to be believable that this was all achieved in literally just five days. The intentions/motivations of the characters were not very believable to me and I found it so difficult to accept that the police were barely investigating a murder and therefore it was up to a bunch of students taking a final exam to solve the mystery themselves…
As someone who is very technical and needs things to make sense in my books, this was tough for me. There were so many concepts introduced but barely explained and then the reader is expected to just accept it all. As someone in healthcare, I was REALLY excited at the prospect of a fantasy novel where healing takes the center stage but this didn’t deliver what I wanted. I thought there would be more of a focus on the healing magic and the murder mystery, not the romantic subplots. I very much appreciated the queer normative world. I think this will be a hit for some audiences but I’m sad to say it wasn’t a top read for me. 2.5 rounded up to 3. Thank you to Tor publishing group and NetGalley for this eARC.
The writing was very clunky and the wording/sentence structure felt so awkward. I kept thinking, does this need another round of editing? The metaphors were bizarre. The dialogue was juvenile despite the characters being adults. The entire book is very long for a story that takes place over the course of five days. Too many things happen for it to be believable that this was all achieved in literally just five days. The intentions/motivations of the characters were not very believable to me and I found it so difficult to accept that the police were barely investigating a murder and therefore it was up to a bunch of students taking a final exam to solve the mystery themselves…
As someone who is very technical and needs things to make sense in my books, this was tough for me. There were so many concepts introduced but barely explained and then the reader is expected to just accept it all. As someone in healthcare, I was REALLY excited at the prospect of a fantasy novel where healing takes the center stage but this didn’t deliver what I wanted. I thought there would be more of a focus on the healing magic and the murder mystery, not the romantic subplots. I very much appreciated the queer normative world. I think this will be a hit for some audiences but I’m sad to say it wasn’t a top read for me. 2.5 rounded up to 3. Thank you to Tor publishing group and NetGalley for this eARC.
Read
March 17, 2026unrated while i think real hard about it but generally, i REALLY liked this. the characters are so real and good and complicated and kind (Moyna i LOVE you), the plot is compelling enough to get you through this hefty book, and the worldbuilding is rich and interesting and I would read another 5 books set in this world, EASY. Plus everyone's gay and funny. Sunshine, rainbows. Yes, I recommend this.
However. The lack of consideration for disability was... noticeable. I think medical school dark academia cannot be complete without discussion of disability. I really liked the choice to use a sensitivity reader (presumably for the nonbinary character, might be wrong tho) but I think this book really could benefit from a sensitivity read from a disabled person. l don't think it would take a lot to fill in this missing piece: just the acknowledgement that disabled people are not given the agency they deserve in a society focused on"fixing" rather than equity and acommodation.
In summary: yay! whee! yay!!! *
However. The lack of consideration for disability was... noticeable. I think medical school dark academia cannot be complete without discussion of disability. I really liked the choice to use a sensitivity reader (presumably for the nonbinary character, might be wrong tho) but I think this book really could benefit from a sensitivity read from a disabled person. l don't think it would take a lot to fill in this missing piece: just the acknowledgement that disabled people are not given the agency they deserve in a society focused on"fixing" rather than equity and acommodation.
In summary: yay! whee! yay!!! *
July 15, 2026
3,75⭐️ rounded up to a 4🥰
Overall, I really liked the concept of this book and I really, really tried to love it, but there were just some things that worked against me a little.
First of all, let me talk about the positives! I really liked Freya’s writing style and will definitely be checking out her other books sometime. The concept of the book was also amazing. Healing magic x dark academia with a murder mystery? Right up my alley!
The story follows five students who are selected to take their final exams together. They have five days to complete five exams, but when they arrive for their first exam, they find a fellow student dead inside the exam room. From that moment on, the book immediately starts off with suspense and mystery. Throughout the story, I kept wondering what had happened and who was responsible.
However, I did feel like the first half of the book was quite slow. There was a lot of information being introduced and, at times, there was so much info-dumping that it became a little difficult to follow everything.
We also get all five students’ POVs. This was something I both liked and struggled with. On the one hand, it allowed us to get to know each of the characters better, which I really enjoyed. On the other hand, switching between five different POVs sometimes made the story a little difficult to follow. The characters I cared about the most were Moyna and Jehan.
Another thing I struggled with was the pacing. The entire book takes place over the course of just five days, with the exams taking place day after day. Since the book is around 450 pages long, that means that each day takes up roughly 90 pages. Because of this, some of the days started to feel quite long and drawn-out, especially during the first half of the book...
Thankfully, the pacing picked up during the second half of the book, especially around days three and four. From that point onwards, I felt like the story finally started moving forward more quickly! I found the reveal incredibly exciting and I was especially interested in the entire plot surrounding the dead student’s project. I thought that part of the story was incredibly well thought out and really enjoyed seeing how everything came together!!
I also really wish we had gotten to explore more of Alys’ powers. I feel like we barely scratched the surface of what she was capable of, which was a little disappointing because I found that aspect of the story very intriguing.
So, overall, this was a good book. Great, even. But I also can’t help feeling like it had the potential to be even better. I really enjoyed the concept, the writing and the mystery but the slow pacing and the amount of information introduced during the first half made it a little difficult for me to fully connect with the story.
Still, I definitely enjoyed the second half much more and I will absolutely be checking out more of Freya’s books in the future!
Overall, I really liked the concept of this book and I really, really tried to love it, but there were just some things that worked against me a little.
First of all, let me talk about the positives! I really liked Freya’s writing style and will definitely be checking out her other books sometime. The concept of the book was also amazing. Healing magic x dark academia with a murder mystery? Right up my alley!
The story follows five students who are selected to take their final exams together. They have five days to complete five exams, but when they arrive for their first exam, they find a fellow student dead inside the exam room. From that moment on, the book immediately starts off with suspense and mystery. Throughout the story, I kept wondering what had happened and who was responsible.
However, I did feel like the first half of the book was quite slow. There was a lot of information being introduced and, at times, there was so much info-dumping that it became a little difficult to follow everything.
We also get all five students’ POVs. This was something I both liked and struggled with. On the one hand, it allowed us to get to know each of the characters better, which I really enjoyed. On the other hand, switching between five different POVs sometimes made the story a little difficult to follow. The characters I cared about the most were Moyna and Jehan.
Another thing I struggled with was the pacing. The entire book takes place over the course of just five days, with the exams taking place day after day. Since the book is around 450 pages long, that means that each day takes up roughly 90 pages. Because of this, some of the days started to feel quite long and drawn-out, especially during the first half of the book...
Thankfully, the pacing picked up during the second half of the book, especially around days three and four. From that point onwards, I felt like the story finally started moving forward more quickly! I found the reveal incredibly exciting and I was especially interested in the entire plot surrounding the dead student’s project. I thought that part of the story was incredibly well thought out and really enjoyed seeing how everything came together!!
I also really wish we had gotten to explore more of Alys’ powers. I feel like we barely scratched the surface of what she was capable of, which was a little disappointing because I found that aspect of the story very intriguing.
So, overall, this was a good book. Great, even. But I also can’t help feeling like it had the potential to be even better. I really enjoyed the concept, the writing and the mystery but the slow pacing and the amount of information introduced during the first half made it a little difficult for me to fully connect with the story.
Still, I definitely enjoyed the second half much more and I will absolutely be checking out more of Freya’s books in the future!
July 11, 2026
Freya Marske's Bodies of Magic is a masterclass in Dark Academia- the worldbuilding is complex, and clearly painstakingly layered and presented with such detail that the world feels as gritty and lived-in as our own. The characters are all so finely wrought, nuanced and as frustrating as they are endearing. This book IS a challenging one, clearly Marske has respect for her readers, but while some may be bogged down by the intricacies of the magic system and the slow burn build of the murder mystery at the stories heart, I absolutely loved being immersed in this world, getting lose in Marske's imagination. This is a book to savor and I would gladly read more stories set in this world! More books like this please!
June 16, 2026
FREYA MARSKE IS THE GOAT AND THIS IS HER GOATIEST BOOK YET!!!! I love how she uses magical power as a metaphor for socioeconomic power throughout her books and this really knocks it out of the park. I genuinely would die for all of these characters and also HOW DID I NOT KNOW SHE WAS ALSO A DOCTOR?!??!!
August 26, 2026
A very interesting mix of fantasy, mystery, and medical dark academia that probably only a skilled fantasy writer and a medical doctor could pull off. Luckily, Freya Marske is both.
The story follows five medical students at a magical academy who are thrown together for their final grand exam. At the same time, they’re trying to uncover the truth behind the murder of one of their friends. The whole story takes place over five days (exactly how long the exam lasts), and each of the five students gets their own POV. Those creative choices have their consequences.
Because we only have five days, the book is very dynamic and we’re thrown straight into the action. The pacing barely ever slows down, which makes it a very easy book to get through. The decision to reveal the characters’ motivations gradually, without much buildup, is definitely a bold approach that fits the structure of the story, although I did sometimes wish we knew more about the characters and their circumstances. The five day timeframe also means there isn’t much room for relationships to develop as deeply as Marske has done in her other novels. This isn’t a romance book by any means, but I actually found the emotional tangle between the characters as fascinating as the murder mystery itself.
The five POVs are another interesting choice. I think they make sense for the kind of story Marske is telling, especially because there isn’t really one central protagonist, and that becomes particularly important when you get to the ending. At the same time, some POVs are definitely stronger than others. Alys was the most compelling to me, although I also really liked Clement. Estiene felt a little flat for much of the book, while Moyna started out really strong but I felt like some of her potential got lost along the way. Jehan was mostly fine. Still, I wouldn’t argue that the book would’ve been better with fewer POVs, because I can’t really think of a better way to tell this particular story.
The magic system, and especially the way its specific rules fit into the story, was something else I really enjoyed. Not everyone in this world is born with magic, and the kind of magic you have depends on where you were born. The Grand Duchy of Sieuxerr, where the story takes place, is a birthplace of healers, which means that anyone discovered to have magical abilities is required to study at the medical academy. There’s no choice involved. That setup has some interesting consequences for the characters, especially since being a healer isn’t necessarily the path everyone would’ve chosen for themselves.
As for the ending, talking about the murder mystery in much detail is difficult if you want to keep the review spoiler free, so I’ll just say that the shock value in this book doesn’t really come from who killed, but why. I really liked that approach.
Overall, this was a really fun and unusual fantasy mystery. I had a great time reading it, even if I occasionally wanted a little more depth from the characters. The concept is clever, the pacing is strong, and the structure feels very intentional.
Thank you NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.
The story follows five medical students at a magical academy who are thrown together for their final grand exam. At the same time, they’re trying to uncover the truth behind the murder of one of their friends. The whole story takes place over five days (exactly how long the exam lasts), and each of the five students gets their own POV. Those creative choices have their consequences.
Because we only have five days, the book is very dynamic and we’re thrown straight into the action. The pacing barely ever slows down, which makes it a very easy book to get through. The decision to reveal the characters’ motivations gradually, without much buildup, is definitely a bold approach that fits the structure of the story, although I did sometimes wish we knew more about the characters and their circumstances. The five day timeframe also means there isn’t much room for relationships to develop as deeply as Marske has done in her other novels. This isn’t a romance book by any means, but I actually found the emotional tangle between the characters as fascinating as the murder mystery itself.
The five POVs are another interesting choice. I think they make sense for the kind of story Marske is telling, especially because there isn’t really one central protagonist, and that becomes particularly important when you get to the ending. At the same time, some POVs are definitely stronger than others. Alys was the most compelling to me, although I also really liked Clement. Estiene felt a little flat for much of the book, while Moyna started out really strong but I felt like some of her potential got lost along the way. Jehan was mostly fine. Still, I wouldn’t argue that the book would’ve been better with fewer POVs, because I can’t really think of a better way to tell this particular story.
The magic system, and especially the way its specific rules fit into the story, was something else I really enjoyed. Not everyone in this world is born with magic, and the kind of magic you have depends on where you were born. The Grand Duchy of Sieuxerr, where the story takes place, is a birthplace of healers, which means that anyone discovered to have magical abilities is required to study at the medical academy. There’s no choice involved. That setup has some interesting consequences for the characters, especially since being a healer isn’t necessarily the path everyone would’ve chosen for themselves.
As for the ending, talking about the murder mystery in much detail is difficult if you want to keep the review spoiler free, so I’ll just say that the shock value in this book doesn’t really come from who killed, but why. I really liked that approach.
Overall, this was a really fun and unusual fantasy mystery. I had a great time reading it, even if I occasionally wanted a little more depth from the characters. The concept is clever, the pacing is strong, and the structure feels very intentional.
Thank you NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.
August 13, 2026
°❀⋆ Bodies of Magic .ೃ࿔*:･
★ ★ ★
"Do no harm..."
Pitched as Grey's Anatomy meets Naomi Novik's A Deadly Education, Bodies of Magic is a dark academia standalone following five exceptional students at the prestigious Academie of Sieuxerr as they prepare to take their final exams to allow them to graduate as healers. Since a plague known as the serrage ravaged Sieuxerr's population and left the healer ranks dangerously undermanned, healers have been in high demand, but the qualifying exams remain as demanding as ever.
When the five scholars turn up to their first exam only to find one of their classmates brutally murdered, they must juggle the academic demands alongside investigating. For when they each begin to receive notes from the dead scholar, it becomes clear that their futures may very well rely on them uncovering the truth...
The central mystery is very compelling; I love a book that melds fantasy with murder mystery (I am indeed thinking of the Raven Scholar and the Tainted Cup). I think it was an ambitious concept to have five different POVs. There were moments where I thought it worked, but there were definitely characters I warmed to more than others, and I do feel like I would've appreciated more time with everyone, even though it was a 450-page book. For instance, Alys's plot line about coming to terms with her enormous well of raw power felt really rushed and more of a plot device than anything. So if you like an ensemble cast and enjoy group dynamics rather than in-depth character studies, this would probably work for you.
There are a lot of parallels to our own world and healthcare systems drawn throughout this book. The serrage is very clearly a substitute for Covid, burnout may be magical but it is discussed heavily, and the way the world treats healthcare workers in the wake of this pandemic/plague. In this, it felt similar to how the Pitt approaches these big topics; if you've ever watched that show and been like 'this would be so cool if there were magic and also one of the med students died and everyone else had to figure out who did it...' I'm sure there's a fanfic like that somewhere, right?
I know Freya Marske has a rather lengthy backlist - let me know in the comments if I should give some of her other work a go, as well as if you'll be reading Bodies of Magic when it releases. Thank you to Pan Macmillan for the digital ARC! Bodies of Magic is out September 15th.
★ ★ ★
"Do no harm..."
Pitched as Grey's Anatomy meets Naomi Novik's A Deadly Education, Bodies of Magic is a dark academia standalone following five exceptional students at the prestigious Academie of Sieuxerr as they prepare to take their final exams to allow them to graduate as healers. Since a plague known as the serrage ravaged Sieuxerr's population and left the healer ranks dangerously undermanned, healers have been in high demand, but the qualifying exams remain as demanding as ever.
When the five scholars turn up to their first exam only to find one of their classmates brutally murdered, they must juggle the academic demands alongside investigating. For when they each begin to receive notes from the dead scholar, it becomes clear that their futures may very well rely on them uncovering the truth...
The central mystery is very compelling; I love a book that melds fantasy with murder mystery (I am indeed thinking of the Raven Scholar and the Tainted Cup). I think it was an ambitious concept to have five different POVs. There were moments where I thought it worked, but there were definitely characters I warmed to more than others, and I do feel like I would've appreciated more time with everyone, even though it was a 450-page book. For instance, Alys's plot line about coming to terms with her enormous well of raw power felt really rushed and more of a plot device than anything. So if you like an ensemble cast and enjoy group dynamics rather than in-depth character studies, this would probably work for you.
There are a lot of parallels to our own world and healthcare systems drawn throughout this book. The serrage is very clearly a substitute for Covid, burnout may be magical but it is discussed heavily, and the way the world treats healthcare workers in the wake of this pandemic/plague. In this, it felt similar to how the Pitt approaches these big topics; if you've ever watched that show and been like 'this would be so cool if there were magic and also one of the med students died and everyone else had to figure out who did it...' I'm sure there's a fanfic like that somewhere, right?
I know Freya Marske has a rather lengthy backlist - let me know in the comments if I should give some of her other work a go, as well as if you'll be reading Bodies of Magic when it releases. Thank you to Pan Macmillan for the digital ARC! Bodies of Magic is out September 15th.
August 23, 2026
2.25 stars - this is a dark academia medical fantasy/murder mystery (all things right up my alley) so I am so sad that I didn’t end up connecting with this book at all.
Things I did really enjoy include the premise, the dark/eerie backdrop that anchors the story, and the themes of corruption and power.
The primary element that didn’t work for me was the writing style. There was a heavy focus on dialogue/inner monologues of the characters rather than exploring the plot elements and the magic system. Because of this, the magic system and the academic system were rarely explained enough which causes the reader to have to accept parts of the story that didn’t always make sense. Because of the character focus, I was hoping there would at least be a lot of character development but they remained stagnant and they weren’t very likable. (I don’t mind an unlikable character but I need it to make sense with the plot and it didn’t). At times, this book felt like being trapped in the minds of immature students while not understanding anything that’s going on around you. I also found the overall sentence structure and prose to be choppy and difficult to follow.
My other struggle with this book is that it lacked believability. The entire book takes place within 5 days and these students go on quite a number of side quests while also taking a grand final exam and solving a murder in such a short period of time? And why weren’t any of the faculty or law enforcement involved in investigating? It doesn’t make sense that it would be left to a group of students to solve multiple murders.
Overall, I had really high hopes for this one and unfortunately the story telling just did not work for me at all. That’s not to say it won’t work for others though so I hope this book finds the right people!
Things I did really enjoy include the premise, the dark/eerie backdrop that anchors the story, and the themes of corruption and power.
The primary element that didn’t work for me was the writing style. There was a heavy focus on dialogue/inner monologues of the characters rather than exploring the plot elements and the magic system. Because of this, the magic system and the academic system were rarely explained enough which causes the reader to have to accept parts of the story that didn’t always make sense. Because of the character focus, I was hoping there would at least be a lot of character development but they remained stagnant and they weren’t very likable. (I don’t mind an unlikable character but I need it to make sense with the plot and it didn’t). At times, this book felt like being trapped in the minds of immature students while not understanding anything that’s going on around you. I also found the overall sentence structure and prose to be choppy and difficult to follow.
My other struggle with this book is that it lacked believability. The entire book takes place within 5 days and these students go on quite a number of side quests while also taking a grand final exam and solving a murder in such a short period of time? And why weren’t any of the faculty or law enforcement involved in investigating? It doesn’t make sense that it would be left to a group of students to solve multiple murders.
Overall, I had really high hopes for this one and unfortunately the story telling just did not work for me at all. That’s not to say it won’t work for others though so I hope this book finds the right people!
July 31, 2026
Holy shit that was incredible. This insane and amazing book combined a locked room murder mystery, a magical medical school, politics and hierarchy, and a gang of misfits the likes of whom I haven’t seen and loved since the Six of Crows Duology.
The worldbuilding was both simple and incredibly in depth. It’s focussed mainly on the City of Sieuxerr; children born in Sieuxerr usually inherit the power of healing, and are therefore incredibly sought after, but also lose almost all of their autonomy - they are required to study healing, no matter their own preferences, and even in death their bodies belong to Sieuxerr academy. I felt so many emotions at the world; the unfairness the healers face, the shortage of resources, especially after a mysterious disease gutted the healer population a generation ago and the suffocating expectations that are put upon them.
The book is told from the five POVs of five students sitting their final exams as a cohort - they pass together or not at all. When one of their graduating class is found dead on the morning of their first exam, the group have to work together to not only graduate, but find out what happened to her. I loved all these characters and their mess passionately. There’s Etiene, rich son of a high ranking healer, and Jehan, poor son of an overworked medic, who are madly in love either each other but fighting against it every step of the way. There’s Alys, a beautiful socialite who is expected to simply smile and be pretty, useless and pampered. There’s Clement, whose family hates healers, and is trying to survive whilst grieving their best friend. And finally Moyna, who doesn’t want to be a healer, but whose parents sacrificed so much to make her one.
This is a queer normative world, which I absolutely loved. Being genderfree is recognised and accepted, with one of the main MCs, Clement, embodying this. I loved hearing about all the different regions with different types of elemental mages and the cultures that all band together in the city.
I could talk about this book all day and night; I haven’t been this sucked into a story in ages. I loved the murder mystery element, which had me guessing well into the last part of the book. Marske’s writing is absolutely masterful, and I cannot wait for whatever she brings out next!
Thanks to the legends at Tor for giving me a chance to read an eARC of this via NetGalley. ILY 💕
Read Bodies of Magic for:
✨ Locked room murder mystery
✨ Magical medical school
✨ Queer normative world
✨ Incredible world building
✨ Queer romance sub-plots
✨ Politics of medicine
✨ Flawed but loveable MCs
✨ Immersive storytelling
✨ Alternating POVs
The worldbuilding was both simple and incredibly in depth. It’s focussed mainly on the City of Sieuxerr; children born in Sieuxerr usually inherit the power of healing, and are therefore incredibly sought after, but also lose almost all of their autonomy - they are required to study healing, no matter their own preferences, and even in death their bodies belong to Sieuxerr academy. I felt so many emotions at the world; the unfairness the healers face, the shortage of resources, especially after a mysterious disease gutted the healer population a generation ago and the suffocating expectations that are put upon them.
The book is told from the five POVs of five students sitting their final exams as a cohort - they pass together or not at all. When one of their graduating class is found dead on the morning of their first exam, the group have to work together to not only graduate, but find out what happened to her. I loved all these characters and their mess passionately. There’s Etiene, rich son of a high ranking healer, and Jehan, poor son of an overworked medic, who are madly in love either each other but fighting against it every step of the way. There’s Alys, a beautiful socialite who is expected to simply smile and be pretty, useless and pampered. There’s Clement, whose family hates healers, and is trying to survive whilst grieving their best friend. And finally Moyna, who doesn’t want to be a healer, but whose parents sacrificed so much to make her one.
This is a queer normative world, which I absolutely loved. Being genderfree is recognised and accepted, with one of the main MCs, Clement, embodying this. I loved hearing about all the different regions with different types of elemental mages and the cultures that all band together in the city.
I could talk about this book all day and night; I haven’t been this sucked into a story in ages. I loved the murder mystery element, which had me guessing well into the last part of the book. Marske’s writing is absolutely masterful, and I cannot wait for whatever she brings out next!
Thanks to the legends at Tor for giving me a chance to read an eARC of this via NetGalley. ILY 💕
Read Bodies of Magic for:
✨ Locked room murder mystery
✨ Magical medical school
✨ Queer normative world
✨ Incredible world building
✨ Queer romance sub-plots
✨ Politics of medicine
✨ Flawed but loveable MCs
✨ Immersive storytelling
✨ Alternating POVs
Did Not Finish
August 16, 2026So sorry I couldn't stand the writing style. DNF 15% in.
August 21, 2026
3.5 ⭐️
I absolutely loved the premise and setting of Bodies of Magic. Set in a magical medical academy, the story follows 5 magical medical students through their final exam which takes place over 5 days, whilst they also try to solve a complex murder mystery. Whilst the world building is quite heavy at time, it allows you to be able to fully immerse yourself whilst reading. The queer normative world was also refreshing to see.
The magical system was so intricate and it was fascinating how the author transformed medical procedures to be magical. I loved how each character had the role of a different medical practitioner you’d find in a realistic medical setting and how their magic was adapted to this role. It added a lot of authenticity to the setting.
The pressure placed on medical students and the expectations they face was very well portrayed. I also loved the underlying message that hierarchy within the medical system can be detrimental to the patient and that the multidisciplinary team working together in unison is what benefits the patient most.
The story does start off quite slow and took me a few days to get through. Whilst the initial murder was thoroughly interesting and grabbed my attention, the pacing then dropped off and the plot takes a bit of a backseat whilst we are introduced to the 5 different main characters and the world. I must admit I did struggle quite a bit with this slower pace. However from the 60% mark the pacing really picks up, the murder mystery becomes a lot more interesting and I was a lot more invested.
Whilst the outcome of the murder mystery wasn’t very surprising to me, the way we got there was super interesting. I really enjoyed the complexity of the murder mystery and how all the pieces came together. It was so well thought out.
Bodies of Magic is told through the POVs of the 5 main characters and I thought this worked really well for this book. It allowed you to really get to know and connect with each character all of whom came from different walks of life, and I became completely invested in them all. I also loved seeing how their relationships with each other developed over the course of the book and how important this became to the overall plot.
There are a couple of romantic sub plots and although these are very minor they were a nice addition and added some lightheartedness to the story. I’m also a sucker for an MM romance so I thoroughly enjoyed that romantic sub plot!!
Overall there were lots of elements I really loved about Bodies of Magic, but the slower pacing for the first half of the book stopped this from being a great read for me. I did still enjoy this book, especially the second half, just not as much as I thought I would. I’d recommend this to anyone looking for an intriguing and intricate fantasy murder mystery with compelling characters and a well thought out plot.
Thank you so much to Pan MacMillan/Tor Books and author Freya Marske for providing this ARC via NetGalley for review. All opinions are my own.
I absolutely loved the premise and setting of Bodies of Magic. Set in a magical medical academy, the story follows 5 magical medical students through their final exam which takes place over 5 days, whilst they also try to solve a complex murder mystery. Whilst the world building is quite heavy at time, it allows you to be able to fully immerse yourself whilst reading. The queer normative world was also refreshing to see.
The magical system was so intricate and it was fascinating how the author transformed medical procedures to be magical. I loved how each character had the role of a different medical practitioner you’d find in a realistic medical setting and how their magic was adapted to this role. It added a lot of authenticity to the setting.
The pressure placed on medical students and the expectations they face was very well portrayed. I also loved the underlying message that hierarchy within the medical system can be detrimental to the patient and that the multidisciplinary team working together in unison is what benefits the patient most.
The story does start off quite slow and took me a few days to get through. Whilst the initial murder was thoroughly interesting and grabbed my attention, the pacing then dropped off and the plot takes a bit of a backseat whilst we are introduced to the 5 different main characters and the world. I must admit I did struggle quite a bit with this slower pace. However from the 60% mark the pacing really picks up, the murder mystery becomes a lot more interesting and I was a lot more invested.
Whilst the outcome of the murder mystery wasn’t very surprising to me, the way we got there was super interesting. I really enjoyed the complexity of the murder mystery and how all the pieces came together. It was so well thought out.
Bodies of Magic is told through the POVs of the 5 main characters and I thought this worked really well for this book. It allowed you to really get to know and connect with each character all of whom came from different walks of life, and I became completely invested in them all. I also loved seeing how their relationships with each other developed over the course of the book and how important this became to the overall plot.
There are a couple of romantic sub plots and although these are very minor they were a nice addition and added some lightheartedness to the story. I’m also a sucker for an MM romance so I thoroughly enjoyed that romantic sub plot!!
Overall there were lots of elements I really loved about Bodies of Magic, but the slower pacing for the first half of the book stopped this from being a great read for me. I did still enjoy this book, especially the second half, just not as much as I thought I would. I’d recommend this to anyone looking for an intriguing and intricate fantasy murder mystery with compelling characters and a well thought out plot.
Thank you so much to Pan MacMillan/Tor Books and author Freya Marske for providing this ARC via NetGalley for review. All opinions are my own.
August 23, 2026
First I’d like to thank Tor books for sending me an ARC to read and reviews!
I’m giving this a 2.75. This is partly a blurb problem partly a me problem. Dark academia is hit or miss with me but it was recommended for those that enjoyed A Deadly Education. As someone that loved the scholomance series that was enough for me to pick it up. After finishing I can confidently say I do not think this is really anything like the series.
We follow a small test group at a magical healers school during their exams. However during their first practical one of the members of their group is found dead waiting for them in the exam room. And while I thought the story would largely revolve around them trying to figure out what truly happened to her and uncovering secrets about the system and one another, the story largely revolved around continuing their exams, the high expectations placed on each of them and the impact that had, and the competitiveness between one another. The death was a blip on the radar with minimal traction in the story until the last 15%. I felt like I was constantly waiting for something to happen or for the story to pick up but it never really did.
The writing was well done. The world seemed very interesting, and the characters were very reminiscent of that dark academia “The Atlas Six” group dynamic (which I DNF’d) but I think the blurb sells it as something that it’s not and I probably would not have picked it up if I had known. I’d like to mention I did an immersive read for this one and really enjoyed the narration!
I’m giving this a 2.75. This is partly a blurb problem partly a me problem. Dark academia is hit or miss with me but it was recommended for those that enjoyed A Deadly Education. As someone that loved the scholomance series that was enough for me to pick it up. After finishing I can confidently say I do not think this is really anything like the series.
We follow a small test group at a magical healers school during their exams. However during their first practical one of the members of their group is found dead waiting for them in the exam room. And while I thought the story would largely revolve around them trying to figure out what truly happened to her and uncovering secrets about the system and one another, the story largely revolved around continuing their exams, the high expectations placed on each of them and the impact that had, and the competitiveness between one another. The death was a blip on the radar with minimal traction in the story until the last 15%. I felt like I was constantly waiting for something to happen or for the story to pick up but it never really did.
The writing was well done. The world seemed very interesting, and the characters were very reminiscent of that dark academia “The Atlas Six” group dynamic (which I DNF’d) but I think the blurb sells it as something that it’s not and I probably would not have picked it up if I had known. I’d like to mention I did an immersive read for this one and really enjoyed the narration!
August 19, 2026
Thank you Tor for the ARC!
The way Freya Marske writes just speaks to my soul. There’s something about her writing that pulls me completely into the story. It’s poetic and lyrical, but somehow still feels so intimate. I don’t just read her characters—I feel them. And Bodies of Magic was absolutely no exception.
This book had me playing detective from the very beginning. It felt like one giant puzzle, and I was constantly trying to put the pieces together right alongside the characters. I had theories. I questioned everything. I was convinced I was catching things.
I was not. 😂
Because when the truth was finally revealed? I swear I DID NOT SEE THAT COMING. At all.
And now I desperately need to reread this book because I need to know what I missed. There had to be so many little hints hiding in plain sight that I completely overlooked while I was busy trying to solve the mystery myself.
When I say PAY ATTENTION TO THE DETAILS, I mean every. single. detail. And then read between the lines. Seriously.
I loved how much this story made me think while still giving me characters I genuinely cared about. The secrets, the connections, the mystery, the dark academia atmosphere—it all kept pulling me deeper and deeper in.
And now I’m sitting here wanting to immediately start over because I KNOW there are things I missed the first time.
Freya Marske, you got me. Completely.
If you love dark academia, magic, murder mysteries, complicated characters, and a story that makes you question everything, you absolutely need this one on your TBR. Just remember: pay attention. 👀
The way Freya Marske writes just speaks to my soul. There’s something about her writing that pulls me completely into the story. It’s poetic and lyrical, but somehow still feels so intimate. I don’t just read her characters—I feel them. And Bodies of Magic was absolutely no exception.
This book had me playing detective from the very beginning. It felt like one giant puzzle, and I was constantly trying to put the pieces together right alongside the characters. I had theories. I questioned everything. I was convinced I was catching things.
I was not. 😂
Because when the truth was finally revealed? I swear I DID NOT SEE THAT COMING. At all.
And now I desperately need to reread this book because I need to know what I missed. There had to be so many little hints hiding in plain sight that I completely overlooked while I was busy trying to solve the mystery myself.
When I say PAY ATTENTION TO THE DETAILS, I mean every. single. detail. And then read between the lines. Seriously.
I loved how much this story made me think while still giving me characters I genuinely cared about. The secrets, the connections, the mystery, the dark academia atmosphere—it all kept pulling me deeper and deeper in.
And now I’m sitting here wanting to immediately start over because I KNOW there are things I missed the first time.
Freya Marske, you got me. Completely.
If you love dark academia, magic, murder mysteries, complicated characters, and a story that makes you question everything, you absolutely need this one on your TBR. Just remember: pay attention. 👀
August 17, 2026
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the audiobook ARC of Bodies of Magic by Freya Marske.
This was such a different fantasy mystery, and I really enjoyed it! The story follows five medical mages who are thrown together for their final exam, only for things to take a much darker turn when they discover the dead body of one of their classmates. From there, they have to figure out what happened while pretending they don’t know anything is wrong.
I really liked how much this book focused on the mystery and the medical magic rather than romance. The world felt unique, and I enjoyed getting to know each of the characters and seeing how their different abilities and personalities came together. There are quite a few characters to keep track of, but once I got into the story, I found myself invested in all of them.
The magic system was also really interesting, especially the idea of using magic for healing. It gave the story a different feel from a lot of the fantasy books I’ve been reading lately. The murder mystery kept me curious, and I liked slowly putting the pieces together alongside the characters.
The audiobook was narrated by Saskia Maarleveld, and I really enjoyed listening to her. She did a great job giving the characters enough distinction without making the narration feel over-the-top.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the audiobook ARC of Bodies of Magic by Freya Marske.
This was such a different fantasy mystery, and I really enjoyed it! The story follows five medical mages who are thrown together for their final exam, only for things to take a much darker turn when they discover the dead body of one of their classmates. From there, they have to figure out what happened while pretending they don’t know anything is wrong.
I really liked how much this book focused on the mystery and the medical magic rather than romance. The world felt unique, and I enjoyed getting to know each of the characters and seeing how their different abilities and personalities came together. There are quite a few characters to keep track of, but once I got into the story, I found myself invested in all of them.
The magic system was also really interesting, especially the idea of using magic for healing. It gave the story a different feel from a lot of the fantasy books I’ve been reading lately. The murder mystery kept me curious, and I liked slowly putting the pieces together alongside the characters.
The audiobook was narrated by Saskia Maarleveld, and I really enjoyed listening to her. She did a great job giving the characters enough distinction without making the narration feel over-the-top.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
absolutely one of my fave books of the year so far! i loved the characters SO MUCH and the plot was super engaging!
thank you pan macmillan/book break for the ARC :)
thank you pan macmillan/book break for the ARC :)
March 31, 2026
THIS WAS SO MUCH FUN ❣️
I can’t express what a wonderful time I had reading this book. The plot was driving, the characters were so delightfully themselves (with their own clear motivations, personalities, inner worlds) the worldbuilding was lush and vivid and transporting.
I was right there in Sieuxerr eating sweetmice and partying on lantern night with my five very best friends. 🏮I want to put Estiene and Alys in my pocket and protect them from the big bad world as I know Clement would tell me not to fuss and Jehan and Moyna would fight me trying to pick them up.
I 💙LOVE 💙 these characters and this world and this message of healing and hierarchy in medicine. This is so beautifully crafted and mirrors our world and the stress on the medical industry so poignantly. The healing was truly magical, the music was delightful.
I have read *all* of Freya Marske’s books and this has unseated my reigning number one. Hats off to you Freya, 10 stars
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thank you so so much to Tor and NetGalley for this ARC. I almost fell off my chair when I received it and ate it up gleefully. I appreciate having the privilege of being an early reader.
I can’t express what a wonderful time I had reading this book. The plot was driving, the characters were so delightfully themselves (with their own clear motivations, personalities, inner worlds) the worldbuilding was lush and vivid and transporting.
I was right there in Sieuxerr eating sweetmice and partying on lantern night with my five very best friends. 🏮I want to put Estiene and Alys in my pocket and protect them from the big bad world as I know Clement would tell me not to fuss and Jehan and Moyna would fight me trying to pick them up.
I 💙LOVE 💙 these characters and this world and this message of healing and hierarchy in medicine. This is so beautifully crafted and mirrors our world and the stress on the medical industry so poignantly. The healing was truly magical, the music was delightful.
I have read *all* of Freya Marske’s books and this has unseated my reigning number one. Hats off to you Freya, 10 stars
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thank you so so much to Tor and NetGalley for this ARC. I almost fell off my chair when I received it and ate it up gleefully. I appreciate having the privilege of being an early reader.
Currently Reading
August 18, 2026magical medical school sounds like it's gonna EEAAATTTTTT
August 14, 2026
I wasn't sure what to expect when I started reading this but I'm pleased to say that by the end of the book I'm glad that our unlikely group of friends (and lovers) found something meaningful from each other.
Bodies of Magic is part murder mystery part coming of age tale, set in the Academie Sieuxerr where scholars must pass their Grand Exams to qualify as a practicing healers. With the country ravaged by a mysterious disease and veteran healers unable to work, young healers are scarce, needed, and under immense pressure. When a student is murdered on the eve of their exams, a group of students work together to investigate what happens.
The book has a generous smattering of everything: unrequited love, existential crises and generational trauma in a queer normative world which I really enjoyed. It was fun to see how sicknesses are treated – I could feel the rigor and expectations put on these students in a srhinking workforce.
It took me a while to find my feet in the world but it was in the latter half that the I couldn't stop as we inch closer to the truth and closure for each scholar. It also reminded me of all the expectations that a younger generation is expected to bear - choice often feels futile, but we are welcomed with some fiesty personalities and chaotic affection which made this journey quite unforgettable!
Bodies of Magic is part murder mystery part coming of age tale, set in the Academie Sieuxerr where scholars must pass their Grand Exams to qualify as a practicing healers. With the country ravaged by a mysterious disease and veteran healers unable to work, young healers are scarce, needed, and under immense pressure. When a student is murdered on the eve of their exams, a group of students work together to investigate what happens.
The book has a generous smattering of everything: unrequited love, existential crises and generational trauma in a queer normative world which I really enjoyed. It was fun to see how sicknesses are treated – I could feel the rigor and expectations put on these students in a srhinking workforce.
It took me a while to find my feet in the world but it was in the latter half that the I couldn't stop as we inch closer to the truth and closure for each scholar. It also reminded me of all the expectations that a younger generation is expected to bear - choice often feels futile, but we are welcomed with some fiesty personalities and chaotic affection which made this journey quite unforgettable!
August 17, 2026
Many thanks to Tor and Macmillan Audio for the preview. All opinions are my own.
4.5 stars
I'm really really loving fantasy murder mysteries these days! Bodies of Magic is a great addition to the genre. Plus you can never go wrong with an audio narrated by Saskia Maarleveld--she's just so good! The institutional setting, the healing magic, the murder mystery, and a couple of sloooooooooooooooooooooooow burn romances with angst really all worked well together to deliver a bingeable book.
There are a lot of characters, and we have 5 POVs that alternate. It was initially difficult for me to keep track of everyone and their backstories, but once I had it down things really started clicking. And the murder mystery kept me guessing until the very end. There are layers upon layers in the book, plus a bunch of red herrings and conflicting goals, so it's an intricate plot that really keeps you on your toes. Jehan and Estiene ended up being my favorite pair (THE ANGST), but Alys and Clement were just soooo sweet and tentative and I loved them too. Moyna and her shower scenes had me going "you go girl!" There aren't really any explicit scenes, but there's some high heat in here.
I loved the discussions around access to healing and the role class divides and money plays a part. It soooo relevant. The ending was wonderfully hopeful too. I just really enjoyed myself overall and would highly recommend!
4.5 stars
I'm really really loving fantasy murder mysteries these days! Bodies of Magic is a great addition to the genre. Plus you can never go wrong with an audio narrated by Saskia Maarleveld--she's just so good! The institutional setting, the healing magic, the murder mystery, and a couple of sloooooooooooooooooooooooow burn romances with angst really all worked well together to deliver a bingeable book.
There are a lot of characters, and we have 5 POVs that alternate. It was initially difficult for me to keep track of everyone and their backstories, but once I had it down things really started clicking. And the murder mystery kept me guessing until the very end. There are layers upon layers in the book, plus a bunch of red herrings and conflicting goals, so it's an intricate plot that really keeps you on your toes. Jehan and Estiene ended up being my favorite pair (THE ANGST), but Alys and Clement were just soooo sweet and tentative and I loved them too. Moyna and her shower scenes had me going "you go girl!" There aren't really any explicit scenes, but there's some high heat in here.
I loved the discussions around access to healing and the role class divides and money plays a part. It soooo relevant. The ending was wonderfully hopeful too. I just really enjoyed myself overall and would highly recommend!
June 16, 2026
Oof this book had me somewhat in a chokehold!
I read this one frustratingly slow (damn life getting in the way of my reading time- how dare it!) so my few chapters of this a day I really looked forward to. I kept trying to second guess the story or see where it was headed - I couldn’t wait to see what else would unravel or how their next case was going to go.
It took me a few chapters to get to grips with the world and the characters in the book but once I got the lay of the land, I was so intrigued. I really loved the murder mystery element and the academia vibes - the medical/ healer aspect but coupled with fantasy and magic definitely made it novel for me.
It was split into the five cases of their final year healer exams, with the group stumbling across the dead body of one in their cohort - was it murder, burnout, a cover up? They had to juggle getting to the bottom of a crime AND pass their all important final exams, I mean, that’s a lot for anyone’s plate. I couldn’t get enough and the steady pace really kept me going until the end. I really enjoyed this read!
Thank you to the author and publisher for this book on NetGalley in return for my honest thoughts and review.
I read this one frustratingly slow (damn life getting in the way of my reading time- how dare it!) so my few chapters of this a day I really looked forward to. I kept trying to second guess the story or see where it was headed - I couldn’t wait to see what else would unravel or how their next case was going to go.
It took me a few chapters to get to grips with the world and the characters in the book but once I got the lay of the land, I was so intrigued. I really loved the murder mystery element and the academia vibes - the medical/ healer aspect but coupled with fantasy and magic definitely made it novel for me.
It was split into the five cases of their final year healer exams, with the group stumbling across the dead body of one in their cohort - was it murder, burnout, a cover up? They had to juggle getting to the bottom of a crime AND pass their all important final exams, I mean, that’s a lot for anyone’s plate. I couldn’t get enough and the steady pace really kept me going until the end. I really enjoyed this read!
Thank you to the author and publisher for this book on NetGalley in return for my honest thoughts and review.
Want to Read
April 21, 2026omg new freya marske book i am so excited!!!!!!!!
Read
June 1, 2026** THE VERSION OF THIS BOOK THAT I READ WAS AN ARC **
Want to Read
June 16, 2026Magic medical school with a murder mystery? SIGN ME THE F UP.
This just became my most anticipated book of the year.
This just became my most anticipated book of the year.
July 22, 2026
A proper review of this is forthcoming in Locus, but the TL;DR is I loved it. I've loved everything of Marske's I've read so far, so that's not a huge surprise - but this is quite different from her other books in some ways. Some similarities, though, too.
Set in secondary world, where some people are born with magical ability and that's no real big deal. You get tested, you see whether you might have a gift. If you live in Sieuxerr, though, you might have the ability to be a healer - in which case you have no choice but to be a healer. And after five years of study you undertake five days of exams with four other students - not of your choosing - before you graduate. And then you have to go off and be a healer, either in whatever place paid for your training (because of course it costs), or at home if your family is rich enough to have paid upfront.
Sounds familiar, really, doesn't it.
The book focuses on five students in those final days. All of the characters are beautifully developed. They all have their struggles, and their achievements.
Did I mention there's a death? There's a death. Finish your medical exams AND figure out whether the death is a murder or not! No drama! So there's investigatory shenanigans; there's falling in love, arguing with family, making your place in the world, defying expectations, etc etc. It's a lot of fun. I did get about 4/5 through and have to go stare at a wall, For Reasons.
This is such a great book.
Set in secondary world, where some people are born with magical ability and that's no real big deal. You get tested, you see whether you might have a gift. If you live in Sieuxerr, though, you might have the ability to be a healer - in which case you have no choice but to be a healer. And after five years of study you undertake five days of exams with four other students - not of your choosing - before you graduate. And then you have to go off and be a healer, either in whatever place paid for your training (because of course it costs), or at home if your family is rich enough to have paid upfront.
Sounds familiar, really, doesn't it.
The book focuses on five students in those final days. All of the characters are beautifully developed. They all have their struggles, and their achievements.
Did I mention there's a death? There's a death. Finish your medical exams AND figure out whether the death is a murder or not! No drama! So there's investigatory shenanigans; there's falling in love, arguing with family, making your place in the world, defying expectations, etc etc. It's a lot of fun. I did get about 4/5 through and have to go stare at a wall, For Reasons.
This is such a great book.
Want to Read
February 7, 2026A NEW FREYA MARSKE!! YES GIMMIE!!
Review of advance copy received from Goodreads Giveaways
I’m so psyched to have gotten an ARC of this via a Goodreads giveaway—I have LOVED Markse’s other books—and this one was SO GOOD and so very much fun! The murder mystery is scrumptious: juicy and intriguing; all six main characters are complex and fascinating; the world in which they all operate feels large and messy and real; and the writing itself is a blast.
Five young healing-mage scholars have one last five-day exam (which they must complete together as a group) before they graduate from the Sieuxerr Academie. But when they enter the exam room on the first day, they find the dead body of a classmate. They have to figure out how to trust each other, lean on each other, and work together to get through the rest of the exam, not to mention to protect each other and uncover what happened to their classmate.
This book is so much fun; in addition to the twisty and confusing murder mystery, we learn a lot about the five scholars and their families and secrets, and we hear about the wide world around them, including all kinds of shitty little assholes (I love a book that’s full of all kinds of different sorts of assholes!), for example this guy, who I swear I’ve met: “Alys believed, truly, that most people were decent at heart, but even she sometimes struggled to think the best of Sabastian Lavalle, who had never met a topic he didn't consider himself an authority on, …”
There are also people who are just *characters*, and they are equally fun to watch. For example this one, who we meet in this perfect, razor sharp moment: “Lefer turned the sign on her open door around with such force that it bounced back to NO and she had to unwind the twine to display the only slightly less hostile WHAT?”
Also a riot are the class politics, and watching the scholars navigate those, eg this moment: “In fact the knocking room was occupied by a handful of third-years, heads bowed over textbooks and notes, but seniority was seniority-they gathered up their things to leave when faced with a group of purple-edged robes. One of them looked like he might be about to open his mouth and tell them who his parents were, like a larval form of Estiene, but he caught sight of Estiene himself and visibly decided he was outfathered.”
The magical setting is a world in which, if you manifest magic as you grow, the form the magic takes is affected by the place you grow up. The Duchy of Sieuxerr is the only place in the world where precious healing mages can develop, so the people there have a complex mix of pride and suspicion and resentment toward the foreign mages who move to the area hoping to have children who will become healing mages and will return to their homelands with that precious skill. It’s a familiar, if depressing argument: immigrants—do they add to our societies or take from them? And to whom (and to where) do the children of immigrants owe their time and skills? The stories of these five scholars offer some clear suggestions.
Finally, if this isn’t a COVID book, I’ll eat my shirt. A new disease, the serrage, swept through the land 10y ago, leaving many people—particularly healers—with lasting, incurable symptoms and fomenting a distrust of healers at the same time, leaving them overworked & underappreciated. One chapter head includes this quote from an anonymous flyer distributed around Sieuxerr during the height of the serrage:
“Balance is all. Even the mage-healers, who throw up their pampered hands and claim to be helpless in the face of the suffering the serrage is causing, act on this principle: bringing the body back into balance with itself.
“Balance is all. So many healers in one place is a weight on the scales of the world, and the spirits have noted that uneven weight. The serrage is the other side of the scale falling into balance. That is why the healers cannot banish it from the body, and why they themselves are afflicted in such numbers. It is a punishment directed at them, and at Sieuxerr for first indulging their selfishness and then hoarding them in its own hospitals.
“Sieuxerr ignores it at its peril. Our present suffering may be only the beginning.
“BRING THE HEALERS TO ACCOUNT.”
Five young healing-mage scholars have one last five-day exam (which they must complete together as a group) before they graduate from the Sieuxerr Academie. But when they enter the exam room on the first day, they find the dead body of a classmate. They have to figure out how to trust each other, lean on each other, and work together to get through the rest of the exam, not to mention to protect each other and uncover what happened to their classmate.
This book is so much fun; in addition to the twisty and confusing murder mystery, we learn a lot about the five scholars and their families and secrets, and we hear about the wide world around them, including all kinds of shitty little assholes (I love a book that’s full of all kinds of different sorts of assholes!), for example this guy, who I swear I’ve met: “Alys believed, truly, that most people were decent at heart, but even she sometimes struggled to think the best of Sabastian Lavalle, who had never met a topic he didn't consider himself an authority on, …”
There are also people who are just *characters*, and they are equally fun to watch. For example this one, who we meet in this perfect, razor sharp moment: “Lefer turned the sign on her open door around with such force that it bounced back to NO and she had to unwind the twine to display the only slightly less hostile WHAT?”
Also a riot are the class politics, and watching the scholars navigate those, eg this moment: “In fact the knocking room was occupied by a handful of third-years, heads bowed over textbooks and notes, but seniority was seniority-they gathered up their things to leave when faced with a group of purple-edged robes. One of them looked like he might be about to open his mouth and tell them who his parents were, like a larval form of Estiene, but he caught sight of Estiene himself and visibly decided he was outfathered.”
The magical setting is a world in which, if you manifest magic as you grow, the form the magic takes is affected by the place you grow up. The Duchy of Sieuxerr is the only place in the world where precious healing mages can develop, so the people there have a complex mix of pride and suspicion and resentment toward the foreign mages who move to the area hoping to have children who will become healing mages and will return to their homelands with that precious skill. It’s a familiar, if depressing argument: immigrants—do they add to our societies or take from them? And to whom (and to where) do the children of immigrants owe their time and skills? The stories of these five scholars offer some clear suggestions.
Finally, if this isn’t a COVID book, I’ll eat my shirt. A new disease, the serrage, swept through the land 10y ago, leaving many people—particularly healers—with lasting, incurable symptoms and fomenting a distrust of healers at the same time, leaving them overworked & underappreciated. One chapter head includes this quote from an anonymous flyer distributed around Sieuxerr during the height of the serrage:
“Balance is all. Even the mage-healers, who throw up their pampered hands and claim to be helpless in the face of the suffering the serrage is causing, act on this principle: bringing the body back into balance with itself.
“Balance is all. So many healers in one place is a weight on the scales of the world, and the spirits have noted that uneven weight. The serrage is the other side of the scale falling into balance. That is why the healers cannot banish it from the body, and why they themselves are afflicted in such numbers. It is a punishment directed at them, and at Sieuxerr for first indulging their selfishness and then hoarding them in its own hospitals.
“Sieuxerr ignores it at its peril. Our present suffering may be only the beginning.
“BRING THE HEALERS TO ACCOUNT.”
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Things I loved: This was my first book by Freya Marske, and I really enjoyed her writing style. I’ll definitely be reading more from her! I love books with healing magic, and, to a layperson at least, her depiction of it felt wonderfully plausible and brought a sense of realism to the magic system. I love magic and fantasy, but I especially enjoy it when it feels grounded and believable.
The characters were another highlight for me. Each one was interesting, realistic, and had a distinct personality. The story jumps right into the murder mystery, so I was intrigued from the beginning. I also loved that this is a queer-normative world and that the non-binary and gay/bi characters felt like fully developed people rather than tokens. I especially enjoyed Moyna’s pricklyness and boldness, Alys’ kindness and hidden depths, and Jehan’s pragmatism and secret heartbreak.
Things that kept this from being a 5-star read for me: There is a lot to introduce in the first 25% or so of the book: five POV characters, Grand Exam evaluators, professors and advisors, hospital heads, a geographically determined magic system with different affinities manifesting in different regions, and all of the social and political implications that come with that system. Most of this information was introduced naturally and integrated well into the story, although there were a few moments of info-dumping. I did have to take notes to keep track of the five POV characters, particularly because I listened to this as an audiobook. Saskia Maarleveld did an excellent job giving each character a distinct voice (as she always does!), but not being able to see the characters’ names made it a little harder for me to keep everyone straight.
There’s a lot of worldbuilding, character motivation, and mystery to juggle, and I think that occasionally made the mystery itself a little harder for me to sink into. Coming up with theories is one of my favorite parts of a mystery, so I would have loved a little more room to focus on the suspects and clues. At the same time, Marske does a great job developing all five POV characters, and I ultimately felt like I knew them quite well. I suspect the large cast simply meant that some of the page time that could have gone toward the mystery was instead devoted to character development. Not a bad trade-off when the characters are this enjoyable, but it did make this more character-focused and less mystery-focused for me. I also would have appreciated a little more romance, though what we got was enjoyable and felt like it fit the story and characters well.
I found the pacing a bit uneven. The beginning worked well for me: it established the murder mystery quickly and then gave us time to get acquainted with the characters and world. Once I realized the entire story takes place over just five days, one day for each of the exam challenges, I did wonder how the timeline would work. The compressed timeframe creates the potential for a very fast-paced, intense story, but for me, the frequent shifts between POVs sometimes had the opposite effect and slowed the middle section down. I also occasionally wanted a bit more space for the characters' emotional responses to unfold. I would have loved to sit with Clement’s grief, Moyna’s dilemma, and Estienne’s uncertainty/panic/dread a little longer.
Ultimately, I think this is a book where I wanted more rather than less. I would happily have spent more time with these characters and in this world. I almost wish this had been a duology so there could have been even more room to explore the characters, the magic system, the magical academy, and the political situation. I felt like I got to know the characters fairly well, but there was still so much more depth and potential to explore.
Overall, this was a really enjoyable read and an impressive introduction to Freya Marske’s writing for me. I loved the characters, the grounded magic system, the queer-normative world, and the intriguing premise. I’m definitely looking forward to reading more of her work!
The characters were another highlight for me. Each one was interesting, realistic, and had a distinct personality. The story jumps right into the murder mystery, so I was intrigued from the beginning. I also loved that this is a queer-normative world and that the non-binary and gay/bi characters felt like fully developed people rather than tokens. I especially enjoyed Moyna’s pricklyness and boldness, Alys’ kindness and hidden depths, and Jehan’s pragmatism and secret heartbreak.
Things that kept this from being a 5-star read for me: There is a lot to introduce in the first 25% or so of the book: five POV characters, Grand Exam evaluators, professors and advisors, hospital heads, a geographically determined magic system with different affinities manifesting in different regions, and all of the social and political implications that come with that system. Most of this information was introduced naturally and integrated well into the story, although there were a few moments of info-dumping. I did have to take notes to keep track of the five POV characters, particularly because I listened to this as an audiobook. Saskia Maarleveld did an excellent job giving each character a distinct voice (as she always does!), but not being able to see the characters’ names made it a little harder for me to keep everyone straight.
There’s a lot of worldbuilding, character motivation, and mystery to juggle, and I think that occasionally made the mystery itself a little harder for me to sink into. Coming up with theories is one of my favorite parts of a mystery, so I would have loved a little more room to focus on the suspects and clues. At the same time, Marske does a great job developing all five POV characters, and I ultimately felt like I knew them quite well. I suspect the large cast simply meant that some of the page time that could have gone toward the mystery was instead devoted to character development. Not a bad trade-off when the characters are this enjoyable, but it did make this more character-focused and less mystery-focused for me. I also would have appreciated a little more romance, though what we got was enjoyable and felt like it fit the story and characters well.
I found the pacing a bit uneven. The beginning worked well for me: it established the murder mystery quickly and then gave us time to get acquainted with the characters and world. Once I realized the entire story takes place over just five days, one day for each of the exam challenges, I did wonder how the timeline would work. The compressed timeframe creates the potential for a very fast-paced, intense story, but for me, the frequent shifts between POVs sometimes had the opposite effect and slowed the middle section down. I also occasionally wanted a bit more space for the characters' emotional responses to unfold. I would have loved to sit with Clement’s grief, Moyna’s dilemma, and Estienne’s uncertainty/panic/dread a little longer.
Ultimately, I think this is a book where I wanted more rather than less. I would happily have spent more time with these characters and in this world. I almost wish this had been a duology so there could have been even more room to explore the characters, the magic system, the magical academy, and the political situation. I felt like I got to know the characters fairly well, but there was still so much more depth and potential to explore.
Overall, this was a really enjoyable read and an impressive introduction to Freya Marske’s writing for me. I loved the characters, the grounded magic system, the queer-normative world, and the intriguing premise. I’m definitely looking forward to reading more of her work!
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
⚕˚｡⋆ 3 stars
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tropes / vibes:
dark academia • magical medical academy • murder mystery • multiple pov • residency/final exams • found connections • mm relationship • fantasy medicine
this was one of those books where the premise had absolutely everything i should have loved. five fourth-year residents at sieuxurr academy, essentially a magical hospital/medical academy, are preparing for their final exam when Ysobel—someone connected to all of them—is found dead. from there, the murder mystery starts unfolding through the povs of Clement, Alys, Monya, Jehan and Estiene.
and honestly, the mystery was probably my favourite part of the book. whenever we were actively uncovering something about Ysobel or trying to work out what had happened, i was IN. the problem was that across the whole book, i’d probably say i was properly enthralled for maybe 25–30% of it. the other 70% became really stop-and-start for me, which is so unusual lately. i kept putting it down, coming back, getting interested again, and then losing that feeling.
monya: probably the character i connected with the most. she just had that energy. i don’t even know if “baddie” is the technical literary description i’m looking for here but… baddie?! (trying not to be cringe but she was). she had such a strong personality and i really liked the way she carried herself. if there was anyone who gave me the closest thing to the grey’s anatomy energy i was hoping for, it was probably her.
jehan + estiene: these two were definitely the relationship i enjoyed most. i also realised i don’t think i’ve ever read an mm relationship inside this kind of fantasy/medical setting before, so i really liked having that here. i just wish i’d felt more of the development because their connection already existed before the book began, and when we first moved into that side of their relationship it felt slightly abrupt to me rather than something i’d watched gradually build.
clement + alys: unfortunately i just felt… nothing. there wasn’t anything necessarily wrong with them, but emotionally i never connected with their dynamic.
and i don’t think the multiple pov itself was the problem. i LOVE multiple pov when it works for me—blue sisters is literally proof of that—but with five different perspectives here, i think i struggled to become deeply attached to any one person before we were moving somewhere else again. i did appreciate that they all had distinctly different personalities and different relationships with Ysobel, especially because some of them had been much closer to her than others.
the magic system and medical element, though??? i need MORE fantasy books doing this. doctors, surgeons, residents, hospital training… but make it magical. such a good concept. i genuinely think this has opened up a very specific new craving for me because i loved seeing medicine and fantasy blended together and would absolutely read more books in that space.
also, i personally wouldn’t go into this expecting a romantasy. there are romantic relationships within the story, but romance is definitely not the driving force. it’s much more dark academia + medical fantasy + murder mystery, which i actually knew beforehand and was completely fine with.
i think my biggest disappointment is simply that i went into this SO excited and genuinely thought it had six-star potential for me. the concept was there, the murder mystery intrigued me, and i really liked the medical magic, but i just never reached that completely consumed feeling i was waiting for.
thank you to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for the eARC.
────୨ৎ────
tropes / vibes:
dark academia • magical medical academy • murder mystery • multiple pov • residency/final exams • found connections • mm relationship • fantasy medicine
this was one of those books where the premise had absolutely everything i should have loved. five fourth-year residents at sieuxurr academy, essentially a magical hospital/medical academy, are preparing for their final exam when Ysobel—someone connected to all of them—is found dead. from there, the murder mystery starts unfolding through the povs of Clement, Alys, Monya, Jehan and Estiene.
and honestly, the mystery was probably my favourite part of the book. whenever we were actively uncovering something about Ysobel or trying to work out what had happened, i was IN. the problem was that across the whole book, i’d probably say i was properly enthralled for maybe 25–30% of it. the other 70% became really stop-and-start for me, which is so unusual lately. i kept putting it down, coming back, getting interested again, and then losing that feeling.
monya: probably the character i connected with the most. she just had that energy. i don’t even know if “baddie” is the technical literary description i’m looking for here but… baddie?! (trying not to be cringe but she was). she had such a strong personality and i really liked the way she carried herself. if there was anyone who gave me the closest thing to the grey’s anatomy energy i was hoping for, it was probably her.
jehan + estiene: these two were definitely the relationship i enjoyed most. i also realised i don’t think i’ve ever read an mm relationship inside this kind of fantasy/medical setting before, so i really liked having that here. i just wish i’d felt more of the development because their connection already existed before the book began, and when we first moved into that side of their relationship it felt slightly abrupt to me rather than something i’d watched gradually build.
clement + alys: unfortunately i just felt… nothing. there wasn’t anything necessarily wrong with them, but emotionally i never connected with their dynamic.
and i don’t think the multiple pov itself was the problem. i LOVE multiple pov when it works for me—blue sisters is literally proof of that—but with five different perspectives here, i think i struggled to become deeply attached to any one person before we were moving somewhere else again. i did appreciate that they all had distinctly different personalities and different relationships with Ysobel, especially because some of them had been much closer to her than others.
the magic system and medical element, though??? i need MORE fantasy books doing this. doctors, surgeons, residents, hospital training… but make it magical. such a good concept. i genuinely think this has opened up a very specific new craving for me because i loved seeing medicine and fantasy blended together and would absolutely read more books in that space.
also, i personally wouldn’t go into this expecting a romantasy. there are romantic relationships within the story, but romance is definitely not the driving force. it’s much more dark academia + medical fantasy + murder mystery, which i actually knew beforehand and was completely fine with.
i think my biggest disappointment is simply that i went into this SO excited and genuinely thought it had six-star potential for me. the concept was there, the murder mystery intrigued me, and i really liked the medical magic, but i just never reached that completely consumed feeling i was waiting for.
thank you to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for the eARC.
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