A School for Sorcery

A School for Sorcery #1

by E. Rose Sabin

Winner of the Andre Norton Gryphon Award

Welcome to the Leslie Simonton School for the Magically Gifted. A school where students can expect the unexpected. But be careful. At this school the final exam could be a real...killer.

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Magic, Fiction, Boarding School, Witches, Science Fiction Fantasy

320 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Although born in Pennsylvania, I have lived in Florida since I was five years old. Attended schools in Pinellas County and later taught Spanish and English in the Pinellas County Public Schools.

Although I've always written for my own pleasure, I became serious about writing for publication rather late. I'm now retired from teaching and devoting my time to my writing. Oh, and also to my two dogs, Juliet, a pit bull mix, and Pixie. Juliet I adopted from Animal Control after someone dumped her on the street. She's young, boisterous, and loves everybody. As for Pixie, I agreed to foster to save her from being euthanized. By the time she became adoptable, I realized I couldn't give her up. She's a very pretty dog, a mix of many breeds. She and Juliet love to play together and provide me with great entertainment.

Four of my published books are for teens, and form the Arucadi series, for the country in which they are set. I love hearing from teen readers. I also have a fantasy novel for older teens and adults, three Arucadi novels taking place long before the first four books. Then I have a an adult science fiction trilogy, and I do hope to hear from adult readers about it. I have four stand-alone fantasies for adults One of them, Seduction of the Scepter, is set in Eastern Europe in the mid-1700s. It's light on fantasy, and if you don't like series or trilogies, this might be the book for you. And finally I have a children's chapter book for ages 6-9 titled Grandy's Grand Inventions, which has elements of both fantasy and science fiction.

Reviews

[Cassandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Initial review
I read this as a kid and found it amazing, but utterly confusing. I had no idea who was who and who was alive by the end of it. There was just this blur in my memory about mirrors, and a panther, and multiple worlds. Copies of the main character? One had a ring? When I was 11 or 12 I started trying to track it down to re-read, but it had vanished from the library.

Now I've just re-read it! Not as bizarre and scary as it was when I was 8, but still pretty good. Some of the twists were a bit too obvious (well, the utter obliviousness of the characters to them was mildly irritating) but the world is great and it's a good story.

2nd re-read
Phew. It finally makes sense. I still didn't really understand the threeway split last time, but I think I do now! Lots of fun.

[Avalon · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s difficult to be objective about A School for Sorcery because it holds a lot of nostalgia for me. I first read this book in middle school where it captured my imagination. It made enough of an impression that I decided to seek it out as an adult despite forgetting both the title and the author.

It’s funny how every novel that involves a magical school is inevitably compared against the genre gold standard- Harry Potter. But A School for Sorcery is an entirely different animal, and that is precisely what I appreciate about it. It’s grittier for one. Think grime, smelly cabbage and an aura of disillusionment rather than chocolate frogs and talking portraits and childlike wonder. The magic system that E. Rose Sabin created feels authentic to me. For starters, it comes with a price.

One of my favorite aspects of the book is the deep foray into multidimensionality, a concept that seems woefully unexplored in fiction and in real life. This quantum element is quite cerebral and I have to believe that I probably grasped about 50% or less at the tender age of 12. Even over a decade later, it strikes me as complex and initially jarring- but it’s also a big part of the story’s heartbeat and undeniably riveting.

Our main character Tria, a humble farm girl with a penchant for cleaning does turn into a bit of a special snowflake which can be a big pet peeve of mine. However, the challenges Tria must face are dire indeed, and she struggles so admirably to overcome the perils she is up against that I can overlook it just this once. While the book is a bit slow to warm up, you can feel the undercurrent of seething frustration brewing under the surface, propelling the plot forward. I can guarantee it will keep you compulsively reading, impatient to find out what happens next.

While A School for Sorcery is firmly marketed as YA, I think that’s a mistake. This book is dark, clever and in my opinion, would be equally enjoyed by most fantasy-loving adults. I feel very fortunate to have remembered this under-appreciated childhood gem. It was a pleasure to revisit its eccentric splendor all over again. I am even more delighted to discover that it’s a trilogy!

[Tanya Bilham · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the hidden mystery written into the school and much of the illusion vs. reality in it. Get past the first few chapters. Nothing is as you'd think when you first start reading this. This book gets better and better as the plot goes on. I love how tangled the plotline gets. At first I thought some of the characters were a little too archetypal at the beginning, but it starts to make more sense later on. I also love the way the author explores the different sides of villain's character later on, that said I can't say anything or I'll spoil a huge part of it. Reminded me of little bit of a mix between Harry Potter and X-men, in the way each student had their own "gift". This book portrays the importance of integrity and shows the extreme dangers of getting obsessed with power. So much I want to say about what I loved about it, but not wanting to spoil it The plotline leading up to the end is really well woven together, although I found the very last part at the end up bit cheesy...really didn't like the concept of world-making at the end...
On a side note: The book could have done with a bit more description and some earlier hints in the book about what the antagonist was up to would have made it more interesting.
Interested to see what the other two books will be like, I think the prequel is supposed to show how the school got started with some adult characters as teenagers and the one after this is supposed to be about Grey after he was rescued. If you're looking for a series to get into....

[Patricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book. Kind of Harry Potter-ish, only other kinds of powers and a bit more grown up characters. Certainly a book I read multiple times. Warning; towards the end of the book it can get a bit difficult, but hang in there.

[Abby Cashen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book felt like a cross between a Diana Wynne Jones book and E. Nesbet. It was enchanting and absolutely mesmerizing (although it had my head spinning a bit by the end).

(Read full review here.)

http://sutorinohana.blogspot.com/2015...

(Includes content advisory.)

[Marie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just my thoughts as reading:

Tria is as judgmental as Zoey and as stupid as Clary.

She causes the problems, relies on everyone else to provide the impetus for the solution--though Tria herself has to actually take action at least, since she's the only one with any power.

Tria does not suffer enough for the consequences of what she does.

The characterization is overwhelmingly shallow.

The worldbuilding fails

All of this is primarily tied to the fact it's mostly telling vs. showing.

I'll try to come up with a more coherent review later, but sometimes it just made me angry.

On the other hand, the concept is okay, and the actual execution of the jumping through mirrors, etc, actually worked pretty well. It just hadn't been set up in the story. The tone is uneven and the plot isn't built.

[Genevieve Grace · Rating 2 out of 5]

This started out fun, but made a rapid nosedive into being INTOLERABLY annoying. Why is there literally zero worldbuilding? Who are these children? Why is it okay for a teacher to just rehome a girl to another dimension? DID SHE NOT HAVE PARENTS IN THIS DIMENSION? Somehow a murderous, megalomaniacal kidnapper is allowed to chill in class every day unmolested? Again, didn't those kidnapped boys have PARENTS? Doesn't Oryon have PARENTS?

Does nobody around here have even a SINGLE brain cell?

Tria is right that all the teachers are acting like manipulative idiots, but SHE herself is the biggest idiot of them all. She's just careening from one thoughtless destructive feat of magic to another. It's a whirlwind of stupidity, so many people almost die, and nobody suffers consequences for their actions, and NOBODY learns anything.

[Chelsie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A rather odd book, to tell the truth. I could see very little resemblences to Harry Potter however. I mean, she goes to a boarding school for sorcery. That's just about where the resemblences stop.

The book was definately much more mature of an idea, especially concerning the nature of some of the spells cast in the book, which were rather disturbing in my oppinion. But not that badly written. There were some interesting ideas, and I liked how she grew a friendship with her rather unlikeable roommate.

However, what really bugged me was the climax and end of the book. As has been mentioned by others, the whole dashing through mirror portals really threw me off. An interesting idea, I suppose...but it was so confused and random. Whereas twists and turns are great to keep a reader on the edge of their seat and trying to figure things out, it can eventually become way too much. Also, the ending was rather odd. Suddenly she cries into dust and creates a miniature world? What's that all about?! Without preamble, as well.

Overall, an interesting read, if with a twisted ending.

[Anastasia · Rating 2 out of 5]

A School for Sorcery sadly proves that Sabin is no Caroline Stevermer [to leave J.K. Rowling out of the equation entirely]. The characters are intriguing but ill-developed, left to fumble their way through plots involving mirror worlds and alternate realities until one character is much the same as another. By the end it's more a matter of seeing the story come to its neat resolution than a question of caring for the fates of the characters. The genre of school fantasy has been better explored not only by those aforementioned masters but also by Diana Wynne Jones, Ursula K. LeGuin, and others--best to look elsewhere.

[Lina Bongiovanni · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dit boek kreeg ik van mijn moeder omdat ze voor het eerst een boek tegenkwam met een personage met dezelfde naam als ik! :-) Ik vond het een leuk boek om te lezen, maar kon niet altijd even goed mijn interesse erbij houden en dwaalde dus vaak af waardoor ik weer pagina's terug moest lezen. Misschien moet ik het boek binnenkort nog eens een kans geven!

[c a t h e y · Rating 5 out of 5]

I decided to revisit one of my absolute favourite books as a child when as I found out - gasp! - it was actually part of a series. A wonderful book, beautiful world-building and such interesting concepts explored. Brilliant.

[Nikki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading this felt like a homecoming.

I loved the prequel book as a kid but didn’t know it was a series until I joined Goodreads as an adult. Now, reading the first in the series for the first time, I was struck with so much nostalgia. The book smells like 2002, feels like the butterfly excitement of a new school year. It reminded me of being nine, my greatest wish being to go to a magical school (which may or may not still be my greatest wish).

The parts of this book that were “new student navigates her first year at magic school” were so enjoyable. The classes, new friends, learning the mysteries of the school, exploring the different magical gifts of the students, etc. are pure fun.

However, I did get a bit frustrated with some aspects of the plot and characters as it moved forward. Certain characters are severely punished for relatively minor transgressions while others who are actively murderous are left alone to go about their business. This made the faculty seem weak, powerless, and pointless, but perhaps falls in line with a children’s book fantasy where the young characters must be the ones to save the day. I think the reasons for their inaction could have been tightened to make the faculty less unlikeable, however.

The final act is also a little difficult to follow. I had a “wait, what?” moment and had to backtrack to check if I’d missed something. I fully followed the premise from that point on but not the exact specifics, which might take a re-read in the future. I wonder if kids would have trouble getting through that part (and also questioned some of the gorier/scarier descriptions—maybe I’m misremembering how much kids can take!).

I think 3.5 stars, between I liked it and the next rung, hits the sweet spot of happy nostalgia and somewhat puzzling plot and character choices.

[Lea · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting book. I liked it partly because it took a fairly normal idea (Girl at sorcery school must overcome magical difficulties) and made it different. The doubles were what made it different, I think, but also a bit confusing.....
I must say that I disliked the one gory scene near the end. I skip it whenever I read this book.

[Bookworm · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've loved this book ever since I first stumbled upon it as a child. Tria tries to learn magic and makes so many mistakes and everything doesn't end up perfectly in the end. I find myself drawn back to reading this book every few years or so.

[Ana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this book was fascinating. It comes across as a bit scattered, but really it's just complex and is just awesome.

August 29, 2019
I still find this book to be deep on so many levels, but it also a fun read with some great twists.

[CLM · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book (although it is derivative) but it read as if the author lost interest 2/3 of the way through and finished it too hastily.

[Kerensa]

Rereading this book felt a little bit like being able to review the strange plotlines that unfold in a long and complicated dream. It's weird, but then, what else would you expect from a dream?

I think I must have read this book several times as a kid, but I remembered vibes and impressions more than specific details. The dusty yellow brick of the school buildings, the smell of boiled cabbage, and the image of Lina crouched on her bed, ready to turn into a panther and pounce, are all things that lingered with me from those original reads. I also remembered the tiny tear-droplet world at the very end, although I thought it had something to do with resolving the plot, and it's just in the epilogue.

This book is about Tria Tesserell, a magically-Gifted girl who is sent to an academy for Gifted students. It's not at all what she expects, and the school doesn't match what she sees on the brochure at all. Plus, her roommate can turn into a panther, seems to be self-serving if not more than a little evil, and the food is terrible.

And then one of Tria's classmates kidnaps two students and imprisons them in a hell dimension, and Tria, her catgirl roommate Lina, and another student are challenged to defeat him, if they can. Things get weird. There's interdimensional travel, mirror selves, and as dreamlike as this book feels at times, it also veers into the realm of nightmarish once or twice.

I don't know if I fully grasped this book when I read it as a kid, but I found it compelling enough to reread. I still found it compelling as an adult. It's weird. It doesn't fit neatly into modern YA or middle grade categories - the tone and quick pace are maybe closer to middle grade, but Tria is 16. The world, or the hints and glimpses we get of it, remind me of Howl's Moving Castle or Studio Ghibli movies - an early 20th-century level of technology slowly supplanting magic, although magic users still exist.

Should you read this book? Maybe, if you can find a copy. I think it's been self-published by the author due to going out of print with the original publisher. It's a weird, quick little read about a magical school and the weird power struggles that happen therein, as the main character struggles to figure out how to solve her problems, save her friends, understand the true nature of her world, and above all, do everything ethically.

(There is a little bit of fatphobic sentiment in the portrayal of Nubba, which sucks and I condemn it, but I think it's milder than a lot of other examples from the early 2000s.)

[Socrate · Rating 3 out of 5]

— Tria! Tria! Vino imediat în casă!

Tria ridică privirea din cuibarul cu ouă şi o văzu pe mama ei în pragul uşii din spate, strigând către ea. Indiferent ce s-o fi întâmplat, era în mod sigur o problemă serioasă, fiindcă mama n-ar fi lăsat-o niciodată să scape cu treburile neterminate.

— Vin acum! răspunse ea punând ultimele ouă peste cele strânse deja în coş şi porni în grabă spre casă, cu grijă să nu le spargă.

— Fuga! strigă mama din nou.

Probabil că se întâmplase ceva teribil. Acoperi ouăle cu palma ca să nu se zgâlţâie şi o luă la fugă.

— Ce e? gâfâi ea când ajunse la uşă. S-a întâmplat ceva rău?

— Nu, nimic rău, răspunse mama şi-i luă coşul din mână. Vino înăuntru, repede, să nu ne vadă tata!

Pe câmp, în depărtare, tata repara gardul. Probabil că avea să mai zăbovească acolo o vreme, îşi spuse Tria, şi în mod cert nu avea cum să vadă casa din locul în care era. Nedumerită de grija nejustificată a mamei, intră în casă şi aşteptă nerăbdătoare până ce mama puse coşul cu ouă pe masa din bucătărie, făcându-i semn apoi să vină în sufragerie.

— Uite! îi spuse mama, arătându-i un plic gros şi alb aşezat cu faţa în jos pe măsuţa de lângă canapea şi sigilat cu un inel de ceară roşie. E pentru tine.

— Pentru mine?

Tria se holbă prosteşte la plic, întrebându-se cine i-ar fi putut trimite ei o scrisoare. Cunoştea foarte puţini oameni în afara celor de aici, din orăşelul în care se născuse. Niciodată în cei şaisprezece ani ai ei nu primise vreo scrisoare, deşi prietenii îi mai trimiteau câte o vedere, tata primea în mod regulat cataloage cu produse agricole şi tarifare pentru porci şi păsări de curte, iar pentru mama venea din când în când câte o scrisoare de la nişte rude îndepărtate din Wickton, în provincia Plains, şi câte un bileţel de la Kate, sora mai mare a Triei, care locuia în oraşul vecin.

— Ia-l şi deschide-l, o îndemnă mama, cu faţa iluminată de nerăbdare.

Tria întinse mâna cu un gest lent, de parcă s-ar fi temut că plicul se va evapora în clipa în care avea să-l atingă. Îl întoarse şi îşi văzu numele scris cu litere negre, elegante: Miss Tria Fay Tesserell. Dedesubt citi numele oraşului: Carey, provincia Inland, Arucadi. Timbrul sugera că scrisoarea fusese expediată din provincia Castlemount, iar Tria era sigură că nimeni din familia ei nu cunoştea pe cineva care locuia atât de departe.

[Angela Tuson · Rating 2 out of 5]

II can't decide if I liked this book or not. It won an award in 1992, and it must have been one of the few ‘Magic School’ novels until Hogwarts was unveiled, and now must suffer comparison. I’d also caution that this is not a children's novel; it's more in line with The House of Night or Twilight teen readership.
Tria's mother applies on her behalf to the Lesley Simonton School for the Gifted. Having missed her own chance to be one of the few Gifted in an immense (really, a gargantuan) population, she wants her daughter to leave the drudgery and superstition at the farm and so saves up the fees for Tria’s first year at the school. Tria is keen but nervous. And so she should be; the school is awful, dreary, inhospitable and then, inexplicably, extremely dangerous. The other kids, unlike Tria, have just the one kind of gift, except multi-gifted and arrogant Oryon, a dark boy indeed. In fact this story seemed to me to be just a shade too dark, what with all the murder attempts, harpies clawing out flesh, rotting corpses, animal sacrifice and so on…all of which could have been leavened by a little humour. I was happy that story focussed on the ethical uses of power over other lives, but didn’t see it presented as the alluring option at any point. A tiny feel of Diana Wynne Jones escaped from the pages, but the book didn’t have the satisfying feel of evil being understood and Dealt With. Rather, it felt like it could all start up again any moment, and poor Tria seemed to lurch from one confusing awfulness to another, each worse than the last, uncomprehending to the bitter end.
I guess… I didn’t like it after all.

[Gus Gagne · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have written a novel before where I started at the beginning and wrote straight through to the end, only going in order and making things up whenever I didn't have something planned, so I feel like I'm qualified to say that this novel was likely written in much the same way, with the addition that afterwards Sabin went back and fixed plot holes by having a character say "if you think this could be a plot hole it actually isn't because of X." The story is loosely structured in a familiar hero's journey style, but the beats feel off, coming too late or falling flat or even working against themselves; characters are introduced with detailed descriptions of their unique attributes only to fade from relevance, while others are dropped into the story mere paragraphs before they shift the balance of the plot; the chief conflict of the first act is offhandedly resolved between chapters near the halfway point, in time for a new conflict to start that ends up being the main plot of the book; the climax and resolution hinge on magic that was established and (poorly) explained only immediately before the action started, and our heroine spends that portion of the book just as baffled as the reader; just a complete mess of a book. The strongest bit of writing comes in the final chapter, which almost convinces you that everything did tie together and you did in fact read something good. Ultimately too charming to give just one star; I will inevitably read it again.

[Kat Rook · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty Review here https://thebookrook.blogspot.com/2016...

Alright so there’s a Victorian-esque world with trains, cars, and the occasional steam powered device but the real kicker is that there is also magic. Tria is a farm girl who, of course, has magic. In probably the first four or five pages she gets accepted to a school for magic that sounds amazing! But then arrives to find a rundown campus with maybe thirty students.

Now the first part of the book is mostly Tria struggling to learn the rules of the magical world and avoid her frankly terrible roommate. So basically the first semester of college.
The real plot starts later (And it’s in the blurb! So don’t yell at me about spoilers) when two of the students, who are basically drunk on their own power, trap two of the nice but weaker kids in some sort of terrifying dimension. Yeah said dimension was never really explained so . . . Now It’s Tria’s job for (some reason) to get the two students back and she has a year to do it.

So I’ve been intentionally looking for books like Dealing with Dragons or, well, anything by Patricia C. Wrede or Caroline Stevermer. “A School for Sorcery” was sort of advertised as such authors combined with J. K. Rowling. Which I can . . . kind of see. But really only the magic school bit.
Anyway on to the characters.

Characters

Tria: She was kind of the normal fairytale-ish main character.
Polite and earnest but not always the brightest. Still when she did screw up she took her punishment with an impressive amount of grace.
So while she wasn’t my favorite character ever I still found her perfectly entertaining and in the narrative she worked quite well.

Lina: She’s this one character that started out being a jerk for no reason and then mostly became Tria’s friend. Well I say friend. More like an ally. Lina was this character who was totally entitled but she was much cleverer than Tria and actually lead her to the solution of most of her problems so she was at least useful if not nice. But hey she could turn into a panther so . . . That's always cool!
Wilce and Gray: These were the two students who got trapped in who knows where. Despite not having a lot of time with them they were both extremely sweet. I have to admit that I was actually very invested in saving them because they were just that cute.
Oryon: He became the main antagonist by trapping Wilce and Gray and then challenging the Headmistress to save them or she would turn the school over to him. Now I have to admit that at first I really did not see his motivation. It seemed like he just wanted revenge against Tria and Lina for ticking him off earlier in the narrative. But as the story unfolded I saw that it was really about his fight with the Headmistress, who was a total hypocrite and I can see why. As an antagonist he actually got pretty creepy which surprised me.
Likes
The romance: What can I say, the romance between Tria and Wilce (while mainly geared towards making you feel for Wilce) was so cutesy. I mean sure it was short and pretty one-dimensional but maybe I was just glad that I didn’t have to complain about how unhealthy and illogical it was.
The setting: Like I said I have been intentionally seeking out books with technology and magic because I’m a sucker for those kind of worlds. Though I would have liked to see more of the technology. The school was kind of in the middle of nowhere so while I knew that such a world existed I didn’t really get to see it.

Basically everything up until the end: Sure there was some confusing things and several frustrating parts. But it was essentially a run of the mill magical adventure (contained in a mysterious school that looked rundown at times and at other times looked beautiful) except for the ending. I’ll talk about it in my dislikes but holy cow it’s like it exploded with ‘what the HECK’ moments in the last fifty pages.

Dislikes
The staff: Okay I’ve seen complaints of the Hogwarts staff and their inability to help Harry and co. on their epic quest. They’ve got nothing on the staff in this book. Mostly it’s the Headmistress’s fault. She is a fraud. She’s got this high and mighty attitude about how she’s so powerful and she knows so much more than everyone else but in reality she can barely control her less powerful students much less all of them together. So when Oryon called her out for being a liar and frankly just a jerk she was supposed to fold right then and there. But instead she passed the task onto Tria and Lina saying that it would unfair for someone as powerful as herself to accept Oryon’s challenge.

She even forbade the other teachers from helping them. Now I expected her to get called out in the end you know Percy Jackson style. But Nope! Which leads to the rest of the ending.

The Ending
Probably the last forty pages when right into what the heck mode. For example, in an attempt to increase her power with some kind of mirror trick Tria accidentally split herself up into four different versions of herself.

Which was confusing to say the least. After an equally confusing romp into the super scary dimension to retrieve the other two students it is then revealed that Tria is a seventh level adept. Which is the highest level a person can achieve, surprise, surprise. Now what does that make her? A god. A literal god.
The book ended with her making an entire world out of dust. What the Heck!? That ending just made no sense none at all.


I don’t even really know how to conclude. It was just a bit too convoluted for my taste. I do really love the genre that’s a slow paced magical adventure (a la Raven Boys or Dealing with Dragons) but I feel like those work because they’re highly character driven with in depth and often amazing main characters and co. I have to say that ‘amazing’ would probably be a stretch for these characters. So I guess I did like it (well up until the end).

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just reread this for the first time since middle school and it's held up pretty well. It starts out fairly ordinarily as a farm girl with great power goes away to a boarding school and has trouble fully fitting in. It slowly spirals and unfolds into great clashes of power and quests for knowledge. The magic system in the book is focused much more in ethics and physics which makes for quite an interesting read. The characters have a set array of talents, only one of which is using spells, and the characters vary greatly in the number and usefulness of their skills. What's more important to the narrative is how they use these powers. Fascinating, and still leaves me thinking all these years later.

Content warnings (CW): animal injury and death, in a few places. unreality is part of a huge theme of the book. descriptions of injury, lesser throughout most of the book but a few more visceral descriptions at the end.

[Judith Blaauw-Klaver · Rating 3 out of 5]

ik verwachtte een slap aftreksel van Harry Potter, maar dit is toch echt weer wat anders. Leuk boek, beetje kostschoolboek in magische wereld, maar dan ook echt een andere wereld, die niets te maken heeft met de onze. Dat is een van de grote verschillen met Potter, evenals het gebrek aan humor (wat geen gebrek van het boek is overigens, het is gewoon een totaal ander soort boek). Fijn boek voor tussendoor, wel een yaffie.

[Mercedes Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was one of the only books I completed in high school for our accelerated reading program. I can’t wait to read it again, and I find it beautiful when a protagonist discovers they’re created for more, despite the negative mindset they may have about themselves. 😊

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

A charming story very reminiscent of classic Diana Wynne Jones.

[AL · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read years ago- find and reread?

[Jodi Dunbar · Rating 4 out of 5]

*3.5

[idiomatic · Rating 3 out of 5]

revisiting a weirdly influential book from childhood and if olivie blake did not read this i'll eat my hat

[Robby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this as a kid and enjoyed it thoroughly. Also met the author and she was lovely.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

A School for Sorcery (A School for Sorcery #1) by E. Rose Sabin - A very cool world! Happy Reading!