Arcane Academies

I recently finished reading Incandescent by Emily Tesh. This is OwlCrate's June adult book.

This exclusive edition features an exclusive redesigned dust jacket by @rowynnellis, with gilded edges, foiled hardcover case design by @rowynnellis ⁠, and end pages by @marosar_art ⁠⁠. The book is also signed by author EmilyTesh on an author page with an author's letter bound into the book, as well as bonus content.

~POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT~

  Rating: 3.75/5 stars

"Doctor Walden is the Director of Magic at Chetwood Academy and one of the most powerful magicians in England. Her days consist of meetings, teaching A-Level Invocation to four talented, chaotic sixth formers, more meetings, and securing the school's boundaries from demonic incursions.

Walden is good at her job―no, Walden is great at her job. But demons are masters of manipulation. It’s her responsibility to keep her school, with its six hundred students and centuries-old legacy, safe. And it’s possible the entity Walden most needs to keep her school safe from―is herself."

Sapphic dark academia laced with wry humor, which owes a conscious debt to the English school story, but here is squarely aimed at adult readers. Award-winning author Emily Tesh’s entertaining exploration of the life of a harried teacher of invocation – summoner of demons - has a realist feel that stems from Tesh’s personal experiences of teaching, so the perils of magic jostle with questions around the nature and philosophy of education itself. It’s set in scruffy but upmarket Chetwood School, nestled in the English countryside. A character in its own right, it's partly modelled on aspects of Wells Cathedral School with dashes of Cambridge architecture thrown in, as well as echoes of Tesh’s childhood school.

Tesh’s story revolves around work-obsessed Director of Magic Sapphire Walden, aka Saffy, whose sensible attire masks a wilder element that dates back to her misspent youth – as well as concealing a potentially deadly secret. Saffy’s ordered existence is disrupted by the rise of a powerful demon invoked by two of her favourite pupils, setting in motion a battle that threatens to destroy both Saffy and everything she cares about. Tesh’s world-building is thorough and convincing, although I found the shift in tone towards the end slightly awkward. But Tesh is a highly skilled writer, and her atmospheric plot unfolds at a more than decent pace, despite the odd dip and lull, accompanied by a muted but ultimately satisfying love story.

Check out Incandescent, and discover what happens when demons run amok.