⋆.˚✮ 4.5 stars ✮˚.⋆

⤿ Thank you to Tor Books for the arc through netgalley as well as a physical arc in exchange for an honest review!

this is one of those books that I was really hoping would be amazing just from some of the tropes i knew was in it, dark academia, magical school, harnessing demon magic, and phoenixes. i can happily say this is one of the most unique books i will read this year, and it's absolutely a must-read for anyone who is really looking for some more books involving magical schools. one of the most unique things about this book is that this is from the perspective of the headmistress of the school, so we get to see how she views the school itself, it's goals, and see her interact with the children as well.

this book felt long but this was not a bad thing, it's one of those books you are supposed to absorb slowly to begin to understand secrets of this world in a way you couldn't if the story sped through them. i think overall the pacing was good, but it wasn't a perfect five star because there was one moment at the beginning that caught me off guard. in the beginning of the book, there's an incursion that happens that Doctor Walden has to take care of, and i won't spoil but it felt too easy and i was worried it was going to imbalance the story. overall it didn't, there were plenty of other events that were big deals too, i just didn't expect this to happen so fast and it definitely affected mostly the beginning of the story.

Doctor Walden and her colleagues were amazing characters to drive the story forward, as it was really interesting seeing behind the scenes of a magical school for once. even the kids themselves were such fun side characters, as the importance of some of their stories mirrored Doctor Waldon's, and a few plot twists were so interesting that involved the kids! it was very nice to see people actually care for kids, and see their passion for helping them learn, as someone who wants to work with kids in the future. it was just, really sweet to see and one of my favorite parts of the book.

the vibes themselves were also incredible with the school, threat of demons but also how some were integrated into daily live, and the mysterious magic surrounding Doctor Walden. it was exactly what i was hoping for and the dark academia vibes were strong!! but so was the romance, even if there were multiple instances of things happening that took the characters apart from one another, i still really loved this sapphic romance and how it was developed. i thought it was very realistic, especially with the circumstances that came up.

overall, this was a fantastic read and i cannot recommend it enough- especially during the fall. i think this would make the perfect read during cozier and spookier months.

↬ trigger warnings: death of loved ones, murder and blood, kidnapping, child death and harm, child abuse mentioned

The dark academia/magic school vibes were definitely there. I really liked the characters, especially having the protagonist be a 38 y/o competent teacher was very precious to me. I would say I really enjoyed the first quarter and the last quarter, but the middle bit not as much. I also really enjoyed Tesh's writing throughout the book in general. I thought the demons and how the magic worked were really interesting too.

I really liked learning about the main character, Saffy, slowly through her actions and conversations with those around her. I enjoyed the representation and depth of the characters. I do think the romance element was forced a little bit, though, while still enjoyable. I liked how we saw the narrow view of Saffy, but then realized greater consequences and larger complications of the magic system as she learned about how her own mistakes. It is great as a standalone, but I would like to read another novel set in the same world. Perhaps from the viewpoint of Laura this time.

Thank you netgalley for the review copy.

I LOVED THIS

As a child who grew up with a certain TERF's wizard, I yearn for magical boarding school stories. The Scholomance is still top tier, but I'm so happy to add The Incandescent to the list. This book is told through the POV of the adult teacher and head of magic at the school, a welcome twist for the genre, especially as I get older. Saffy, the main character, if competitive, talented, and a perfect example of someone who loves the world of academia. And the story was so compelling. I couldn't stop reading.

Right now, this book sits at a comfortable 5 stars, however if it were built into a series, it would probably reach my God Tier books level.

Wow wow wow wow wow. This book was slower paced but the writing? THE WRITING? absolutely gorgeous. I have no doubt this will be a reader favorite.

I loved this book!! The writing is beautiful and even though the book is slower paced, it flows wonderfully. I liked the POV (the school’s director instead of the students), which gave a refreshing take on dark academia. As a former teacher’s pet, this really scratched those itches from long ago. Well done!

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me an advanced eArc in exchange for an honest review.

AHEM.
After DEVOURING Some Desperate Glory, I was salivating for more from Emily Tesh. Lo and behold, she gifts me with a dark academia fantasy starring, not a bright and troubled student, but a professor, the Director of Magic at Chetwood School. I really enjoyed this book and I had a hard time trying to finish it because I truly did not want it to end. I can’t say much without spoiling it but it’s perfect for us older millennial teens who still want to have adventures with magic in school.

Thanks to @torbooks and @macmillan.audio for the free eARC and ALC via @netgalley

The Incandescent is about as close as you can get to the perfect book for me! Great Dark Academia vibes, set at an elite boarding school of magic, but told through the point of view of the school director of Magic, Dr Walden. She is a committed teacher who is high enough up the admin ladder to bear the responsibility of everything that can go wrong at the school, without any of the authority of the executive board to actually fix anything! All at a school that teaches children/teenagers how to call demons to access the magical world. What could possibly go wrong?

As an academic and a teacher this book felt like a love letter to teachers. Educators who have sacrificed a more lucrative career to work in a broken system in the hopes of making a difference for their students.

There is definitely an interesting magical system developed in the story, but much is easily analogous to everyday frustration of cost cutting “efficiencies” and the reality of being good at what you do in a job that never lets you have time to give any of it the attention it is due as opposed to a stop gap until the next time. Needless to say I could relate so well to the main character.

There is also a dynamic romance here between Dr Walton and Laura, her head Marshall of security (think school resource office ). While not central, their attraction adds to the ways Walden has to evaluate her work life balance —or the lack thereof— and allows for interesting critiques between disciplining student behavior vs educating teens in ethical thinking.

Despite these themes, the book was just dang fun with some well written action sequences and an incredible final act that took me by surprise!

🎧 I loved listening to Zara Ramm’s reading of the book. She captures Dr Walden’s perspective really well and turns the tension up in the action scenes while keeping them easy to imagine. I highly recommend.

This was so good! I love a good dark academia and this was an excellent dark academia.

First off, making the main character 38, extremely competent, and the director of magic of the school and also one of the teachers? Brilliant. Utterly brilliant. Teenage protagonists are excellent, but making the focus the adult chivvying the students toward understanding and away from catastrophic mishaps gave the story a whole new dimension.

The story did lose a little steam at the halfway point, when the love interest abruptly exits and is replaced with someone else. I didn't love that. It stalled. But it picked the pace back up, and I do understand why Emily Tesh chose to structure it that way. I just think it could have been tweaked a little to keep the momentum going.

The magic system and demons were really interesting and I really enjoyed seeing the magic performed.

Loved the romantic subplot. It was really well done. Lara was wonderful and I loved her and Dr. Walden's interactions.

The twists were really great as well. The plot overall was excellent and kept me reading, and I loved all of the characters. Except that one guy. He's a jerk.

The audiobook was really good and I enjoyed listening. The narrator did a good job bringing the characters to life and making the story exciting.

*Thanks to Tor Books and Macmillan Audio for providing an early copy for review.

Take dark academia/magical boarding school meets day in the life of a professor, complete with having to play nice with the hot butch lady with a sword who swans around the campus to protect everyone from the demons who want to inhabit the school and children, and voila, you have THE INCANDESCENT.

Except there's also.. a little bit more to it. And maybe it's also a terrible summation. But if gives you some vibes at least.

But when I say day in the life I want to really hammer home that you are not to go into this expecting a lot of action and adventure. We do have some stakes, some small battles, but this is.. cozy dark academia. It's very much lost in the weeds of school and marking and lesson planning and professional development involved in that.. and also staff meetings whilst occasionally feeding the imp possessing the photocopier. Because this is still a world with magic and, specifically, demons.

So, I did find things a little slow, and also little predictable, and I do think we got a little lost in the middle (or maybe it just feels that way because I got stalled there -- maybe both things are true). But I really enjoyed the last third.

So if you're looking to fill the Scholomance-shaped whole in your life since the completion of Novik's series, but want something queer, cozier, and with a little less commitment required (standalone alert!)? You'll maybe want to give this a go.

I loved Tesh's other works and picked this up without knowing much about the premise. The prose is inviting and evocative, but the plot is meandering, bloated, and often dull. For a story about a magical school that has to defend against demons, I never once felt immersed.

I was very excited to get an ARC for The Incandescent by Emily Tesh, because Some Desperate Glory was one of my top books of 2023. Magical boarding school is a jump from space dystopia redemption arc, but Emily Tesh continues not to disappoint. The Incandescent is a zippy, fresh perspective of a boarding school story that sucked me from the beginning and spat me out at the end screaming about demons. The Incandescent comes out May 13, so add it to your to-read lists and buckle up, because keeping magical teenagers from casually or accidently making themselves into tasty demon treats isn’t a job for the faint of heart.

Chetwood Academy is one of the premier magical boarding schools in England, and Saffy Walden, as its Director, takes her duties seriously. As one of the most powerful magicians in England, she is well aware that she could be making big money in the military or private sectors, but she’s an academic at heart and a good teacher on top of it. Plus, gathering this many magical teenagers into one place is basically setting up a tasty buffet for the demons constantly looking for a way onto this plane, and keeping them safe requires a guardian of power and meticulous vigilance. But working at a boarding school is still a job, and more, a job where you are required to live with your coworkers and you’re rarely really “off.” In between demon wrangling, student wrangling, and staff wrangling, Saffy struggles to find time and motivation for a personal life. But as the crises ramp up over the school year, Saffy’s personal problems are the least of her worries, and the biggest danger to the school may actually be herself.

First of all, I had a great time with this book from the get go. This book is billed as “dark academia” but I would argue that’s a publisher add-on that doesn’t understand the tone of the novel. While there are dangers and literal demons lurking, every page is steeping in the care and trouble it is to properly educate and work with students and give them the start they need in life. Saffy does not love her job in a cutesy aspirational way: to her it is a calling, and one worth doing properly both legally and for the good of society. It was so interesting to read a school story from the point of view of the staff. The magic and demonology was so well wound in also—it was an integral part of Chetwood’s makeup, and magic was just another subject to study. I really enjoy reading this kind of thing, so I was drawn in right from the beginning and loved Saffy as a character. The fact that in a world where demons and magic are established disciplines, one of the biggest dangers is teenagers being teenagers also cracked me up.

I also loved the relationships in this book. Although I’ve never been to a boarding school, I have worked in a similarly closed-in industry where one both lives and works with coworkers, and I felt like Tesh really portrayed the mix of closeness, the desperate need for privacy, and the pressure cooker of poorly thought-out decisions that result. It’s an interesting ecosystem, made more complicated by the omnipresent students. I also appreciated that Saffy is bisexual and is portrayed having multiple relationships. I enjoyed Saffy showing that her relationship priorities are different than those of a younger person, while also containing a fair amount of awkward “does she or doesn’t she like me back.” Laura, the school’s highly competent head Marshall, does not have an easy relationship with school administration, but the more problems that Saffy extinguishes with her help, the more they actually start communicating. I appreciated that they liked each other, but they both have their lives going on, and starting a relationship is not the highest priority on either of their plates—it felt realistic to my life and I liked seeing it in a novel.

In conclusion, this was a beautiful ride of a book, and made me appreciate a boarding school story in a way that I thought I couldn’t anymore. If you’ve enjoyed any of Emily Tesh’s other books, don’t miss out on The Incandescent, and if this is the first you’ve taken a look at, this is an excellent choice. Go forth and read some excellent storytelling in May!

Thank you to both @torbooks and @macmillan.audio for the print and audio copies of this wonderful book!

“Doctor Walden is the Director of Magic at Chetwood School 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.”

This was SO GOOD!!! Such a delightful magical binge read over the long holiday weekend 😊 I gave my friend Dana a nudge while reading because it sounded like one she would love and she joined me in reading- we both don’t understand why we haven’t been seeing this all over Instagram! This is one not to miss. Walden struck me as a younger Professor McGonagall teaching at a school reminiscent of Hogwarts crossed with Ninth House/Hell Bent where demons and more minor creatures are everywhere and love to possess various electronics (you have to give a cookie to the copier in order to get it to work!). This was charming, magical, immensely entertaining, and made me laugh out loud many times. I loved the passion Walden had for teaching and her compassion for her students. The plot arc had my jaw DROPPING at the end - I thought I knew what was coming, I was wrong! The Incandescent appears to be a standalone, but Emily, ma’am, can I plead for a sequel?? Cue me scrambling to read this author's backlist 😍😍

While I really enjoyed reading The Incandescent, I at the same time was pretty disappointed by it.
It is a very mature story of a magic school, with the main character being an adult woman charged with protecting it from demons and teaching students how to defend against them. That being said, it focuses much more on the inner workings and politics of education, that happens to involve teaching magic. There are demon battles and intense moments; those with the phoenix are definitely my favourite, but majority of the story is the day to day workings of a highly dedicated educator, which may not be what some people are looking for.
Highlights are her current graduating students, who she takes great care to guide and cares deeply about, and Sapphire’s personal history, which was well fleshed out.
There is a queer romance running through it as well, which was well written, but I had hoped it would have been developed more instead of put off to the side for a heteronormative side-thing that even the main character knows to be completely pointless.

Most of my issues came at the halfway point of the book.
There is a mini climax early on that really set a tone of suspense, but is quickly lost and isn’t built up again until the last 50 pages.
Another issue I felt was the assumption that such an intelligent scholar would fail to see the obvious warnings of a conflict right in front of her face. Then as the warning becomes a realized problem, the climax of the book leaves it off much too vaguely, and forgets to wrap up the side plot entirely.

Definitely not her best work, especially after Some Desperate Glory being one of my favourite reads of the last few years, I expected more. Doesn’t mean I won’t pick up the next one! Her writing is the saving grace, and she’s got the chops to write great books with more work and maybe more inspiration.

I've never read a dark academia book from a teachers perspective and I ended up enjoying it more than I thought I would. It's a unique take on an old format of a magical school. I liked following the teachers and I've already recommended this to some friends who are educators. Also, I enjoyed the sapphic romance!

Thank you to Tor and NetGalley for this eARC!

As the Director of Magic at Chetwood Academy, one of the most prestigious boarding schools in England, Dr. Walden's day is full of everything from faculty meetings to demons trying to break through the school's wards. She is constantly torn between keeping up on mundane admin while trying to stop idiot teenagers from messing with magic beyond their capabilities. But what is Dr. Walden to do when the greatest threat to the school might be herself?

THE INCANDESCENT is a fresh spin on the magical academia genre, where the overworked, underpaid faculty at an elite boarding school get to shine front and center. Nearly, if not all, magical academia books I have read have been from the POV of the students. I've seen plenty of books where a group of scrappy teenagers discovers a dark conspiracy afoot at their school. They sneak behind teachers' backs, dabble in a bit of forbidden magic or research, and generally defy authority, all in the name of saving the day.

But let's face it, many teenagers aren't noble heroes on a quest - they're idiots. Enter the exasperated staff of Chetwood Academy, trying to help shape students on their quest to discover their path in life, while also making sure they don't fall prey to demonic possession because they cut corners while drawing a summoning diagram. Dr. Walden and her staff are just as often trying to save the students from themselves as much as from outside threats, all while grading papers, offering career counseling, and managing the school's budget.

THE INCANDESCENT also takes a moment to examine and critique the whole structure of elitist boarding school culture. It examines the notion that what parents aren't paying for isn't really a top tier education; they're paying for their child to join the network of alumni scattered across the country and use that network for the rest of their lives. It's the social connections that truly matter to most parents, the security of knowing their child will have plenty of contacts who will open doors for them in the future. This in turn perpetuates systemic class disparities, as most often only those who can pay for the connections, get the connections.

I want to take a moment to note that while the marketing for this book makes a point of mentioning this is a sapphic story, you shouldn't expect a sweeping romance. Relationships are just one part of Dr. Walden's life, and certainly not the focus - which is good, because I found those romance dynamics one of the weaker parts of the story. On the one hand, I liked that Dr. Walden is grappling with the complications of juggling potential romance with the demands of her career. But there was just no chemistry between Dr. Walden and her love interest, leaving not particularly interested in what happened on that front.

THE INCANDESCENT is a worthy addition to the shelves of magical academia, and any fan of the genre should give it a read. It examines school culture from the rare perspective of the teacher, but it doesn't put forth that the teachers have all the answers; one of the best scenes is a student who challenges Dr. Walden's notion of how well their life situation and an elite boarding school education track go together. It gives you food for thought while also being an entertaining blend of school exams and demonic invasions, making THE INCANDESCENT a definite recommend.

Emily Tesh is one of those authors that I’ve been meaning to try for quite some time and just have somehow never gotten around to. I recently got approved for an ARC (obligatory this hasn’t impacted the contents of this review, etc.) for her recently released novel, The Incandescent, so I figured this was a good place to start with her work.

Set at a boarding school that teaches magic (not a magic boarding school, it’s just one more subject for students, along with more mundane topics like languages and sciences), the book is focused on Dr. Walden, the Director of Magic. We follow her as she teaches students a discipline of summoning demons, makes efforts to protect the school from demonic incursions, and deals with her complex interpersonal relationships with the students and other staff.

I loved books about magical schools as a teenager, and I still do as an adult, but often wish there existed more of them that had mature themes. This absolutely delivers on that front—Walden is a super compelling character, and I loved reading about things from her perspective. She’s in her late 30s (please give me more fantasy books with main female characters that are not aged 16-25) and balances out a weary sort of cynicism with a genuine desire to help the students.

The school setting is also great, but it’s very English. I went through primary school in England, so I have a basic passing knowledge of how the school system there works, but I was frequently confused as to which group of students were being referenced (ages, Years, and forms are used pretty much interchangeably), so this is probably going to be even more confusing for any American readers. The plotting was a little bit odd—the first third of the novel feels almost like a prologue to the rest. This does make the middle of the novel drag on a bit, but there is a strong ending.

I really liked this and would recommend. I’ll definitely pick up more of Tesh’s work in the future.

I really enjoyed this sapphic dark academia fantasy novel! Thank you so, so much to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for allowing me to read this title!

Blurb:
"Look at you, eating magic like you're one of us."

Doctor Walden is the Director of Magic at Chetwood School 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.

The Incandescent by Emily Tesh is the dark academia novel I didn’t know I was waiting for. Not because it’s dripping in shadows and secrets (though it is), but because it hands the narrative reins to someone we rarely hear from in these magical school stories: the adult in the room.

Dr. Walden, Director of Magic at Chetwood Academy, is not your usual brooding, brilliant student protagonist. She’s a mid-thirties academic, painfully competent, quietly awkward, and methodically unraveling magical disasters like it’s her job—because it is. And for once in fantasy, it’s not the teen heroes saving the day while the professors conveniently vanish into plot holes. Walden shows up, and watching her navigate bureaucracy, demonic incursions, and her own emotional landscape is weirdly riveting.

This book has the bones of classic fantasy—demons, secret knowledge, arcane history—but it’s clothed in something much more grounded. Think faculty meetings and spellwork, gothic buildings with bad plumbing, magical theory next to mundane course loads. It’s the kind of realism that makes the magic feel all the more earned.

Tesh brings an elegant, dry wit to her writing, and Walden’s perspective offers a refreshing, nuanced critique of academia from the inside. This isn’t your typical chosen-one story… it’s about power, responsibility, institutional rot, and the subtle emotional weight of being a woman in her late 30s trying to keep it all together. The fact that Walden is allowed to be messy, self-reflective, and not have it all figured out is a quiet act of rebellion against the usual tropes.

In short: if you’ve ever rolled your eyes at magical schools where the teens outsmart every adult or if you’re simply craving a fantasy that feels like it grew up a little, The Incandescent is for you. Sharp, thoughtful, and grounded in the real-world logistics of running a magical institution, it’s easily one of the most original takes on the genre I’ve read.

so hard these days with finding sapphic books that are about anything other than just... realizing you're sapphic? this was a great refresher. plot that had me on the edge of my seat the whole time with a relationship that slowly, and rewardingly, blossomed, and lighthearted moments to keep you engaged in between. such a good book, thank you ms. tesh