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!
My Rating: 4/5 Stars
