Title: Academy Arcanist
Author: Shami Stovall
Genre: YA Fantasy
Page Count: 446
Rating: 3.5 / 5
Gray Lexly, son of a candlemaker, wants to escape his life of old-world technologies and study at the prestigious Astra Academy, a school for arcanists—those who can wield magic. But Gray has a major problem. Every night, as he sleeps, he’s visited by monsters. When they injure Gray in his dreams, he wakes with the same wounds in real life…
On the night Gray might finally die in his nightmares, he is saved by the kind and mysterious Professor Helmith, a powerful arcanist. She offers to protect Gray and invites him to attend Astra Academy.
Before that can happen, Gray must bond with a mystical creature to become an arcanist himself. Will he bond with a unicorn? A pegasus? A kitsune? Whatever he bonds with will determine his magical abilities, so he must choose wisely.
And when trouble finds Professor Helmith, Gray must become powerful enough to help her and fend off the terrible nightmares, before it’s too late…
Oh boy has it been a long time since I’ve written a book review, but it only makes sense that I break that hiatus for two reasons.
The first, one of my favourite fantasy authors, who has made one of my favourite magic systems, and for TheWriteReads‘s tour of Academy Arcanist (who happened to pick me to help kick off their tour of this amazing book)
So, without further ado, my review of Academy Arcanist by Shami Stovall
I think I’ve said it for every other book by Stovall in this series, and I will say it for every other book to come…I LOVE this magic system. Bonding with mystical and magical monsters and getting access to all sorts of otherworldly abilities, its a fresh take on a world that can sometimes be repetitive.
I love the amount of time and effort that Stovall has put into figuring out probably a hundred different magical creatures and their abilities. Its greatly appreciated in all of the subtle differences that can come up.
But, that same magic system felt lacking in this book. It didn’t feel very different coming into it if you have read her previous series. There is heavy repetition with some of the main magical creatures, which is good because it allowed us to focus on some “behind the scenes” creatures and their abilities, but with all the creatures in the world, I felt a little cheated that we were focused on so many of the ones we had already seen.
The story itself felt rushed, and I was worried that it felt too rushed while I was reading it, but looking back, I think its fitting. The plot (for the most part) takes place over a week or two if I remember correctly. The characters don’t have months or years to figure out their powers, they have days. It makes what they have to go through more intense, fast-paced, and anxiety inducing. You know they don’t have years and years of training to fall back on…so can they get the job done and save whomever needs saving?
You’ll have to find out when you read it for yourself!
I enjoyed the story, though I do wish we had another 50 or so pages to properly explore the characters more…but I suspect there’s plenty more to come with them in future installments.
Overall, I enjoyed the first book in the Astra Academy series. I love a good magical academia setting that brings out the best in the students, and although I am hesitant about what lies in store for the world I’ve grown to love, I can confidently say that I trust in Stovall to keep it fun, fast-paced, and exciting.
Before I go, I want to thank TheWriteReads again for the opportunity to be a part of this tour! It’s always a blast reading books with a community around you, so if you enjoyed my review of this book, I’m sure it won’t be hard to find a few others who have done the same over the next week or so!
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