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A review by aforestofbooks
The Last Hope School for Magical Delinquents by Nicki Pau Preto
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
OKAY FOLKS
This book was SO GOOD!
I've always loved Nicki's writing style and world building, and when I saw she was coming out with a middle-grade magical boarding school series, I just knew I had to check it out. This exceeded all my expectations. It was cute, whimsical, and just left me feeling so happy.
I know many of us grew up with another magical boarding school series written by a super horrible person who should not be named. I also understand the feeling of nostalgia when you think about that series and the memories associated with those books. But this book and hopefully series has a lot of similar vibes and feel-goodness.
I'm struggling to review this because every aspect was so perfect–the friendships, Vin's relationship with the headmistress, capture the flag, the Free Mages, all the mysteries, and the final "battle" scene. I loved seeing Vin grow as a character and learn to embrace herself and her magic and open herself up to the people around her. I also loved how the students all worked together at the end to protect the school and their headmistress. While I did kind of predict where things are headed, it just makes me so excited to see what happens next.
I'm also obsessed with Brucifer. He reminds me of Calcifer from Howl's Moving Castle, and I love him and his need for expensive wood chips so much. I NEED MORE OF HIM. And possibly a little water spirit to join the gang.
You just feel so good reading this book, and it's a feeling I've missed from other books I've been reading, and I think is sometimes almost exclusive to middle-grade books. There is danger and the unknown, but there's also such great friendship and camaraderie. It can have a lot of the typical tropes you would expect, but I never feel annoyed with them, because it does feel like coming home.
I really hope there's more books to come. And I'm just so curious to see what happens with the Free Mages. In part I kind of agree with what they stand for because it is unfair for kids who have different magical abilities to be excluded from magical society and schools, but I can also understand why the headmistress mistrusts them because of what they've done. I'm really curious to see if the plot thickens and gets more complicated, because it is something Nicki's done with her YA books, and I think it would be an interesting direction to take this series too.
This book was SO GOOD!
I've always loved Nicki's writing style and world building, and when I saw she was coming out with a middle-grade magical boarding school series, I just knew I had to check it out. This exceeded all my expectations. It was cute, whimsical, and just left me feeling so happy.
I know many of us grew up with another magical boarding school series written by a super horrible person who should not be named. I also understand the feeling of nostalgia when you think about that series and the memories associated with those books. But this book and hopefully series has a lot of similar vibes and feel-goodness.
I'm struggling to review this because every aspect was so perfect–the friendships, Vin's relationship with the headmistress, capture the flag, the Free Mages, all the mysteries, and the final "battle" scene. I loved seeing Vin grow as a character and learn to embrace herself and her magic and open herself up to the people around her. I also loved how the students all worked together at the end to protect the school and their headmistress. While I did kind of predict where things are headed, it just makes me so excited to see what happens next.
I'm also obsessed with Brucifer. He reminds me of Calcifer from Howl's Moving Castle, and I love him and his need for expensive wood chips so much. I NEED MORE OF HIM. And possibly a little water spirit to join the gang.
You just feel so good reading this book, and it's a feeling I've missed from other books I've been reading, and I think is sometimes almost exclusive to middle-grade books. There is danger and the unknown, but there's also such great friendship and camaraderie. It can have a lot of the typical tropes you would expect, but I never feel annoyed with them, because it does feel like coming home.
I really hope there's more books to come. And I'm just so curious to see what happens with the Free Mages. In part I kind of agree with what they stand for because it is unfair for kids who have different magical abilities to be excluded from magical society and schools, but I can also understand why the headmistress mistrusts them because of what they've done. I'm really curious to see if the plot thickens and gets more complicated, because it is something Nicki's done with her YA books, and I think it would be an interesting direction to take this series too.