The Scholar and the Last Faerie Door by H.G. Parry is an engaging story set in a magical Europe between World War I and World War II. The world-building, magic, and fairy lore are well-crafted and add depth to the story. The plot moves quickly, which kept me interested, and the relationships among the four friends—Clover, Alden, Hero, and Eddie—feel genuine and relatable.

I enjoyed how the characters’ development brought me into their world, making their struggles and friendships feel real. While the book seems to be a standalone, I’m left wanting to know what happens next. This is a great choice for fans of Fourth Wing (though this one contains no spice), Harry Potter, and similar magical-school/friend group based series. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a well-written fantasy with strong characters and a fast-paced plot!

H. G. Parry’s books get stronger with every new release.

I enjoy books set in academia. There is a fascination for me with being in this rarified air filled with scholars, readers and people who love learning. Maybe because that was not my experience growing up. In that way I have something in common with the main character of this book. She is a young woman from a working class background who is, through tragedy, exposed to the world of magic and is able to use that experience to launch her escape from a mundane life into a prestigious university.

The thing I loved most about her is her unfailing honesty. The book is written by the character as an older woman, looking back at her years in school and shortly afterward, and she accurately examines her feelings and motivations even when it reveals her imperfections. I really enjoyed that part of her.

I remember watching the move Quiz Show years ago (ok I’m really dating myself here lol) and I was, being young and naive, enamored with the main characters family. Intellectuals who read “important” works and sit around the table spouting “important” ideas. I didn’t perceive the classism, intolerance and lack of empathy that was driving the main character into what ended up being his downfall. I just wished I had someone to talk about books and learning with. Clover makes the same mistakes and only later learns how classism, power structures and inequality is a feature and not a bug of the world she lives in.

This book touches on those subjects with clarity while also providing a really fun, absorbing fantasy story. I fully recommend it to everyone!

I have always loved a fairy story. From the Flower Fairies I played with in my childhood, to the Bat Boys that occupy my middle age novels, something about the otherness of the fairy world has long lingered in my imagination. A parallel world, with similarities but so many differences. A shared world with a shared history. The ways in which the fairy stories of the past interact with the modern tales we tell ourselves. There is nothing like a good fairy story.

My favorite kind of fairy story focuses on a world such as ours but in which the fairies of our imagination are real. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke has had a tight hold on me since it was released in 2004, and more recently the delightful world of fairy academia of Emily Wilde has had me even more transfixed. I was therefore overjoyed to read the preview of The Scholar and the Last Faerie Door by H. G. Parry, and upon finishing the book, I can only hope for more!

The Scholar and the Last Faerie Door joins our world with the land of the fae in a shocking and explosive way, on the battlefields of World War One. On the fields of battle our heroine’s brother is one of hundreds struck by a fairy curse, but one of few to survive. Clover Hill has led a quiet and impoverished life in the North of England, until War pulls apart the world in which she lives. When her brother returns one night in the arms of a strange savior, he carries with him the hurts of war and the curse of a fairy. That night her world is shattered in ways that even the war had not managed, as she learns of the other world living alongside ours. A world of magic, and fairies, and ancient families that straddle the border between the two. Her journey begins that day as her life’s mission becomes finding a cure for her brother, as the curse claims more of him each year.

Clover wins a scholarship to Camford, the magical university born out of long forgotten magical departments from Oxford and Cambridge Universities. She is a commoner with no connections, no magical blood, but more talent and drive than everyone else put together. A friendless undergrad she catches the eye of the dazzling Alden Lennox-Fontaine and along with his friends Hero and Eddie she finds that the doors that were previously closed to her in both her lives are now wide open.

Clover has discovered this magical world just as it is seemingly changing forever. Fairy was once open, but is now closed. The doors that would let magical families interact with Fairy were sealed after the explosion of magic that resulted in mass casualties. The magical families have united and closed all the faerie doors, locking them at key points in Berlin, Paris, and London, and leaving them with the magic of this world and no more.

The heart of this world however, is riddled with secrets and lies. magical politicians are still first and foremost politicians. As Clover and her friends pursue their own hidden paths, they discover far more about the secrets and each other than they can handle.

The story is told in several parts and spans over a decade, from Clover’s first introduction to magic, to her time at university, to the later careers and paths of Clover and her friends. Each part is engaging and enticing, drawing you in to each part of this world. While set in an English university this is not the magic of Hogwarts, this is wilder, grittier, more entwined with the dirt and bones of our world.

The four characters that the novel focuses on, Clover, Alden, Hero, and Eddie, are all shockingly different from each other, and it makes for some wonderful dialogue and scenes between them. They each have their comfortable spots, and each is drawn to the others for different reasons. Eddie’s relationship to all three is especially fascinating to me, and I both mourn for him and love how his life has turned out post university.

Clover’s homelife is reflected upon throughout the book, and its poverty but loving setting is placed in sharp contrast with Alden’s decadent upbringing. Of particular interest to me, is that her home is set in Pendle, a rather green and spooky part of Lancashire that I visited several times as a child. Tales of witchcraft and fairy are all over that area of the country, and it was a nice inclusion to have part of the novel set there.

The book is a love song to the worlds of discovery and imagination, set in that peculiar time in English history between the wars, where everything and nothing seemed possible, and everyone was scarred by the past, and unknowing of what lay ahead.

I thought this was very good and I will have to add this to the shop shelves. Thank you for the chance for us to review.

Incredible work, will definitely make it into a larger fantasy project I am developing, as well as will be considering it for assignment in various courses.

I really loved “The Magician’s Daughter” when I read it a few years ago! Best of all, it took me by surprise, packing a deeper punch into what I had taken as a rather superficial cozy read at first glance. That being the case, I went into this next book by H. G. Parry with fairly high expectations! And while I will say that I think I preferred “Magician’s Daughter” on the whole, this was still an excellent read on its on right.

This is really a book of two halves. The first one starts off as a fairly straight-forward, HP-like dark academia story, following our main character, Clover, as she first comes to her new school, meets a group of friends, and begins uncovering the mysteries of magic that are tightly wound all around them. But then, as the story continues, the book fast-forwards and we see these characters again later in their lives as they must deal with the repercussions of the decisions they made while in school. It was definitely an interesting structure, and one that I hadn’t been expecting, being at first fully immersed in the school days aspects that made up the first half.

But the second half is where the story really starts to shine, especially as a character-driven narrative. Not only do we see these characters at different points in their lives, but we see how their ambitions and goals have directed their paths forward, sometimes in unexpected ways. They are all compelling, but flawed, people who make mistakes, sometimes correcting and sometimes doubling down all the more. I really enjoyed these themes, especially the way the author explored the way that ambition can begin to corrode relationships between people.

The pacing was a bit on the slow side, but I think that this largely worked given the emphasis on characterization and the exploration of the inner workings of these people. The world-building was also good, though some of the details regarding the fantasy elements were a bit slow to arrive, requiring some patience on the reader’s part to trust that answers will come. I don’t want to go into spoilers, but there were some twists and turns that were truly heart-wrenching, and I’d definitely put this one in the “bittersweet” category, for what it’s worth.

Fans of dark academia and especially readers who are looking for character-driven stories should definitely check this one out!

Rating 8: Exploring themes of ambition and its impact on relationships, this book is as heart-wrenching as it is beautiful!

Link will go live on Dec. 14 on The Library Ladies

5 stars 🌟

Thank you to Orbit Books and Redhook for the arc through netgalley as well as a physical arc in exchange for an honest review

Wordless, is honestly how I feel after reading this book. I haven't had a book knock me off my toes in this way in a bit, it's a really unique feeling that I feel can only come from a story like this. This book is the perfect example of the fact that some stories don't need to be series, some stories can be self-contained in one book and hit you like a bag of bricks still.

This book is written for a very specific reader, as it's meant to be savored and absorbed with patience and the willingness to let it open up to you slowly. This is a story for people who enjoy Babel by RF Kuang for it's critiques of academics and especially those who are in power in academics, that influence what education means for people. It's for people who enjoy the comradery of young people, who feel like they are at the height of their power, only to realize the world waits for them and it may not be kind, but they can still influence it, and especially for people who think they are too old to make any change. This is for people who like faeries, and the world that they inhabit and seeing these creatures be terrifying, but so incredibly human still. It's especially for the people who know sometimes you have to burn it all before something better can start again.

Through discussions of power, class, and gender as well as the importance of family, and those who you choose this book provides a story that is meant to be clearly dissected to truly be able to absorb the themes. This isn't a book I would encourage you to read in one sitting, it's one that should be drunk in like the last bit of hot chocolate on a rainy day. The writing style is absolutely impeccable and it wraps you in a blanket, it's easy to fall into this world and feel like you are truly on the page with all the characters.

The characters were one of my favorite parts, Clover, Eddie, Hero and Alden come into focus in such stark contrast to one another, but it's also beautiful how they blend to meet one another and form a friendship. Even if that friendship is shattered at the height of what should be the best time of their lives. Clover and Eddie were my favorite friendship in the quartet, as it's so obvious the love for one another runs so deep, but I'm glad the author realized that it doesn't mean they have to be romantically in love. Seeing this in media is rare, I feel these days, and knowing that they held such platonic love for one another was honestly really important to the story.

Finally, that ending, ruined me. Twice. In the final chapter and in the epilogue. If you've read the book you know what I'm talking about, if you haven't, know that sometimes the best stories show that there is a better future to be had, even at the cost of something dear. Sometimes the best stories don't redeem their characters in every way, because they are human, we are all complicated and that's what makes us human.

[TW: death of a family member, blood, slight gore, war themes, mention of murder, dead bodies]

The Scholar and the Last Faerie Door ended up being better than I first expected it to be. I really thought about DNFing this around 20% of the way in, but ultimately I'm glad that I didn't. I'm not going to lie to you, though, this book is a bit boring at first. I was having a hard time <i>wanting</i> to pick this one up to read it, but I forced myself and soon found that I really, really wanted to know what was going to happen.

The Scholar and the Last Faerie Door is a bit dark academia, a bit fantasy, and a tiny bit found family. There are fae, but they're the mean, tricky kind. We also don't see very many fae at all, but they're the cause of most of the plot. I wish there had been a little bit more world building, a little bit more showing and not telling.

The characters are (mostly) rich, egotistical, self-important magical kids. You kinda hate them at first, but then you get to know them a bit better and like them. Except for one character you always kinda hate. Just me? Whoops.

BUT DESPITE THAT, I really enjoyed how this one wrapped up. I didn't see where the resolution was going, which was really fun. If you like books set around academia, if you like magic schools, I bet you'll like this one. Four stars.

First off, this was fabulous!! It has everything I love in a fantasy novel- Dark academia, wicked fae, found family, and high stakes! The writing was amazing, and the author does such a good job of pulling you into the story and not letting go until the last page. I just loved everything about this!

The Scholar and the Last Faerie Door follows the FMC's journey into the world of magic after her brother returns from WWI with a faerie curse. She learns magic has been kept under wraps and greatly enjoyed by families of the upper classes. FMC works hard to learn magic to help break her brother's curse. Along the way, she befriends a group of classmates, and which one has their own interests in faeries.

Overall, I enjoyed reading The Scholar and the Last Faerie Door. Neatly summed up, it's dark academia meets faeries, with a sprinkling of Babel. There were classic tones of social differences and the attached privileges, and the typical MC arc of feeling guilty of being able to escape a world of poverty and hard work and not wanting to return to that former life. One part that I did enjoy was the integration of the magic into the battles of WWI. I definitely enjoy those types of scenes and the "historical fiction" type of retellings. Sort of reminded me of Warm Hand of Ghosts in a way...

My biggest irk about this book was the length of the all the back story. Parts one and two were about two thirds of the book, and it was slow and dry at times. Not going to lie, there were times I needed to put the book down and walk away for a bit, and other times to just simply DNF it. There are some plot holes too. One that bothers me is this jump in the timeline from part 2 to part 3. Frustrating to say the least. I wished that this had another round of editing and/or revisions to make the pacing more even throughout.

I would recommend this to those who enjoy faerie magic and dark academia.

Thank you Netgalley, Redhook Books | Redhook, and the author for the opportunity in exchange for an honest review.

This was a beautifully written and atmospheric book that was a bit slow to start but the ending felt like a gut punch that will sit with me for a long time. It was especially impactful as I read it during the week of the US election, so the themes of othering, classism, oppression, and colonialism at the heart of the magical and academic world portrayed really hit hard. The characters were unique and engaging, and their dynamics were fascinating to read about. No spoilers but I loved that when giving us hints about someone's true character, the author wasn't afraid to really follow through with those. There were parts that dragged some for me, and a couple of plot points that I wasn't 100% sold on, but overall this was an incredible book that I'd especially recommend to anyone who loved Babel, and I can see myself rereading it in the future. Thanks to Orbit for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

This book is exactly what I’ve needed after a string of unsuccessful ARCs and highly anticipated releases towards the end of this year! This book did exactly what I wanted, great for fall vibes and though I thought it read just a little bit young from time to time I will absolutely be recommending this

The Scholar and the Last Faerie Door is a surprise favorite of 2024. Yes, the premise sounded exactly like something I would enjoy, but I didn't expect to be swept away by the setting and the camaraderie between the main character and her group of Camford friends. If you're looking for a fantastic magical school story, blended with a historical setting, and marvelous characters I would highly recommend you pick this up.

This follows Clover Hill,  a young girl who grew up on a farm in a country village. Her oldest brother joins the service during WWI and while she is filling in as eldest sibling, he is fighting in the front lines. When her family receives news that he was injured by a faerie curse during a summoning gone wrong, Clover is introduced to a world she could have never imagined. Being the intelligent and highly determined young woman she is, Clover begins studying magic in hopes that she will have enough skill to earn A scholarship to Camford so she might find a way to cure her brother. During her tenure, she becomes friends with a group of wealthy students who are also interested in researching faerie circles for reasons of their own, despite the strict ban on such studies.

I dearly hoped going into this that Clover wouldn't be tragically bullied for being both a woman and at Camford on Scholarship. Fortunately for me, she is quickly taken in by Alden, Hero, and Eddie, a trio of students from magical families who've been friends since childhood though that’s not to say that others don’t look down on her for her gender and circumstances. The trio are a delight and I truly loved the pages spent detailing their friendship and how Clover seemed to fit in so well, making them a quartet. Alden clearly has some sort of goal behind his research, though it doesn’t become clear what that goal is until much later in the book. Hero wants to do well so she can continue her education and not be married off to another son from a magical family. Eddie is mostly happy to go along with his friends and learn something interesting, especially if it might further his research on magical plant properties.

This book actually covers a fairly large timespan, from the years Clover is home waiting to hear from her brother, to the years of schooling, and then eight years later when the four friends have gone their separate ways but have to face the consequences of what their research did. I liked Clover’s character growth and I like that this has what feels like a proper, post-university epilogue thanks to the time skip. There’s never enough detail on what the characters get into after school and this gives it to the reader in heaps, though not all of it is good. 

Overall, I had a fantastic time reading The Scholar and the Last Faerie Door and it’s my favorite book by H.G. Parry yet!

DNF at 30% - the beginning was very intriguing but the story was very slow and not much was happening. The FMC just wasn’t interesting enough to keep my attention

What a brilliant book. A unique blend of dark academia, fantasy, and historical fiction. Top notch writing, beautiful world, gripping and twisty plot, flawed and dynamic characters.

In awe! The story follows Clover Hill, who finds herself thrust into a world of magic in a desperate attempt to save her brother from a faerie curse he's been struck by.

In a world where magic is only known and accessible to the elite few "Families" - Clover is really out of her element when she arrives at Camford (yes, a magical mishmash of Cambridge and Oxford). After a lonely start to the semester, being ignored by those who see her as an unworthy of being there because she is not "Family", she catches the eye of Alden, golden boy, and is immediately recruited into his circle of friends (Hero, a gorgeous, witty girl who seems to have it all figured out and Eddie, a nerdy and awkward guy who loves plants lol).

Clover always had aspirations beyond her life on her family's farm, but she never expected to slowly but surely be accepted by this group of elites in their wondrous world of academia. She doesn't want to lose focus of her main goal, finding a cure for her brother's faerie curse, but as time goes on, and she starts to develop closer friendships with Alden, Hero, and Eddie, and Camford starts to feel more and more like home, she questions her ambitions, what she really wants from life and how selfless her intentions really are. She and her friends also start unraveling secrets about the faerie world, faerie doors, and it turns out, there's more to the "official" story about what's going on with the fae and their curses.

So much I loved about this, I highly recommend going in without reading the synopsis if possible because I was so shocked at how the stakes kept increasing when I thought we maxed out lol. I love how it started as a seemingly nice dark academia story with Clover trying to find her way at this elite, secretive university. Then as she got to know her friends better, learning more about the world and magic system, even more plot threads got introduced and I couldn't put it down! I loooved the complex and layered friendships. Alden especially was such an interesting character and his arc had me so conflicted on how to feel! Hero and Eddie also had so many different facets to them and seeing all their individual dynamics with Clover was amazing. Clover herself was also a really interesting character, I felt so bad for her but proud of everything she accomplished. Even when she made mistakes or was not the best version of herself, I couldn't help but empathize!

The fae in this story were also so refreshing! No "magical hot humans" lol, the fae were mysterious tricksters. The "villain" in the story was also so complex and I could talk about that aspect forever but in an attempt to keep this spoiler free I shall not elaborate here for now.

This book thoughtfully delves into social commentary on class structures, critiques academia, features betrayal, friendship, family and so much more. The writing was so polished, the world was incredibly magical, and the way second person POV was utilized was beautiful. Thoroughly enjoyed this!!

Thank you Redhook Books and Netgalley for the ARC!

If you love Dark Academia, Historical Fantasy, and Fairies, this is a must add to your TBR.

We enter the fantastical and secret world of Camford University, where our main character, Clover, fights to get a scholarship to study along the Families, become a scholar and save her brother from a Fairy curse. This is a great story about found family, magic and multiple twist and turns that are going to keep you glued to your book. Clover and her new friends try to discover what went wrong the last time a fairie door was opened, and the reason why they are now banned. Things don't go as expected and years later they are dealing with the repercusions and trying to make things right.

I loved and adored this book. Thank you so much NetGalley and Redhook books for an ARC of this wonderful book. Thank you H.G. Parry for writing this amazing story. I really hope one day in the future we get the opportunity to get back to this wonderful world. Maybe relive going through a magical school along with Rose, discover what happens with this new tree and visit the fairie city, which sounds amazing and magical.

I didn’t know what to expect when I picked up this book. The plot sounded amazing but I was not at all prepared for how deeply I’d fall in love with this story.
This is dark fantasy academia at its best.
The Scholar and the Last Faerie Door is told in the first person POV of our FMC, Clover, as told through a book she has written chronicling the events in her life.

The first 60% of the book is set in 1920-1921 as Clover, a teenager born from a non magical family, goes to learn magic at a secret academy.
Outcasted due to her upbringing, Clover was friendless and alone until the golden boy of the school takes an interest in her.
Soon she’s swept up into the lore of faerie doors with a tight knit group of friends who by summer’s end will have opened the door to unimaginable danger.
The last 40% of the book things start to pick up pace. This is set i 1929 where Clover is forced to face the consequences of that summer and reunite with her old friends to end what they started eight years earlier.

This was such an incredible book.
It’s filled with betrayal and greed amidst the sprawling mysterious Camden school of magic where four friends learn who amongst themselves they can really trust when ambition turns to obsession and obsession turns deadly.

The writing was so immersive that even though the pacing was slow in the beginning it was no less enjoyable.
The start of this book reminds me a lot of The Raven Boys, it’s filled with found family and a quest for knowledge.
We watch as Clover’s ambition to save her brother is fed by Alden’s likeminded quest.
They’re like oil and water and fuel each other to dangerous heights.
The second half of this book is reminiscent of The Secret History by Donna Tartt, If We Were Villains by ML Rio and Vicious by VE Schwab.

I loved that we got a different type of fae book than what’s been popular lately. It was a refreshing change and I loved the gothic vibes throughout the story.

I liked the way that the story was written as if our FMC was writing a book but that left out the ability to have multiple POV’s and I think it would’ve added so much to the story if we were able to get the other characters POV as well. I feel like they were all such interesting characters and I would’ve loved to get more into their minds.

I can see that there’s still so many left to be explored in this (these) worlds. This was a standalone but it leaves certain things open for more exploration if the author decides to write more.
I really hope we get a Faerie Country book! I would love to read another story in this world!

I highly recommend to any dark academia lovers!

Thank you NetGalley for this eARC in exchange for an honest review

I loved this book! It's perfect for dark Academia lovers. While the characters could be frustrating at times, they all were fully realized and their decisions made sense. Their priorities and what they were willing to ignore or accept in order to achieve what they wanted all felt in character. I also loved the world. While we don't really go that in-depth into the magic system, the world that Parry created felt so real. I read Parry's previous work "The Magician's Daughter" and finished it feeling like magic could actually be real and I feel the same way after finishing this book. I also liked the way that the messaging was tackled in this book. It went into detail how easy it is for people to ignore systemic issues, especially when they benefit from said oppression. Even though I felt like the messaging was clear, it never felt like I was getting talked down to or "spoon fed" the information. I thought this book was great and I will definitely be checking out Parry's next book!

Clover Hill is an ordinary girl studying to be a teacher when the Great War breaks out. Her brother leaves to enlist and four years later comes back inflicted with a faerie curse. This opens Clover to a hidden world of magic as she starts studying at a magic academy to find a cure. But faerie magic has been outlawed and all the faerie doors have been sealed shut. When she catches the eye of Alden Lennex-Fontaine and his 2 friends, she is pulled into the world of England's magic aristocrats. A magical summer turns into tragedy as magical experiments go awry and secrets are unearthed. The four of them are never the same. Years later someone has cracked the faerie door seals and Clover knows it is her and her friends' fault. And now they have to come back together to save the world.

Now while I did enjoy this book I found the first half a bit of a slog to get through. Honestly I didn't find the story to pick up until the time jump, but once it did I really loved the last bit. Although I can appreciate how well written the relationships between the four main characters was. The depths and complexities between the four very different characters made the first half easier for me. I was drawn to Clover and honestly, was a bit shocked with Alden’s actions. And yes, despite him telling us who he was from the start. The twist with the dryad was nice, but the location of the school was pretty predictable. I liked this book, but I had such higher hopes for it.

Rating 3.5 stars
*I received a review copy from NetGalley for my voluntary and honest review

Wow this book really swept me away! After Clover's older brother returns from the Great War cursed, and she is let into the tightly-held secrets of mage-weilders and their fae foes, Clover is determined to become a magical scholar and learn enough to undo her brother's curse. That leads her to a magical school, where she falls in with several wealthy students who also are pursuing how to open faerie doors--for their own secret ends. I found it compelling and gripping. Removed a star because towards the end Clover refers to these school friends as "family" and "knew them as well as her siblings" when they had really only known each other a year, so it felt a little flat for me. Also it seemed surprising that some of their scholarly revelations were not common knowledge already. But it's a minor gripe. I really recommend this one.