I really enjoyed that this magical school was from a teacher's perspective, instead of a student. I liked the way it made the themes and language feel more adult, too. The characters were all unique and well-written, and the writing was wonderful---those two things combined made for a really compelling plot. I am absolutely looking forward to more from this author as this was a stunning book. I am excited to get our physical copies in at my branch so I can push them into the hands of every patron.

If you look behind all of the aesthetics and moodiness of any dark academia novel the heart of the matter is this: a contract has been broken between the educational system and one or more character in the book. There is a crack in the foundation, the world has become unbalanced, and that’s where you’ll find the book’s central conflict.

The Incandescent isn’t the first novel to take a different approach to dark academia than the usual student protagonist: Lee Madelo’s Summer Sons has a student’s brother as the protagonist, and Lauren Nossett’s The Resemblance has a police officer/alumni as the protagonist (including The Resemblance as DA is something I do because I believe it meets all of the markers save the aesthetics and supernatural element). It’s not the first to have a teacher as the protagonist either (The Swallows by Lisa Lutz has a teacher protag). It is the first dark academia novel I can think of to have an elder millennial, pseudo-head of house/part-time teacher as the protagonist. It’s also the first dark academia novel I can think of where the contract that was broken was between academia as an institution and the administration/staff of the school, which led to the central conflict of this book: How do you protect a school full of bright, promising, young students from demons when no one seems to want to foot the bill?

One of the best things about this book is that Tesh (being a Millenial herself, I think) knows that not everything about this book has to be taken so seriously. Doctor Saffy Walden, our protagonist, does her marking in her ratty pajamas, works 14 hours a day, is awkward talking about anything that’s not work, doesn’t date, knows her students are completely unserious about nearly everything, and deeply loathes smart phones (demons just love technology). Saffy knows she’s deeply uncool and she’s okay with that. Saffy is okay with almost anything so long as the 600 students of Chetwood are as safe from a demon incursion as possible.

This book was very engaging and interesting, with an awkward wit to it and an unexpectedly sweet and caring side to it that comes from the teacher-student dynamic between Saffy and her four Upper 6th Invocation students. There’s a romantic and wistful dynamic between Saffy and a kind-of government-mandated demon hunter/security guard. There are a good deal of dramatic and creative magical scenes that are extremely well-written that fully capture your attention that I wish I could see fully rendered in film.

The Incandescent will remind you that your teachers and administrators were once students too, often making the same mistakes and now living with the various outcomes, both positive and negative, of those mistakes. Everyone was young and dumb once. Only time will tell how much you learn. 5⭐️



I was provided a copy of this title by the author and publisher via Netgalley. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.

File Under: 5 Star Review/Adult Fantasy/Dark Academia/LGBTQ Fantasy/Sapphic Romance/Supernatural Fantasy

Walden is one of the most powerful magicians in England, able to summon a demon higher than the 12th level — which one should never do. She loves Chetwood, the school she went to as a child, the school where she studied magic and learned to summon demons. Upon graduating school, after a brief stint in America where Walden decided she very much did not want to work with the Pentagon, she returned to Chetwood to teach. However, as the most powerful magician there, Walden has more duties than teaching. She also must test and repair the wards, especially the thaumatic engine; give assembly; corral, listen to, and help teachers; listen to parents … in short, to do all the necessary work that no one else either can or wants to do. Walden is always calm, always prepared, and always follows the rules, because that’s how things work. There is tradition, centuries of it. A tradition Walden loves, is proud of, and is proud to be a part of. It’s that very tradition that forms her armor, it’s the trellis that has supported her all her life. But … Walden is nearing 40, and the nights, well, they can be long and lonely.

In the past, Walden’s lovers have always been magicians of some power. Much as some people might like a nice ass, lovely breasts, or a pretty face, Walden’s first attraction to someone is through their magic, through that part of themselves that will never be artificial. No makeup, clothing, or illusion will hide the shape and vibrancy of someone’s magic. Their skill, their competency, their cleverness and quickness, how skillfully they use it and what they use it for. These are the things that draw her.

Laura Kenning, a Marshal — or demon hunter — working at the school is both an irritant (Walden does not like the idea of having a police officer in her school) and a necessity, as demons do enter the world unsummoned, and, when they do, there isn’t always someone strong enough to banish them. That’s where Marshals come in. But Laura isn’t a thug with a sword. She’s thoughtful, funny, honestly devoted to her cause, and a fearsomely skilled magician. Where Walden relies on complicated arrays, Laura uses her weapons, and when the two of them have to come together to fight a demon, it’s an effortless melding of their skills.

Mark Daubery is a bluff and manipulative man who is equal parts charming and untrustworthy, but he’s also a damned good magician. His ideas are good ones, and because — unlike Laura — he and Walden both went to Chetwood for school, they have a shared background, and a shared understanding and use of magic. They can talk in a way Laura and Walden simply can’t. And it’s nice to be flirted with by a handsome man who, like Walden, wants nothing more than a friendly physical relationship. They’re both using each other equally.

Then, there is the third love in Walden’s life … Chetwood. More than a collection of buildings from various ages, more than acres of ancient trees and a church whose roof needs repair, it’s the hundreds of students and the dozens of staff, all of whom are known to Walden, all of whom are and have been and will always be part of her life. It’s palpable in her thoughts, in her conversations, and in the demon Walden has bonded to, how important the school is to her, but she’s not blind to what the school is to other people. Magic is the least of what you gain at Chetwood. What matters is the power to walk the walk and talk the talk, to have your résumé picked out of the pile and the interviewer already speaking your language. It is the power to know the people you ought to know, to befriend them easily over a commong bond, or to laugh together about how ridiculous the whole theme park experience of childhood had been. A few can afford that power. Most can not. Plenty of parents who love their children work appalling hours and then remortgage their homes to pay for it. They do it for love, and for terror. You can never completely future-proof your children, but power will keep them safe from the bitter grind of survival in a way that nothing else can.

I’m going to be honest, this book isn’t going to be for everyone. In essence, it is a long and languid character study — at 432 pages — of a middle-aged professor of an English boarding school for rich, entitled children (and some scholarship students) that teaches magic and demon summoning. It’s almost a love letter to teaching, with Walden going through her day, organizing her schedule, dealing with emails, grading, attending assemblies, more scheduling, so on and so forth. She works 16-hour days, seven days a week, and you’ll feel every one of them. And I love it. So, let me sell you on this book!

There are a lot of thoughts in this book, conversations with students and other teachers about the ethics of personhood, and what it is (can a plant or animal be considered a person? What about a demon?); the ethics of consent (can a demon consent to be summoned?); about classism and entitlement, about grief and loss, about the difference between being a good teacher and being seen to be a good teacher. Walden is flawed, heavily so. She is emotionally stunted, manipulative, complaint, and vain. She thinks she knows more than she does, she thinks she knows better than everyone, and she’s a bit of an ass. And I love her.

The world of this book is shown through Walden’s eyes, but it’s not just her words, it’s the things she sees but doesn’t understand, the things she sees and does. It’s the shadows behind the exposition and the knowledge that Walden is — sometimes more than others — an unreliable narrator. I had fun trying to find the moments where she slipped, where her blind confidence led to the small openings in her defenses, and just reading her story.

The plot is straightforward and the twist is expected. It’s very well done, though. The writing is clean and crisp, and all of the side characters — seen through Walden’s eyes — are always innocent of malice. She sees them as flawed and foolish, but always forgivable, her people to protect and shelter, and it’s that fondness, that love that ends up saving everyone. I loved the world building, I loved the demons, I loved the end …

Again, not everyone is going to like this book (and I forgive them for it). It’s long, it’s slow, and it’s almost entirely in Walden’s head, as she ponders aging, loneliness, and her school. The world building is subtle and doesn’t hold your hand; there’s no lengthy explanation of the magic, because that’s not the point of the book. So if you’re looking for a hard magic system and epic levels of world building, you’re going to be disappointed in this book. This is a slice of life through the eyes of a teacher at a magical school where students are taught to summon demons. And I love it. Expect to see it in my yearly Annual Favorites.

I love retelling of a magic school from a teachers perspective. As a teacher myself I get the frustration and bureaucracy that goes into managing students. I would recommend this to anyone.

I really enjoyed this. It was a fun fresh take on dark academia. The characters were unique and I thought the prose was beautiful written.

The Incandescent is one of those books that really just clicked for me and I was hooked from the first page. I really appreciated fine and intricate detail in stories, which is exactly what we get from page one via our protagonist's role as Director of Magic at Chetwood School. This world is fascinating and I loved the school setting from Doctor Walden's perspective rather than the students. I loved learning about her role in keeping the school safe from demons (yes, you read the correctly--demons; it is a magical school, after all), and I was fascinated to see what directions this story would take. The writing was wonderful, which is no surprise coming from Emily Tesh, and I was so enamored with the academia setting, as it is one I'm both familiar with and love exploring. Really loved this one and would absolutely recommend it!

This was quite possibly the best book I've read so far in 2025. The writing was so evocative, the story so engrossing! I was RAPT from page one. As a survivor of higher academia, I laughed out loud a hundred times throughout the book. If this was a series, I would read nine parts. Let! Them! Kiss! More! God, I loved this book.

This book was genius from start to finish!!! I love Emily Tesh’s brain and I want to stay inside the worlds they create long after the last page.

Emily Tesh's new book provides readers with a new twist on academia-related fantasy, the teacher's perspective. Dr. Walden is an administrator/teacher at Chetwood School of Magic, and her magic is powerful. She keeps the school running while dealing demon incursions, large and small, and teaching magical teens (and drama ensues). This change of pace is engaging, and at times, delightful. Demons demanding "blood" and then "paper" to clear up a paper jam strangely makes sense. This book will appeal to readers who appreciate a slower-paced narrative, strong characterization, and a unique setting.

Thanks to NetGalley and Tor Publishing for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I read this author's previous book and really enjoyed it, so I was pleased that I also enjoyed this one! I am a little cautious about dark academia, but I loved how Walden was a teacher and not a student. I thought that was a very clever way to add a twist to the genre! This was very cleverly written.

I loved this book. A dark academia book from the perspective of an elder millennial teacher/administrator trying to protect her students from demons and ghosts. I thought that this was witty and well written. I love the concept of telling this story about a magical school in the current age where demons are attracted to technology; mainly cell phones. I'm not sure that I enjoyed how the romance was tackeled, but all in all, a great read that I will be recommending.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Books for the advance readers copy in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts are my own.

Thank you the NetGalley and the publisher for an early copy in exchange for an honest review.

Review: I have sat on this for a moment. I tried to read this book several times and I enjoyed the start of it. However, it quickly fell off and I just wasn't enjoying the story. That's not to say that had I been in a different mood, or at a different time may have enjoyed it. Though I did try to wait it out and see. I think the main problem I had was that I was just bored. If you are more of a cozy fantasy reader then you will love this. Cozy fantasy just isn't usually my jam I've learned. So I'm writing this review now, so that the cozy fantasy readers will see it and pick it up!

When I saw that Emily Tesh's followup to Some Desperate Glory was a fantasy centering on a school for magic in Britain, I wondered if she could do the same turn-it-on-its-head work for magical schools that she accomplished for military science fiction in Some Desperate Glory. I must admit I was a little skeptical. And for the first chapters of the book, The Incandescence was merely a compelling fantasy centering on the work of Dr. Walden, Director of Magic. The detail of a school administrator in a school for magic is quite realistically drawn, down to the relief that Walden feels when she gets to teach her one class (of older, more advanced, students).
The systems of magic that Tesh constructs are the most vividly drawn since the fantasy classic Master of the Five Magics by Lyndon Hardy (1980), though here with a stronger plot and deeper characterizations.

And then something happens that turns the narrative on its head. The last third is harrowing. Walden's sacrifice is so courageous it brought tears to my eyes.

Oh yeah, and there's a bit of a sapphic romance, too.

I really loved this book!! As an educator it was really fun to read a dark academia type title from the perspective of a teacher instead of a group of like, chosen one teens. I'd be surprised if Tesh has never been a teacher because it felt very authentic. The characters in this book were all fleshed out and dynamic, and the plot was a bit predictable in a couple places but I didn't mind because it was still so enjoyable. Loved the sapphic romantic subplot as well. Thank you so much to NetGalley for the ARC!

I've never read anything by Emily Tesh, but the synopsis caught my eye and I'm so glad! I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Dr. Walden was an interesting character and I loved the world building. I'm new to the dark academia genre, but now I definitely want to read more.

I’ve picked up Emily Tesh twice before in my attempts to cover as much Hugo-nominated fiction as possible since becoming a voter in 2021. In both cases, I had some fairly substantial critiques, but I enjoyed the prose and characterization enough to come away with overall positive impressions. And so I jumped at the chance to pick up an advance copy of her newest magical school novel, The Incandescent. 
The Incandescent takes place at an elite English boarding school and is written from the perspective of a powerful demon summoner who has returned to her old school to serve as Director of Magic. But with teenage students with the power to summon demons, enough ambient magical energy to attract some of the most powerful, and a combination of age and budgetary restrictions making for particularly kludgy defenses, there’s bound to be a whole lot of danger accompanying the inevitable drudgery of paperwork. 

Readers of the same age as the protagonist have grown up on magical boarding school novels, and while The Incandescent shifts the perspective to the teacher’s side, it’s not hard to see the famous influences. The best summoner in the school is an orphan whose family had died at the hands of a powerful demon, for starters. And the attraction of powerful demons to vulnerable teen magicians clearly hearkens to Naomi Novik’s hit Scholomance series. It’s a book that seems thoroughly targeted at bookish millennials who grew up on magic schools and now find themselves decades out of school working jobs with quite a bit more drudgery than they might have expected as high-achieving teenagers. And, well, that’s a pretty big niche, and it’s no surprise to see so many early reviews from readers—especially English readers—who feel The Incandescent is speaking personally to them. 

And because Emily Tesh is a good writer, The Incandescent is a good read, whether or not you’re part of the target audience. I’m not sure the lead character is quite as interesting as the cult-raised heroine of Some Desperate Glory, but she’s absolutely well-drawn, and the school’s dangers make for some heart-pounding scenes. I could easily see this becoming a comfort read for plenty of fantasy fans, with its familiar setting, easy readability, and enough tension to squeeze out real-life distractions. For readers looking for something familiar and well-constructed, there’s not a lot to complain about. 

But the other side of the comfort read coin is that there’s also not enough to truly catch the reader off guard. The rivals-to-lovers romantic subplot is clear from the second chapter. The demon that’s overdue for an attack on the school will indeed attack. The characters that the reader is told to trust will be trustworthy, and those the reader is told to mistrust will not. I appreciate foreshadowing as much as the next fantasy fan, but everything here is so thoroughly foreshadowed that there’s little room left to be stunned by a clever twist or a particularly eye-catching scene. So for me, it’s a good read that lacks that oomph to ascend to greatness. 

I’ve seen many reviewers talk about the discussion of class in The Incandescent, and that’s absolutely a theme worth mentioning here. The lead has her eyes wide open about the elitism and inaccessibility of her school, even in the midst of her pride at their mission to teach orphaned sorcerers. And the varied backgrounds of the students and teachers cuts across lines of ability and sets their paths far more surely than their talent. But while this theme is handled much more overtly and honestly than in other novels with similar settings, it always feels like something lurking in the background of a fun magic school novel instead of like a selling point in and of itself. By pure happenstance, I read The Incandescent the same week that I read The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain, and former’s exploration of class divides in academia pales in comparison to the latter’s truly devastating development of the theme. Not hitting the level of Samatar isn’t exactly a criticism, but at the same time, this element of The Incandescent doesn’t hit wow levels. 

Overall, The Incandescent is a well-written and engaging magic school novel from the perspective of a teacher. It doesn’t gloss over some of the issues with previous uses of similar settings, and it’s a good read from start to finish that is almost guaranteed to hit the right notes for a wide swathe of genre readership. It may not be a stunner that’s going to stick in my head all year, but I have no doubt that such a well-executed spin on popular genre tropes will be a beloved favorite for a whole lot of readers. 

Recommended if you like: magic school novels.

Overall rating: 16 of Tar Vol's 20. Four stars on Goodreads.

I mean, you had me at Emily Tesh does dark academia. That's really all I needed to know. The comparisons to Naomi Novik's Scholamance series are completely fair, and I loved that this is magical boarding school from a teacher's perspective. Really great!

This book is not like Harry Potter. At all. But: What if you take a Deputy Head of an English boarding school for magically capable children, in the era of internet and smartphones, and tell a story from their point of view? You end up with something vaguely reminiscent of what Professor McGonagall probably was thinking about the activities of the Hogwarts kids, except there are demons, and she's bisexual. It's awesome.



So. The Incandescent follows Dr. Saphire Walden, a PhD in (demon) invocation and a teacher at an elite school with a strong magic curriculum in addition to the more mundane chemistry, rowing and rugby. Dr. Walden (who goes by "Saffy") is teaching a group of 17-18 year-olds in an advanced magic seminar. The story is both about Saffy and the four students whom she teaches, the magical messes the students create that Saffy needs to help manage, and the personal growth of Saffy herself.



I was instantly captured by the writing and premise of this book. The idea that demons can inhabit any object (or person) with "self-ness" was amusing and frightening at the same time. (You will never call your cell phone by a pronoun ever again). I loved the acerbic observations about academia, government functioning and the education system. The magic system was well-integrated with modern living in the way that makes my urban-fantasy-loving soul happy. As a primer to the book magic system: Invocation is calling forth demons using very precise forms, evocation is more like physical spell casting, instantiation is basically alchemy and divination was debunked years ago.



The tone had the same delightful wit as the Scholomance series, interspersed with funny anecdotes about teaching. I am not going to say much more because I don't want to spoil anything, but the conversations with a certain being I thought were great. I cringed hard at all of the awkward moments we see in Saffy's personal life and cheered just as hard when something went right. My only wish is that the ending expanded a little bit more on later book events, but overall it is a wonderful standalone and a great addition to the dark academia genre. 4.5 stars, and I would recommend it for fans of the Scholomance Series by Naomi Novik, the Last Hour Between Worlds by Melissa Caruso and Phoenix Keeper by S. A. MacLean.

I love getting fantasy dark academia from the viewpoint of a teacher closer to my age than to our typical 20-something-year-old “hero.” I was immersed into this world that feels as if the present day had magic and our usual universities taught it. I resonated so much with Dr. Walden and the struggles of balancing teaching and real-life.

At the same time, the magic and fighting back demonic incursions from demons that are attracted to technology was such a fun plotline. I would love to see more from this world, but alas this was a standalone.

I had a blast reading and listening to this. The narration was perfect to get truly immersed into the storytelling and fall in love with the characters, the love story and Dr. Walden’s fight to keep the students from accidentally killing themselves and those around them.

4.5 stars

Thank you to @torbooks for the eARC and @macmillan.audio for the ALC. All thoughts are my own.

I've read pretty much every fantasy dark academia or academia adjacent fantasy book I can get my hands on, and I'm a huge Emily Tesh fan. Needless to say, this book was one of my most anticipated releases of 2025. I loved experiencing the magical school from the adult/professor perspective!

The Incandescent is a very layered book, and I think everything that happened was very intentional. I've had to sit with it and process my thoughts for a bit. There is a mixture of slice-of-life as a teacher, personal drama, and some potentially deadly situations. This style worked for me, but I can see how it wouldn't work for everyone. Emily Tesh is so good at writing flawed characters, and while you won't always agree with them, they will stay on brand and their actions always make sense.

The relationships felt very real and genuine, and even though I wanted to yell at Saffy sometimes, I completely understand why she made the choices that she did. I also liked how issues within the education system were called out.

This book is definitely like The Scholomance for adults (if it had teachers and anyone cared whether the students lived or not), I haven't read the other comp, Plain Bad Heroines, but it's now on my TBR. I recently read and loved The Raven Scholar, and I think there were some similarities there too.

I'm somewhere between 4-4.5 on the star rating.