This was a fascinating book — I picked it up because I loved the author’s last one, and I was interested in how the switch from sci fi to fantasy would go. It is dark academia, which isn’t really my thing, but I did really appreciate the viewpoint of a badass female teacher my age rather than a student. Does that mean less drama? No, but for me, it was more compelling drama because the consequences are more serious. The pacing felt a little bit off — there is a sequence early on that had me flipping through pages far past my bedtime, but things felt much slower after that, till the final battle. Not quite as compelling Some Desperate Glory, but fans of the genre will love it.

Highlights
~the BEST reason for no-phones-in-class
~a possessed photocopier
~swords > guns
~teachers as paladins
~never trust a dude who’s not peer-reviewed!

INSTANT new fave, EASILY a best-of-the-year, and I am officially declaring Incandescent the definitory example of the magic school trope!

Incandescent is very obviously in conversation with other big-name magic school books, and with the readers who fell in love with the trope (sub-genre?) as children. But those readers have since grown up, and so this is a book for adults; written with, not just an adult’s perspective on the school and students of this particular story, but with an adult’s perspective on the concept of magic school. And by choosing to set the book in England, firmly within the institution that is British Private Education, Incandescent stands as a very self-aware foil to the-series-that-must-not-be-named, specifically.

Plus, the use of magic as a not-too-subtle metaphor for wealth and or privilege??? With natural sorcerers as stand-ins for those one-in-a-gazillion ‘normal’ people who make it by ‘pulling themselves up by the bootstraps’ (aka freak luck)??? My gods, I can’t believe how simply, elegantly, and perfectly well-done that was! *chef’s kiss* Tesh is a GENIUS.

And that would be enough to make it a really excellent book, but there’s a whole ‘nother level of excellence to the fact that Tesh manages to rip apart this fantasy without ripping apart those who love it. Is the whole concept of British boarding schools deeply problematic? Yep! In a whole lot of ways! Are there very dodgy elements and connotations to most aspects of the magic school trope? Ohhh yes. But Tesh leaves room to acknowledge that these facts do not negate what people love about these schools, British or magical (or both); to explore how people can love them, how these things can be deeply meaningful to individuals, flaws and all. This is not a book that browbeats you for enjoying something problematic; it is, instead, a book that asks you to look at the thing you love straight-on, to see it wholly and unbiasedly, to know what it is you love.

If you still love it after that? That’s your business. Incandescent did not seem, to me, to be pushing an agenda, to be guiding readers to a specific conclusion. It just wants you to see, and to be honest about what you see. Don’t love blindly. That’s all.

Which is all very High Brow and philosophical, but Incandescent isn’t just a deeply clever, incisive book: it’s also a genuinely entertaining novel, a freaking BLAST of a read that I could not put down and did not want to! So much of it made me laugh; more than one moment had me kicking my feet; there were a lot of happy-rambles to the hubby about the cleverness of the writing and the very neat worldbuilding; and there was a great deal of flailing, both the delighted kind and the very anxious kind!

>“Oh shit,” said Nikki, staring at the streaks of black and yellow paint.

Will paused.

“Language,” said Aneeta, with a glance in Walden’s direction.

“Actually,” Walden said serenely, “‘Oh shit’ is the correct reaction to finding an error in an incursion ward.”<

Walden is the deputy headmistress and Director of Magic at Chetwood Academy, responsible not just for teaching high-level magic, but for the magical protections of the school. And – this is really important – she loves her job. She loves magic, and she loves teaching, and she loves Chetwood, and all that love just emanates from the pages. Incandescent reads very much like a love letter to teaching and teachers; it gives the book an occasionally bizarrely wholesome feel, almost cosy at times. All of the staff at Chetwood seem to love what they do – even when things are hard, when students are badly misbehaving or suffering or having to fight off being eaten by their phones, there’s a joy and satisfaction to all of it. It’s almost enough to tempt me to go into teaching!

>Teaching wasn’t about being right, or being clever, or being in charge. It was about making them believe.

You manipulate his perceptions, the [spoiler!] said, to make him stronger.<

And again – in the same way that Incandescent is a conversation with all of us as adults who were kids reading the-series-that-must-not-be-named…it’s also talking to all of us as adults who were kids in school. Any school. If you went back to high school and talked to your favourite teacher now, as an adult, it might feel a bit like reading Incandescent does: like we’re getting a tour behind the curtain that is/was our childhood schooling, and wow is there a lot we never imagined existed back there! It feels like a teacher addressing you adult-to-adult, revelatory and mundane at once; there is something fascinating in learning a little of how teachers perform a role when in the presence of their students, or in the realisation that oh yes, they feel awkward and silly and uncool too, all those things you thought teachers were somehow immune to.

Which all means that even the most banal bits of Walden’s day feel like we’re being let in on mysterious, magical secrets. Tesh’s prose is so readable, quick and compelling and precise, always giving us exactly the right amount of detail about exactly the right things, perfectly balancing moments of introspection with wonderfully human dialogue and heart-pounding action – though maybe ‘activity’ would be a better word, because it’s not all action-thriller stuff, but even the littler moments feel vital and meaningful.

>“No blood,” said Walden firmly. A meal of human bodily fluids was the fastest possible way ot turn a minor demonic possession into a major demonic problem. “Would you accept a digestive biscuit?”

The fiery flecks of the purple eyes in the depths of the multipurpose tray flickered. The imp said, with an air of deep cunning, Chocolate.<

And fun. Incandescent is so much fun! I loved the teenagers and their shenanigans; I loved the surprises embedded in the worldbuilding; and I was surprised at how much I loved the English setting. Clearly I’ve been reading too many books set in the US! I’m not saying it made me nostalgic (gods forbid) but it did make me some strange kind of delighted to see all the familiar Briticisms, the school system I grew up in, the terminology I remember and still default to; Year Nines, A-Levels, digestive biscuits!

But it also made me really happy to see that setting called out.

<Mark was exactly the kind of person that Chetwood School existed to create: powerful, free, capable of anything, capable of getting away with anything.<

This is not a cosy fantasy, even if parts of it are heart-warming. Incandescent is a book about power and who has it, who can have it, what it costs (what it costs different people). It’s an incisive, merciless vivisection of capitalist power structures, of buying power via buying schooling, of a rancid, rotting system of education that was built to support and feed into the British Empire and is still deeply imperfect. It’s about arrogance and wealth and privilege, and how people without any of those things mortgage their souls to get their children a chance at them–

>Chetwood’s school fees were insurance money, a policy taken out against the future. Let my child be safe. Let my child be happy. Let my child have every single chance at freedom, joy, hope, power.<

Incandescent is condemnation and sympathy: for those who built the system on one hand, and for those who beggar themselves to get their children a better place in that system. It’s an acknowledgement that even once we realise how fucked up this all is, we can’t necessarily get ourselves free of it. We should burn it all down and start over – but we can’t.

>the sheer weight of institution carving patterns into the world, stronger than blood or bone.<

There is a deep well of something like cynicism in Incandescent, an awareness of a great and toxic ugliness at the heart of what Walden loves so much. There were times when it seemed to me that Tesh was even pointing out how messed up schools are, not as a fundamental part of the institutions of power but as a way of teaching at all. Exams are a terrible way to gauge a child’s intelligence! Boarding schools are functionally prisons for minors! We constantly undervalue people who are geniuses at their Things just because they never went to school for it! All of it dressed up in elaborate ritual and civility, when really, the simple, savage brutality the demons in this setting constantly enact on each other is only a more honest mirror of the machinations amongst humans – amongst the worst humans, anyway. Which is probably a big part of why Incandescent has been called dark academia in so many corners…

But it’s not, really. Because Incandescent is also about believing in something much bigger than you, greater than you. It’s about dedicating yourself to an ideal, and spending your entire life working to live up to it, to manifest it, to remake the world in its image, one student at a time. It’s about teachers as paladins, about teaching as – as something holy. Which is not quite the right word, but is so close.

What else can you call being willing to die to protect the children in your charge – children who are not your flesh and blood, even? (But maybe have more of you in them than they do their parents, after spending most of their lives in your classrooms.)

>And a certainty: this is what I have done. Here is power, and here are power’s consequences. I can point to them. I can name them. Here is the child who knows today what she did not know yesterday. She will take her knowledge away into adulthood and find her own terrible strength there. Those are her choices. These, circumscribed, limited by ancient stone and crumbling concrete, by time and tradition and school bells and school boundaries–these are mine.<

I feel like I could go on and on endlessly: this is a book I would love to offer to a classroom of English Lit enthusiasts, because there is so much to it, so many layers, and all of them fitted so perfectly together, like the gears of the world’s tiniest clock. It’s the kind of book that rewards analysis, that delights in you thinking deeply about it, that encourages you to. I want to write you an essay about the worldbuilding (simple at first glance, so freaking clever when you pause to think about it) or the foursome that are Walden’s top students (they each represent a different perspective/experience on/of modern schooling) or how amazingly complicated, multi-faceted, and believably contradictory a character Walden is (I straight-up love her and there’s nothing straight about it) – but you should really just READ THE BOOK FOR YOURSELF!

Incandescent is, simply, incandescent.

Emily Tesh's The Incandescent is Tesh's take on the dark academia genre. Fans of Naomi Novik's Scholomance series (which I'm also a fan of) should find a lot to enjoy here as Tesh centers the action through the perspective of Dr. Saphire "Saffy" Walden, Chetwood School of Magic. I appreciated the centering of a story on a woman in her '30s since so many of these titles are about the children and how they navigate their magical surroundings. I recently read through Tesh's "Some Desperate Glory" and found this new title much more engaging throughout. If you liked that previous novel, chances are you'll like this one even more.

I liked reading it but also i struggled getting invested in it, the world build was cool and interesting i loved reading about the magic school system mixed with the tattoos and i appreciate the turn up on the mc being the teacher instead of the student and i really liked Marshall and Walden story together.
About Walden i really appreciated how she loved her students and her dedication to protect them and the mentee/mentor relationship with Nikki might have been my favorite part

A few years back, my sister and I buddy read Silver in the Wood. I didn’t totally love it but couldn’t recall anything particularly bad about it. It was simply a novella when I’d prefer a novel. So when The Incandescent came onto my radar with a promising premise, I decided to give Emily Tesh another shot.

Harry Potter Fans, Take Note
The Incandescent at first read feels like a tailor-made story for Harry Potter fans who have grown up. (The jacket copy comps to Scholomance and Plain Bad Heroines; I haven’t read either. And maybe both of those books are better comps than HP, but I can’t help but imagine if Rowling wasn’t such an asshat, there would be more comps to HP in the marketing.) I think you’d be hard pressed to find a reader of The Incandescent who hasn’t read HP. It’s easy to cry “HP comp” about any story set at a magical school, but the similarities were greater than I expected: the story’s set at a boarding school (with some day students) and takes place over the course of one academic year. The first chapter, focused on our protagonist educator developing a safety plan for a magic lesson, feels like a dig at HP. That’s also the first clue that The Incandescent offers many improvements and fresh twists on the HP model/magical school model in general to better appeal to adult sensibilities.

A Story for Adults!!
(Moving on now…I didn’t mean to harp on about HP for an entire paragraph.) To reduce The Incandescent to “a Harry Potter-esque story for the grown up millenial” would be an injustice. I was never a big HP fan and I enjoyed this book. Protagonist Doctor Walden, the Director of Magic at Chetwood Academy, differentiates this book from other contemporary magic school stories. Her perspective as a late-thirties career woman gives a fresh take on this setting. She’s not just an observer of youthful shenanigans (though her role as mentor has a key place in the story). She has her own challenges to manage, with a central conflict driving the plot. The commentary on schooling, teaching, and education she provides feels grounded in reality. I thought, “A teahcer must have wrote this book.” Indeed, Tesh posted on Bluesky, “Between my own education and my teaching career I spent a solid thirty years of my life At School. I have some thoughts. Also some jokes. Here’s a book about that.”

I love that this really feels like a story for adults. And that’s not simply because it has more sex and violence than a YA book (which it doesn’t even really.) In additional to the reflections on education and academia noted above, you get other ‘adult’ topics such as reflections on youth, managing one’s career and relationships, and working through past trauma.Not just a compelling fantasy story, The Incandescent speaks on a number of topics of concern to the modern thirty-something year old.

Assorted Comments
I enjoy this writing style and have been tossing around adjectives to try to describe it: descriptive, observant, reflective, third-person narrative? Doesn’t quite do it justice… here’s a wee example that I think conveys it well:

It was just unfortunate that the most effective way Walden had of connecting with young people, by a long way, was to tell them about something fascinating that she was an expert on, and then show them how to do it themselves. She had good relationships with her students because she was a good teacher, not because she was a naturally warm and empathetic person. She would have been absolutely delighted to have a short academic chat with [Student] about literally any branch of magic at all. They could have gone through the bookshelves pulling out old journals and reference texts together. (The Incandescent, 77%)

Incidentally, I recently read a middle grade novel (Clare Edge’s Accidental Demons) which is also about witches who summon demons to do their bidding. This is a new concept to me. I’d like to learn about the real-world history/context for this type of magic.

The plot went in took a different direction with slightly different pacing than I anticipated. Once I understood that, I settled in for the ride.

I was grateful that there wasn’t any “how do we keep this all secret from normal people” dance in this book. Magic is common knowledge in this world. Normie academics are also taught at Chetwood.

“Dark Academia”?
I do have a wee bone to pick with a phrase being using to market this book: dark academia. The Incandescent is not really dark academia. In fact, I would say there isn’t anything more ‘dark’ about it than any other contemporary fantasy story. I haven’t read a ton of true dark academia myself but I have read The Secret History so I am practically an expert lol. I’ve deleted a few sentences in which I further explain my stance on this but they were a bit spoilery so I’ll leave it at this. I’m getting pretty tired of buzz word genres or tropes being used inaccurately for marketing. I get it why it’s done… but it shouldn’t suprise anyone that an avid reader like myself would prefer accurate descriptions rather than hypable ones. Personally to me this book leans more towards ‘cozy fantasy’ than ‘dark academia, but it’s truly neither. It’s more character-focused and hopeful than anything I’d ever call ‘dark academia’.

The Bottom Line 💭A must read for any fans of magical school stories, The Incandescent makes for a stand-out read given its adult protagonist.

"Magic school about the teachers" is such a brilliant idea that I'm shocked this is the first time I've read it, and wow was it well done. I loved this book so much--great characters, great plot--I'm making everyone I know read it.

3.5⭐️

My favorite parts:
•A bisexual, 38 year old teacher working at a Magic boarding school and fighting demons
•Dark academia with a mystery
•A modern twist (demons love technology)
•A huge plot twist at the end that I absolutely never saw coming

My least favorite part:
•The middle of the book

I loved the first 30% or so and the last maybe 20% but the 50% in between that was kind of boring. I love magical academies because the kids are always up to something but from a teacher POV and all the administrative stuff - I was excited because it’s different but it really just dragged. I was also sad that our love interest was gone for that 50% in the middle.

However, the good parts were GOOD and intriguing and this book was overall different and fresh. If you love dark academia, definitely give this one a read!

Thank you so much to Tor for the gifted copy!

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book early.

While I’ve loved Emily Tesh’s other books, The Incandescent felt much slower and unfortunately dragged on for me. A book centered on facing tragic demonic possessions and queer magicians should not have been as slow, and even at times boring, as I thought this was. While there were certainly scenes filled with action and tension between love interests, these scenes were usually always bookended by long descriptions of lesson planning and the British schooling system, and it was these descriptions that consistently pulled me out of the story.

Despite the difficulty I had staying focused on the story and it’s stakes, the characters ultimately have stayed with me long after I’ve finished it, which I’ve always considered a hallmark of a well-written and thoughtful book. You can also always take my review with a grain of salt, as I picked this up while I was preparing for my doctoral thesis defense…so maybe the academic stress felt way too similar to my own, and perhaps I wasn’t completely in the right mindset to appreciate this book to its full extent.

If you love dark academia, queer empowered women, and deeply detailed storytelling, The Incandescent is for you!

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Books for letting me read an e-ARC of The Incandescent by Emily Tesh! I've given this book a 4.5/5 star rating, but for the purpose of this review, have raised that to 5/5 stars since the only negative commentary I have surrounding the book has nothing to do with the author's voice, story, or writing style/technique and is more personal.

Many people are categorizing this as a sapphic dark academia book, but this didn’t feel too dark to me! It felt more like a lighthearted magic school romp that just so happened to feature a sapphic main character with a small romantic subplot. Despite the presence of demons at the magical school of Chetwood and our main character’s (Walden - or Saffy) desperate attempts to protect the young adults from demonic incursions on a daily basis, this was a very lighthearted, slice of life story. I loved this fresh take of a magical academy storyline that follows a teacher and administrator of the school. Walden’s snarky internal monologue and dry humor had me chuckling to myself quite often. And I found her quite relatable, at times, given that she’s a late-30s character (a population not often represented in fantasy, so it was a big deal to see this as someone in their early 30s!).

If you’re looking for a story with a witty main character and a magical school setting that features memorable side characters, THRILLING plot twists, and a heartwarming ending, I encourage you to check this one out!

A stunning and unique magic school narrative. I don’t have all my thoughts together quite yet, other than to say it’s yet another 5 star read from Emily Tesh. Every laurel she gets for this one will be deserved. My shop has already declared it a June book club pick and I can’t wait to tease out each facet with my pals.

This isn’t my usual cup of tea so I don’t feel right judging it too harshly. I liked that there was a middle-aged-ish woman as the central character and this was a perfect rainy day escape-- magical demons at a boarding school.

This was really great, really fun, and I loved the magic system and the world-building. I also loved the sword-wielding butch who I assumed was the main love interest, since this book was pitched as a sapphic story.

However, abruptly, about 40% of the way in, there is a switch-up with who the love interest is. Needless to say, that wasn't what I expected. And that was the main thing that drew me to this book.

So anyway, I'm DNF'ing at 41% in. I really, really would have liked this book otherwise. It was totally up my alley and felt very unique. But at this time I'm really not interested in reading a hetero/het-presenting romance. Especially when I was expecting something else.

I really wish this book had been pitched a different way. I do still recommend it, though, but don't go in expecting a sapphic romance!

TALK ABOUT A MASTERPIECE! The Incandescent was as good, if not better than I could have hoped for. It follows a head of a magical school with an expertise in demons. Throughout the story, we understand her complicated past, powerful magic, and dedication to her students. This is perfect for anyone who loved The Magicians or A Deadly Education. It reads like a dark academia television series!

The Incandescent is an absolute masterclass in storytelling, flipping the dark academia genre on its head with our wonderful MC Dr Saffy Walden and her endless care and determination to do right by her students. I absolutely loved this acerbic, tenacious gem of a book. Its rare to find a dark academia / fantasy campus novel from the POV of a teacher, and I was so delighted to find the MC wasn’t a fresh 22 year old but a seasoned (some may say jaded) late 30s, sensible skirt wearing teacher. This felt like a love letter to teaching and the fundamental relationship formed between student and teacher, between child and adult authority figure. I loved the mix between high velocity fight scenes with the otherworldly demons and the mundane everyday chat around A Level results and timetable management. I felt like I was right there with Saffy. Truly, I loved every second of it, and think I’d happily just keep reading about her life forever if given the chance.

This might take worst book of the year for me. Or biggest disappointment. Started of really really good, the comparison to Naomi Novak was spot on, however after the first conflicted happened the book turned so bad. Basically a 40 year old woman questioning every choice in her life while then deciding to hook up with a colleague who clearly is up to no good. There was no good second act conflict especially after how cool and wild the first one was and the end was a major let down and disappointment after a terrible second half.

THE INCANDESCENT is a gift to all of us who grew up loving wizard-school books and are now ready for a goddamn novel about it from the adult perspective. An absolute banger about what it means to be middle-aged when your teenage self is still alive inside of you; a love-letter to teaching; an addictive, tightly-plotted page-turner that made me mad every time I had to put it down. I can already tell this will be one of my top reads for the year.

While I lvoed the idea of this book - Dark Acadmia, fantasy etc - I think this book did not resonate with me. I got lost in the middle and wanted to know more about the students then were portrayed. It felt like not a lot happened in this book.

I am a big dark academia fiend, and obviously the one that I love the most will be the history. But the incandescent will definitely come up to be in a top five of the dark academia books I have read in my life. Just pick this one up trust me.

When you're young, reading about the students in a magical boarding school save the day seems totally fun and pretty plausible. When you're my age (and especially if, like me, you're a parent) you start to wonder where TF the teachers are and why they aren't protecting these kids any better...

The Incandescent is about Dr. Sapphire Walden, Director of Magic at a magical boarding school i England. She has to deal with teaching a higher level class, sitting in on other teachers' lessons, getting donations from parents, finding speakers for career day, AND making sure there are no demonic incursions on school property. Saffy knows she's one of the smartest invokers out there, and she's usually right about predicting her students' moves, meaning that she saves the day quite often. But when she's wrong, she's spectacularly wrong. From the moment her most precocious students summon a demon, Saffy's routine school year goes sideways, even though she manages to keep the casualties to a minimum. There is a moment when her students need to save the school, but the way it plays out is perfectly satisfying - and perfect for the book, which makes it perfect, full stop.

As you can see, I absolutely LOVED this. The character work is top notch, and Emily Tesh has some of the best world building out there. She gives great magical basics in the form of a literal lesson on magical ethics, but also includes practical displays like a demonically possessed photocopier. The importance of good teachers is underscored, but Tesh's characters are allowed to have their own personal lives. All around this is really just a great book, and I recommend it to any fantasy reader - but especially to those who grew up on middle grade magical school books.

This objective review is based on a complimentary copy of the novel.

The Incandescent by Emily Tesh blends academic fantasy with something darker, stranger, and a little more unhinged. Imagine Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia but if the chipper professor was secretly possessed by a demon and maybe kinda liked it.

The magic system is subtle but evocative, and the university setting feels delightfully lived-in—full of dusty tomes, sharp intellects, and morally ambiguous choices. The dynamic between the characters simmers, especially as secrets unravel and identities blur. There’s queer yearning, ancient magic, and enough simmering tension to keep the pages turning.

That said, the pacing falters at times, and the narrative occasionally loses focus under the weight of its own atmosphere. It’s gorgeously written but not always tightly plotted.

If you like your fantasy academic, your characters emotionally repressed, and your metaphors for internal darkness a little too literal, The Incandescent will definitely cast a spell on you.