Dark academia — giant libraries, jars of strange creatures, witches and demons and werewolves, oh my — combined with the misfits make good trope, school bullying, a mysterious one armed man, and a headmaster willing to sell his students out for a bit of fame. It’s messy, chaotic, and fun in the best way.

Xiong Mao is perhaps the only human in this college for for heroes, but she’s smarter than she lets on and a loyal friend. Chance is all full of bubbles and evil glitter and it’s easy to see her as only half as clever as she really is. Shadow is shy, and while he’s as strong as … well, a werewolf, he’s also uncoordinated and doesn’t perform well under pressure. And these three are failing their classes.

They have one chance to catch up in points, and win mostly because no one believes they’re a threat. I enjoyed the rapport between the three friends, and the overall vibe of the school. It’s zany, cheerful, and for a few pages even colorful. The book ends on a cliffhanger, which means I have to wait for the second volume where our trio will be facing off with students from the much more impressive rival college show up for some fun.

Thank you so very much to Net Galley and the publisher for the ARC!

I had sm fun reading this lol!!

A class of heroes in training required to form a group to undergo trials to pass their class, and our group are the bottom 3 ☠️ AND I LOVE THEM.

Chance is my fave of all time LOL.
She is just ADHD at its highest form fr, and I love everything about her. The way she jumps from one topic to another in a split second. The way she makes up random scenarios to instigate sh*t lmfao. Her love for QUALITY PASTA, her compassion for Funeral, and the scene w/ Changeling 🫶🏽
She’s just such a FUN character overall. I would love to see her animated lol.

Xiong Mao on the other hand is so mysterious, but just so human lol. She also has a very camp side to her that Chance brings out, and I love it so much.
So curious to get a bit more background on her late night activities…
It’s def not what you think it is lmfao, but I refuse to explain any further.

Shadow on the other hand is so good boy lmfao.
Very shy, and clumsy, but we love him too!!
And the small romance blossoming? Okay 👀 I wonder why no one was able to see him in the beginning though, I assume it’s part of his power?
Not sure, but I can’t to see more from all of them.

The side characters were a lot of fun as well. The rivalry, the secret side stories (Changeling LOL), the mysterious backstories, and even the main story has me intrigued. Especially towards the end!!
Definitely a fun series that I would love to continue. I also wonder why half was done in black & white, the other in color, and then back to b&w?
Either way, I had fun!!