4.5 stars.

This is a really good ADULT (definitely not YA, could maybe pass as New Adult) fantasy. There is a lot of violence and explicit content. It's super dark and incredibly well thought out and written. It was a little slow going in the beginning, but definitely picked up the pace and made the length of the book worth while. I'm still a little rummy from staying up so late finishing it off, but the conclusion is crazy involved and has A LOT going on.

This is something like a twisted and evil Hogwarts, which a few other people have mentioned and I have to agree with them. I LOVED some of the characters very much...especially Tric...and the morally gray nature of the whole shebang is just right up my alley.

The use of footnotes was a bit detracting since I read it in e-book format and my reader's style for footnotes is super annoying, but I think reading it in physical form would make this fine. The footnotes are fun and sometimes have quite a bit of snark to them that gives the narrator a bit more character.

I'm definitely continuing the series soon and I have a feeling this one will be a reread in the future because I keep mulling pieces of it over in my head and I already feel the need to go back and pick up the detailed pieces of foreshadowing and other intricacies that I missed on initial read. If you like fantasy and you like serious darkness in your narratives, grab this one.