I really loved this book. It's a great for giving a little bit of a darker twist on the magical school trope. The writing style is definite developed with the older middle grade set in mind and the movement of the plot and development of the characters match with the intended audience. But there are some dark and slightly more mature pieces that make me think it would be better suited for YA readers.

The plot is fun and twisty with lots of entertaining moments. There are admittedly some annoying quirks to the protagonists and they are delivered in a bit of a heavy-handed way, but I just had a lot of fun reading this. It challenges the typical fairy tale tropes and I think gives a great lesson in not accepting that you have to be what everyone tells you that you are. It's inspirational in that way, but with a very flippant kind of approach. I was caught off-guard by how much I enjoyed this. I need to be grabbing the sequel soon.