This debut novel is the very definition of weird and wonderful. It’s like Harry Potter meets Deadly Education with Dante’s Inferno thrown in just for fun. Using Christianity as the basis for the mythology, Brookes builds a school for special dead children.

Tom was having an ordinary day until he died. And then things started to get weird. He found himself near an extraordinary large tower, shown in by a towering figure shrouded in black and enrolled in a strange school.

There were a few parts that made me think of Harry Potter: the make-up of our central trio are two males and a female, then there’s 3 houses with their own traits and obviously the whole school setting. But Brookes’ school is a little darker, has a lot less magic and a lot more angels. There’s a lot of religion in this and I feel like it does help to have a good grasp of Christian conceptions of heaven, hell and purgatory. (Thank you Supernatural!)

Despite the relatively dark moments, there’s a lot of ‘normal’ teenage stuff going on. Tom finds himself torn between two girls: the pretty one and the weird one. With a YA book this romance was kind of expected, though I will say the presentations were a little stereotypical at times. I felt the characters behaved like normal teenagers would and the drama helped balance the serious issues at the centre.

There’s also a fair bit of humour in this book and a whole lot of references to popular culture throughout the ages. The teachers at the school are all renowned specialists in their field: literature taught by Oscar Wilde, science with Isaac Newton… You find yourself wanting to attend the school for dead children! The world-building is so exquisitely done that you truly feel like you’re there with the characters, experiencing everything alongside our protagonist Tom.

I’m super excited to read more of this series and follow Tom’s antics. I want to explore more of this magical school – for me it ended far too quickly and I desperately want to find out more.