A Deadly Education

The girls and I headed to Iowa for a visit this weekend, so I had a project of finding a good audio book that would be acceptable to all and fit in the time frame we had. And this book was a great success all around! I have read at least one other book by this author and had really enjoyed it, and I know I've had this book on my TBR for a while.

In what is now a delightfully standard set up, we find ourselves in a school for magical children. This school floats in a void, and there are no adults present. It has been built to protect the teens from evil magical beings, who are very tempted by what seems like their magical puberty. While the school offers some protection, it is still pretty tough in there, and the kids learn directly from the school while preparing to fight their way out when they “graduate.” Our protagonist is an outsider who is trying to figure out how to survive the next few years ahead.

While the bones of the plot are perhaps not the most original, the details are absolutely great. I loved the description of the slightly sadistic school and our delightfully sarcastic protagonist. The mash up between life-and-death struggle with what feels like really normal high school issues of who likes who is done very well. The book is YA but did not feel “too young” for me to enjoy as an adult. It is another series (why are they all series?!?!?) but after I get through the rather alarming pile that has suddenly appeared at the library for me (why do all the holds show up at the same time?!?!?) I will be putting the next two books high on my list to get through.