Schooled in Magic

By: Christopher G. Nuttall

Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert

Length: 15 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's Summary

Emily is a teenage girl pulled from our world into a world of magic and mystery by a necromancer who intends to sacrifice her to the dark gods. Rescued in the nick of time by an enigmatic sorcerer, she discovers that she possesses magical powers and must go to Whitehall School to learn how to master them. There, she learns that the locals believe she is a "Child of Destiny" - someone whose choices might save or damn their world, a title that earns her both friends and enemies.

A stranger in a very strange land, she may never fit in to her new world, and the necromancer is still hunting her. If Emily can't stop him, he might bring about the end of days.

©2014 Christopher G. Nuttall (P)2016 Podium Publishing

Neurotic Heroine

Yes, the book borrows a lot of the world-building from Harry Potter, but the author's goal seems to be to repair some of the flaws he saw in the Potter world, based on some of our protagonist's sarcastic comments about the books. There aren't otherwise many original ideas here.

I found it hard to like our protagonist, Emily. She's neurotic, insecure, and is overly concerned about what others think of her. Her social skills are poor and lacks anything like a sense of humor; anyone who teases her sends her into paroxysms of guilt and despair.

Still, she's smart and has an implausibly good knowledge of history and science for someone still in high school and these are the key to her success, rather than bravery or martial skills.

It's a fine series for mindless entertainment; I listen the stories as I do housework and this one doesn't demand a lot of my attention.

31 of 36 people found this review helpful

KEEP GOING! The last 2/3 is MUCH better.

Any additional comments?

When I first started this book the beginning seemed rushed and unpolished. Then as I get a little further it seemed WAY too similar to harry potter. BUT I['m glad I kept going. That was just the beginning setting the stage part of the book. After that the author seemed to find his stride and their own voice. The last half was way better then the first. And the 2nd book was even better. I have to give it only 3 stars for the Story but in reality it's like 2 stars for the first third and 4 stars for the last 2/3.

So get the book. Get past the beginning and you will be happy. I'd recommend to the author rewriting the beginning some. I'd imagine many of the bad reviews are from people who got ticked off at the beginning and didn't want to keep going. But I've finished the 2nd book now and I'm so glad I kept going.

15 of 17 people found this review helpful

Not Harry Potter! AND THAT'S A GOOD THING!

It's inevitable to compare this book to Harry Potter. They are both in the Magic School Genre and the main character is considered a "Chosen One"

But this title stands on its own due to its smart and independent heroine and the time the author takes to explain the book's magic system and world building.

If you go into this book hoping for a romance, you might be disappointed. As the first book deals more with Emily getting used to the world she's transported to and the new school she's enrolled in.

I particularly enjoy how Emily uses her knowledge of modern technology to make waves in this new magical world.

If you're into characters from our world using their know-how to improve the world they've been transported to, I think you'll like this book.

36 of 45 people found this review helpful

Schooled in Magic

I'm really glad I found this book, series.... it's a great story, strong characters. The Narrator was really good, probably one of my favorite ones. I'll definitely be buying the next book in the series.

5 of 6 people found this review helpful

Intrigued enough to keep reading...

Mild Spoilers ahead...
I have mixed feelings about this. Considering there are 10 books in this series, it might be too early for me to be overly judgmental about this. I am not typically a harsh critic in this genre. I love magic fantasy. There's simply no way not to see this as a rather blatant Harry Potter rip off. If you're a HP fan then this will either annoy you or endear you. For me it was a little of both. It is possible to craft a story about a school of magic without ripping off JK Rowling. A good example is The Magicians series by Lev Grossman, which I adore. I will try not to draw too much comparison between this book and that one though because Nuttall would not fair well at all if I were to hold his writing to that standard. Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy this and I'm planning to dive into book two immediately because I'm intrigued enough at this point that I really want to know what happens with Emily next. But the writer has a few habits that I'm not fond of. He drastically over uses the term "snorted" for one. Let's talk some specifics...

The Good
Emily is very likable. Her character is sweet and caring and smart and she's a great strong female lead. The magic system used is clever and believable. I love the concept of mana and it's very reminiscent of role playing or of video game RPG. I enjoyed the detailed explanation of how spell craft works built upon spell components. The world building isn't bad either. The writer took the time to explain politics and relate that to the story in a way that truly matters.

The Bad
It steals from J.K. Rowling big time, right down to the grand master, the relationships between students and teachers, the school's defenses, the magical creatures classes, Marshal Magic parallels Defense Against the Dark Arts, Shadye parallels Voldemort, and many more blatant examples. The writing is a little bit lacking in that I wasn't nearly as captivated or drawn in as I would have liked. The battles were not as awesome as I would have liked. There was some sense of inconsistency with the aptitude of magical abilities. One minute Emily is a naive first year student who barely escapes capture by bumbling captors and just a few chapters later she's conquering a skilled necromancer in single combat by summing a black hole pocket dimension. It also felt a little too cute for me at times when I wanted it to be darker. I didn't really like Alassa at all. I wanted more character development from her roommates. I was also a bit disappointed in the grand master. I wanted way more badassery from him.

Overall though I did enjoy the story. I'm intrigued by Void. I hope to hear more about him in the next book. If you like magic fantasy fiction and you're willing to look past it being a poor man's Harry Potter, then I would recommend it.

15 of 20 people found this review helpful

Unrelentingly grim

Would you try another book from Christopher G. Nuttall and/or Tavia Gilbert?

Nope

What could Christopher G. Nuttall have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

A little humor goes a long way and there was no humor to be found in this slog of a book. Better character and scene development would have helped, along with a huge reduction in internal monologues.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

A great idea for a world, but I could never picture it or anyone but the main character, who got annoying quickly.

4 of 5 people found this review helpful

A chore to get through

Look, the overall story here still intrigues me, and I really wish that the performance and writing style were good enough that I could make it past the 2.5 hour mark, but they're not, and I can't. The voices she uses for other characters actually aren't half bad, but her general narration voice/voice of the main character is just obnoxious. It's very grating. As for the writing style, I can normally handle overly descriptive as long as we don't get into "Dostoyevsky taking a whole chapter just to describe a tavern" territory, but what I can't handle the main character wondering something about the world and the way it works and then saying "I'll just ask someone later". This device is employed at least 25 times in the first 6 chapters alone. Pacing is a real problem here. You'll get serious whiplash trying to keep up with it. You'll start making some good progress story wise, and then BAM! Fifteen minutes describing the beginning of one tutoring session and the working of one spell, then halfway through figuring out the second she starts talking about the last few months of training. It just skips months of training in one sentence! I had to stop and check that the app didn't randomly skip a chapter! My point is, for me, it was a very jarring read (or listen, rather), but if that stuff doesn't bother you, there could be a really interesting STORY in there somewhere.

TL;DR: bad narration/writing style, interesting story concept. Listen at own risk. Advise using free credit, not money.

9 of 12 people found this review helpful

Charming alt-world magic school story.

Overall, I think this book is quite good. I have no problems with the book, but did notice I was not FULLY captivated the entire time I read it which is why I give it a 4/5.

Things that the book did extremely well -
Humans from earth travelling to other magical worlds is a fun concept but generally falls into one difficult issue: how to characterize the MC on earth while not developing any lingering attachments that would create plot holes. The author succeeds excellently in succinctly delivering the MC's character explanation and a solid reason why MC would not need/want to return to earth.
Generally, the advantages of alt-world MC's are derived from unrealistic depth of knowledge of earth technology. The MC constantly mentions these things but does not have any ridiculous insights in industrialization of a medieval society.
Also, I particularly loved all her interactions with her princess friend - the author makes a point to compare cultural values and the effects magic may have on otherwise one-sided moral choices.

Pretty solid book, I suggest a read

4 of 5 people found this review helpful

Compelling

Couldn't stop listening to the series then went in to read all available ebooks and now have to wait for next release. What information is to dangerous to share?

5 of 7 people found this review helpful

Nuttall just finished reading Harry Potter

Eye rolling all around. They even treat excess magic use with chocolate. Then there are the blatant, literal mentions of Dumbledore and Harry himself. AND there's a reference to Stalker's Stalkers, placing this story squarely in The Fall of the Galactic Empire and The Empire's Corps universe (one of the students has an uncle who knew Major Stalker.)

And poor Emily frequently laments that the education system at home is severely lacking in practical courses like Gunpowder Making, Automotive Engines, Computer Creation, so she is left with introducing this new magical world to... wait for it... bras. If you've read anything by Nuttall, you know his opinions on American society, American education, and American families. Thankfully, there are no overly obvious lectures on these subjects, but the gist is still there.

Some adults will enjoy this book; indeed, the many reviews here prove that, but it is really a book for 9-year-old girls. Don't get me wrong; I enjoy good children's and youth books, but this is not satisfying to me. The characters are thin and flat. The combats are without tension or drama, and even when Emily is bested, it's not exciting. There are no strong teachers like McGonagall, and not even a strong bad guy like Malfoy, much less Snape or Voldemort.

If you want to see how a space opera author moves into YA fantasy, try Jack Campbell's Pillars of Reality. From Nuttall, I'm much more interested in learning whatever happened to the Childe Roland in The Empire's Corps.

5 of 7 people found this review helpful

Fantastic book! Immediately brought book 2!

What did you like most about Schooled in Magic?

Completely immersive story, I felt like I was with Emily all the way through and wanted nothing more than to be transported to this other world with her. The magic used is much more complex than other books and stories regarding magic.

What did you like best about this story?

I really liked the fact that the writer acknowledged that if someone was really transported to another world they would indeed use ideas, inventions and concepts from earth; Not only to capitalise on them for financial gain but also to improve the new world they had found themselves in.

What does Tavia Gilbert bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

Listening to a book rather than reading it brings the story to life In so many ways. Tavia is brilliant at making each character stand out by changing her voice and tone so it almost sounds like multiple people are reading this book rather than just one narrator.

If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Reinventing magic!

Any additional comments?

If I was the author of this book I would take out all the Harry Potter references apart from the one about Quidittch. I found them extremely irritating and kept waiting for the next one with a sigh of frustration. They are just not needed at all and don’t bring anything to the story.

5 of 5 people found this review helpful

Brilliant

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I loved this book, and would recommend to anyone who loves a great magical story paired with a fabulous female lead. Towards the end I couldn't leave it, and listened at every opportunity. The end didn't disappoint and will definitely be putting the next 2 books in my library.

What other book might you compare Schooled in Magic to, and why?

I think this is a mix of all the best stories I have read, Harry Potter, Lord of the rings, shannara, amongst others.

What does Tavia Gilbert bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

Tavia brought the characters to life, her voice changes were brilliant.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Not a particular moment but I did like the gradual development of Emily's character and strength.

8 of 9 people found this review helpful

terrible book - not the readers fault

This book was borderline ok in terms of story but the amount blatantly just lifted from other fiction, unashamedly so, was shocking. 

I also personally felt insulted by the authors insidious disregard for, or complete ignorance of atheism. A whole rambling thought process of Emily's on how people from her world all believed in some sort of afterlife and if you didn't you had no morals! What a load of actual nonsense. 

Also the idea that the worst thing that could happen to a girl at school was slut shaming or actually being a slut made it so painfully obvious that this was written my a man with no real comprehension of what being a girl or woman is like.

Additionally, the authors own dissatisfaction with his education seeps out of the pages like a bitter poison. Not everyone's experiences of education are so perversely negative- Emily as a character is so one sided in her experiences and understanding of "our world" that it's painful to read.

I haven't even finished this book yet but the further in I get the more I dislike it and the ideas it portrays.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Written for young adults??

I don't know if this book was intended for teenagers rather than adults but I found it more suited for that age range. Interesting enough that I listened to the full book but won't rush to listen to the rest of the series

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

too many harry potter references and far too long

struggled to finish it 50 chapters filled with alot of drivel the constant harry potter references where in needed

3 of 4 people found this review helpful

Average book, narrator seams to be going through an anxiety attack

The book is quite poor and generic. Autor explains everything to you using the narrator instead of using plot and character interactions so it gets tedious.

The narrator sounds like she's a kid on the 1st Disney visit, a mix of excitement and anxiety.

6 of 9 people found this review helpful

A great read!

I'm loving it so far. Gonna buy the next book now. The only thing that I really found wrong was that the story is in 3rd person but is written in a way that would have been best suited for 1st person and would have flowed much better than it does. The narrator is great but because of the 3rd person flow, sometimes it feels like we're in Emily's head too much. It could have done with more show and less tell. And because of the 3rd person 1st person narrative of the story, it seems that Emily is talking aloud when she's inside her own head a lot.

schooled in magic

excellent storyline, I cannot wait for book 2 !! I'm hooked. I was grabbed from the first word to the last and will purchase each and every book in the series.

Loved it

Good story, kept my interest throughout. The reference to HP and Star Wars weren’t as annoying as others have suggested and the reader uses a good range of tones and voices.

loved it

i have love this book from beginning to end. Looking forward to the next one.