Book: Bodies of Magic by Freya Marske
Reviewed by Rallie X
Rating: 3/5
Thank you to libro.fm for giving me access to the audiobook, this review and opinions are my own.
This book was described as "Grey's Anatomy meets A Deadly Education" and honestly I don't see it. Grey's Anatomy? Sure. But the comparison to A Deadly Education is just dark academia at a compulsory magic school for healing mages. And maybe that's enough for some people but for me it just didn't feel like a fair comparison.
The book isn't bad, though, and I think I'd have enjoyed it more if I went in expecting a character-driven murder mystery with scenes featuring healing magic instead of something more magic and esoterically sinister. That said the setting is very cool, and some of the characters were compelling! I wound up putting it down around 47% because it got to a point where I was struggling to keep track of who was who and their web of messed up social relationships, but know I will be returning to at some point to eyeballs-read instead of earballs because I do think the story is worth it!
I will say that there is a scene during the second exam that is cool as hell and shows some of the most interesting healing magic I've encountered in awhile as the main characters have to figure out how to do a painful procedure with just magic and no numbing agents.
My verdict overall is that this is a very cool book for what it is, but it wasn't what I thought I was getting into. If you want to read a slow, in-depth character-driven murder mystery at a magic academy, this is a great pick!