Mark Wells

College of Shadows

Fraser Simons

There is some interesting aspects to this book: The concept is pretty interesting and intersectional from a genre standpoint. There’s a lot of knowledge about Cambridge as a place being conveyed, some of which I found fascinating (if true). 

The rest feels a bit too commercial fiction to me, though. The pacing feels really slow, especially when coupled with serviceable but uninteresting prose. The characters are fine, but there’s no development that feels substantive or substantial. Overall, I’d describe it as just kind of bland, with large Show Don’t Tell problems, despite some compelling elements to the story.

 I think that had the craft been more refined it could have been a story with a lot more vibrancy.

College of Shadows

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