WARNING: Spoilers Ahead! Read the first book before continuing!
Lavinia “Vin” Lucas has finally found a home. At Last Hope School, she’s made friends (including a magical fire sprite!) who love her for who she is, and gifted headmistress Ava Hope is guiding her in her newfound abilities as a Chameleon. But after the chaos and danger of last year, and the attack on the school, the eye of the Magical School Board is trained on Last Hope. They are desperate to get Ava Hope and her unconventional methods removed from the school for good.
Meanwhile, beyond the magical wards of Last Hope, the Free Mages grow ever stronger, and their enigmatic new leader will do anything to get his hands on the increasingly powerful Vin. It’s going to take every ounce of cunning Vin and her friends have to send the crooked school board packing while warding off the looming threat of the Free Mages.
With family secrets swirling, a mysterious new student with mind-reading powers entering the picture, and even a water sprite joining the crew, year two is more surprising and difficult than ever. And when the world of magic faces destruction, Vin must use her powers—no matter how dangerous—and do whatever she can to save her friends and Last Hope School once and for all.
In the first book, we are first introduced to the Five Official Magecraft Categories:
Conjurer, Caster, Chemist, Clairvoyant, and Charisma
But Vin learns that she doesn’t fit into any of these categories. She is actually a Chameleon, a lesser-known sixth Magecraft category. Vin can collect other people’s abilities and enhance them. Basically, she can do any kind of magic she wants.
It’s made very clear from the beginning that the school board and its inspectors have it out for Last Hope School. Last Hope’s unconventional teaching style goes against the guidelines of Treaty, the cornerstone of the magical education system that focuses on making magic nonthreatening. But the reason why the students are doing so well is because of the unconventional teaching.
The inspectors say the school board cares about the students. Yeah, right! This is the same school board that has already pushed these students aside, labeling them ‘delinquents’ and ‘unteachable’. The school board inspectors say they want to keep the students safe, but what they really want is to control them and their magic. They want to take away everything that makes the school work.
The question that annoyed me the most was, ‘What is the school board’s endgame here?’ Even if they do manage to shut the school down, what happens next? I thought the whole purpose of the Last Hope School was so the school board had a place to dump the ‘dangerous’ students? What does the school board plan to do with the students? Cross their fingers and hope they disappear so they don’t have to deal with them? Bit of a spoiler: One inspector’s motives were a lot pettier than I initially thought.
I felt so bad for the students. Last Hope School gave them the freedom to explore their magic to its fullest. Now with the inspectors breathing down their necks, they are too afraid to do anything. And poor Vin still sees herself as the problem. She’s been told for so long that she was the problem, she still believes that anything that goes wrong is her fault.
As you can see, this story got me a little worked up.
Overall, this was an incredible, suspenseful sequel that had me on the edge of my seat. And Vin’s story is far from over. There is still plenty of magic to learn.