Bodies of Magic by Freya Marske - Dark Academia Fantasy Book Review

This was a very unique fantasy world, with a magic system that was medical and healing based, and a dark academic setting to rival any others I’ve read.

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It’s the time of the Grand Exam at a magical academy, and we enter the story with 5 students who have been randomly assigned their group together – 5 test cases that they must diagnose, and then cure, heal or come up with a treatment plan for, and they either pass or fail as a group. Unforunately, they enter the first test to find a fellow pupil’s body on the floor, and it’s not part of the test, but due to the magic surrounding it, they can’t leave the exam nor can they give many details to the investigation. Instead, the group, each of whom is hiding their own secrets, must figure it out themselves.

I was torn while rating this book – I loved the vibes and the storyline, but I struggled through the middle sections of the book. The storyline just seemed to flounder a little bit for me here and I found I was losing interest and focus. Nevertheless, I pushed on with it and am glad I did as the ending worked very well. I’d give the beginning and end 5 stars and the middle 3 stars, so I’ve settled on 4 overall!

The queer normative aspect of this world was on point. There were genderfree characters and queer pairings happening all over the storyline, and it was clear from the lore of the world that this was 100% normal and accepted – it was gorgeous to read.

The vibes, as I mentioned, were excellent too. It had a dark, somewhat gory feel straight away – bones and blood aren’t shied away from! And this was all set in a gothic academy where healers are both revered and despised, where they’re forced into their studies based on their magical abilities, but are also fighting for their place.

And on top of that, you’ve got a murder mystery plot as the students try to figure out what’s happened to their friend and co-student after discovering her body. Honestly, although I love a good mystery, this is where the story faltered for me – it felt a bit like running in circles trying to figure it out. Fortunately the structure of the 5 tests meant that the storyline kept pushing forward as you knew you would never be far from the next pivotal moment.

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The story is told from the different perspectives of each character in the group, which gave a good overview of the world and their places in it. But for me, I think this didn’t help with my grasp on the plot in the middle sections as I didn’t get to know any single character well enough to care that much about them.

There was a lot to love here, but overall the plot just didn’t hold strong enough for me throughout. I know a lot of people who will love this though!

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publishers for an ARC of this book.