S4S – Books set in Schools

Continuing with the back to school theme (don’t even talk to me about actual school right now) this weeks theme from Steph at A Little but A Lot is “Books set in schools” I think I’ve discovered a trend I like in books…Harry Potter by J.K Rowling
An obivous one I know but I love the whole boarding school setting and I’m not sure if I discovered this because I read Harry Potter or because it reminds me of Harry Potter. Either way, I like it and I think good ole Hogwarts had a part to play in that so I had to include it. 

Nevernight by Jay Kristoff
This probably feels as predictable as Harry Potter for me at this point as I’ve not been able to stop raving about this book and the rest of the Nevernight Chronicles for the past few weeks but I really loved Mia’s time in the Red Church and is in part a reason why this book has become one of my all-time favourites. For those who have yet to read Nevernight, the Red Church is basically Murder Hogwarts for wood-be assassins. 

The Starlight Watchmaker by Lauren James
The prestigious academy which Hugo lives on the grounds of in The Starlight Watchmaker is fascinating and full of so many different species of aliens who are all learning the skills they will need to lead and shape their worlds in the future, I loved reading about it. 

Skyward by Brandon Sanderson
Another boarding school setting, this time it’s a flight school where the pupils are trained to shoot defend their homes from an alien threat that has plagued them for years, not to mention that completing the programme and becoming a pilot of prestigious in itself!

Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy by Cassandra Clare and other authors
So this book collects all of the Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy short stories into one and although the content within a lot of these stories stretches further than the academy itself, the main storyline itself that the smaller ones are embedded into all take place within the academy. I loved this collection a lot more than I thought I would. 

Vampire Knight by Matsuri Hino
A manga instead of a novel but still counts, Vampire Knight mainly takes place at Cross Academy where human students attend the school during the day and vampires at night. This one is totally a boarding school again too, apparently, this is a thing.

Also, honourable mention to Ouran High School Host Club by Bisco Hatori is one of my favourite mangas and takes place almost solely in a school for rich kids (actually not a boarding school though, shock horror) where a “poor” honours student accidentally breaks a vase worth 3 million yen and works with the school host club to earn back the money. I would have put this on the list but I thought of Vampire Knight first.

Do you have a favourite fictional school? If so which one? When I was younger I always wanted to go to Cackles Academy from The Worst Witch (another honourable mention as I somehow forgot it when making this list).

 

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Skyward – Blog Tour Spoiler Free Review

Skyward by Brandon  Sanderson

Rating: XXXXX

Published November 6th by Gollancz
(I received  a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review)

“Alas poor space junk,” M-Bot said. “I would have pretended to know you, if I were capable of lying.”

Defeated, crushed, and driven almost to extinction, the remnants of the human race are trapped on a planet that is constantly attacked by mysterious alien starfighters. Spensa, a teenage girl living among them, longs to be a pilot. When she discovers the wreckage of an ancient ship, she realizes this dream might be possible—assuming she can repair the ship, navigate flight school, and (perhaps most importantly) persuade the strange machine to help her. Because this ship, uniquely, appears to have a soul.

There are SO many great books coming out right now and this is another one I’ve been excited about for a little while now, after dabbling in Sanderson’s Mistborn series previously I couldn’t wait to see his take on what promised to be a Sci-Fi tale right up my street and I was not disappointed, this book is, surprisingly probably no one, absolutely fantastic.

The world building is done brilliantly, any info dumping is done well and at just the right moments but most of the information we get to help create the world in Skyward and help us to understand it is expertly layered into the narrative like brushstrokes to help create the overall picture that is is the Defiant civilisation, their history and their customs. I enjoyed that it wasn’t just the epic moments that were talked about either, there were brilliant small moments that really added to the characters and quite often the world building itself led to some great character development instead of just a general history.

Skyward has many great facets, one of them is most certainly the characters with even the smallest being memorable and easy to identify. Most characters were refreshing and weren’t cornered into stereotypes, everyone had their own stories and their goals which were surprisingly simple to keep up with but the characters, their emotions and choices felt no less complex for it.  I usually try to refrain from mentioning my favourite characters for fear of giving away spoilers or favouritism but although I loved all the characters I have to say for me personally, M-Bot totally stole the show in the best way. It’s funny, sincere and the most precious, heartbreaking A.I I have ever had the pleasure to read (AIDAN is a close second but that’s another story).

The pacing is spot on and almost constantly has you on the edge of your seat for one reason or another, this is an absolute page-turner and I often found myself totally immersed to the point where I decided to read a little before bed around ten thirty and finally put the book down around three in the morning, it just sucks you in. The battles and even the flight training are particularly fast-paced but written in such a way that they are easy to understand well even when reading at speed which is perfect because if you’re anything like me you will be practically inhaling the words. I was worried the ‘flight speak’ would get repetitive or boring but found that actually, it meant that I was much better able to process the information and I honestly think if you showed me a diagram of a DDF Poco class fighter I could name a good amount of the parts and what they’re used for. Although I enjoy Star Wars I hadn’t initially been sure how I would about the fighter elements parts which a fair bit of the story is comprised from but I feel that Skyward hit the perfect spot where it was exciting and that extra understanding just really helped boost that enjoyment.

The overall story is interesting and certainly piqued my interest many times as a truly good book should, there are some great little twists and turns throughout, some brilliant friendships between the characters and I genuinely felt myself being pleasantly surprised at the turns a lot of the story took. This book is a great sci-fi gem and I don’t think I have ever read such a large book at such a fast pace. Skyward is certainly a story that will stay with me, its humour, it’s important messages, the teamwork, the hope and the thrilling ride.