Middle School

Most students at Dragonsong Academy spend their days practicing spells and wielding wands, but after flunking her sixth-grade standardized tests, Cara Moone is on the fast track to becoming a MOP (a.k.a. Magical Occurrence Purger). See, when a real wizard casts a spell, it leaves behind a residue called spell dust—which can be dangerous if not disposed of properly. It’s a MOP’s job to clean up the mess.
And no one makes more of a mess than Dragonsong Academy’s star student, Harlee. Widely believed to be the Chosen One destined to save the magical world, she makes magic look easy. So, of course, she’s Cara’s sworn nemesis. Or she would be if she even knew Cara existed.
But then Harlee’s spells begin to leave behind something far worse than spell dust: rifts in the fabric of magic itself. Soon Cara begins to suspect that the so-called “Chosen One” isn’t going to save the world. She’s going to destroy it.
It will take more than magic to clean up a mess this big. Fortunately, messes are kind of Cara’s thing.

“To all the kids I’ve taught over the years, especially those of you who dreamed of going to wizard school but could never quite see yourself there. Maybe now you can.” – Lee Edward Fodi

A wizard school story told from the point of view of the worst student. Like if Harry Potter was told from the point of view of Argus Filch, the ill-tempered caretaker who can’t do magic.

Cara makes a lot of references to fantasy clichés and tropes used in most fantasy stories. Mostly she complains about how it’s nothing like what she’s read in books and how it isn’t up to her expectations. I usually don’t like books where the main character complains too much, but if I were in her situation, I’d be mad too. She got a chance to go to a magic school, and she can barely cast a spell. I can understand her feeling like the world was out to get her because that’s a typical feeling for a kid her age. I would know. I spent most of my younger school years feeling like something was out to get me.

I will end my review here because I don’t want to give anything away. Overall, this was a solid fantasy adventure with an interesting take on magic and lots of twists and turns. I don’t know if the author plans on writing a sequel. I hope he does because I felt the ending left it open for one.