Review of 'The Incandescent'

The Incandescent by Emily Tesh

Doctor Saffire (“Saffy”) Walden works as the Director of Magic at Chetwood School - An aging, elite school that caters to children with magical talent or, more often, whose parents have money. Walden attended the school herself but this is tainted with the death of a fellow student when a demon summoning went wrong. As a potential magnet for demon and magical attack, the school has wardens that patrol the grounds as protection against any magical attack while the school itself has wards and large, old-fashioned, thaumic engines that offer additional protection. As director she has very little teaching duties but does lead a class on invocation with four quite talented children. Odd things begin to happen beginning with an invocation class lesson which goes horribly wrong then a student accidentally summons a massively powerful demon that has been lying in wait for years…It will take all of her magical skills, and the help of those around her, to protect her skills and the students of Chetwood.

This is an interesting read featuring a lot of magical stuff that I found a bit tricky to get to understand but after a while it all makes a bit of sense. The story is generally told from the perspective of Walden but there are some pretty big clues that all is not what it seems in her relationship with her captive demon. There are sequences of normality followed by scenes of pure, magical, horror and massive action that begin to look quite suspicious as they happen more and more frequently. As the story unfolds Walden begins to realize there is more to life than her work first attracted to chief Marshal Laura Kenning then romantically involved with Kenning's replacement Mark Daubery. Beyond that this is an exploration of what English boarding schools must be like (perhaps minus the magic bits) with the politics and lives of the young students.

The plot is fairly complex yet it is easy enough to keep up with the salient details enough to understand what is going on. For the most part, this is a mystery: Why are these things happening? Why now? Will Walden with her tremendous magical powers be able to protect the school? The dramatic ending is quite a surprise but ultimately satisfying.

Rating: “Really good but I have some issues”

Review Date: 2026-08-02

Genre: Fantasy

Publisher: Tor Publishing

Publication Date: 2025

ISBN: 9781250835024