-
Your next favorite book
is waiting.
Summary | Discuss | Reviews | More Information | Read-Alikes
Naomi Novik's Scholomance series meets Plain Bad Heroines in this sapphic dark academia fantasy by instant national and international bestselling author Emily Tesh, winner of the Hugo and World Fantasy Awards.
"Look at you, eating magic like you're one of us."
Doctor Walden is the Director of Magic at Chetwood School and one of the most powerful magicians in England. Her days consist of meetings, teaching A-Level Invocation to four talented, chaotic sixth formers, more meetings, and securing the school's boundaries from demonic incursions.
Walden is good at her job―no, Walden is great at her job. But demons are masters of manipulation. It's her responsibility to keep her school with its six hundred students and centuries-old legacy safe. And it's possible the entity Walden most needs to keep her school safe from―is herself.
Hugo Awards finalists announced
...uthor by Nnedi Okorafor (William Morrow; Gollancz) Shroud by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Tor UK; Orbit US) The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow (Tor US; Tor UK) The Incandescent by Emily Tesh (Tor US; Orbit UK) The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson (Orbit US; Hodderscape) I've only read the first one (and it was very good!). I have read oth...
-kim.kovacs
"Fans of Naomi Novik's Scholomance series won't want to miss this thoughtful exploration of privilege, power, and private school education." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Powered by instantly relatable characters, peppered with the witty ironies of adulthood and growing up, and scattered with tangible imagery, magic tattoos, vape imps, and possessed school printers, this stand-alone fantasy will be an instant classic among former fans of Professor McGonagall of Harry Potter fame." —Booklist (starred review)
"A searingly brilliant fantasy. This is magical school with teeth. Warm-hearted, terrifying and clever, Tesh's examination of magical school through the eyes of an unforgettable - and properly grown up - heroine is an unmissable read." ―Tasha Suri, award-winning author of The Jasmine Throne
"Emily Tesh captivates me the way few authors can, and she can do it in any genre and any world. The Incandescent is a delight from start to finish―it bewitched me, body and soul. Part competency porn for teachers, part harrowing tale of flirtation with your colleagues, part heartwarming demon infestation. A wholly perfect book." ―Olivie Blake, New York Times bestselling author of The Atlas Six
This information about The Incandescent was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Emily Tesh is a UK-based author of science fiction and fantasy. Her debut novel, Some Desperate Glory, won the Hugo Award for Best Novel. Tesh is also a winner of the Astounding Award, and the author of the World Fantasy Award-winning Greenhollow duology.
If you liked The Incandescent, try these:
by R. F.. Kuang
Published 2026
Dante's Inferno meets Susanna Clarke's Piranesi in this all-new dark academia fantasy from R. F. Kuang, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Babel and Yellowface, in which two graduate students must put aside their rivalry and journey to Hell to save their professor's soul—perhaps at the cost of ...
by Emily J.. Taylor
Published 2025
The New York Times bestselling author of Hotel Magnifique returns with another glittering dark fantasy about a deadly mystery that spans worlds and a teenage girl who must risk everything to uncover the truth.
Good and Evil and Other Stories
by Samanta Schweblin
Published 2025
A haunting, unforgettable collection of tales by Samanta Schweblin, winner of the 2022 National Book Award for Translated Literature and three-time Booker Prize finalist.
There is no worse robber than a bad book.
Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!
Can you name the title?
Test your book knowledge with our daily trivia challenge!
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
