Graduation was just the beginning, it turns out.
After declaring independence from both the authoritarian Council and the fanatical Pure, the School of Magic Survival has evolved into the first Shadow School—a third option for mages who refuse to fight a senseless war.Sent to the secluded, heavily warded town known as the Refuge to establish a new branch of the school, twenty-year-old Valerie Blake finds herself completely isolated and deeply mistrusted. To the traumatized locals and rigid administrators, Valerie isn't a hero—she's a dangerous catalyst for the very violence they fled.
Without her allies at her side, Valerie must navigate a labyrinth of political secrets and stifling spellcasting restrictions. But when the city attempts to neuter the students' magic education, Valerie does what she does best: her own thing. Teaming up with her inner circle, she builds a network to train the next generation of mages before the war outside crashes through their gates.
Genre: Urban Fantasy