I should have known that if this book had a blurb from the author of the Hush, Hush series, it would not be all that great.
This book has been on my TBR list for what feels like years. I mean, a book about a young witch going to a magical school sounds about as fun as they come, right? Well, maybe it was back when I first caught wind of this book, but it’s very clear that this book’s prime is past.
When Sophie Mercer accidentally exposes her identity as a witch to her school, she is sent to Hex Hall, a reform school for witches, shapeshifters, faeries, and other magical teenagers. She quickly makes friends with her vampire roommate Jenna, but also makes fast enemies with the Trinity, a trio of mean girl witches who want Sophie in their coven, despite Sophie’s many refusals. When several students become victims of vicious attacks, Jenna, who is the only vampire student, quickly gets blamed, but there is way more for the students to fear than a teenage vampire.
Unlike other young adult fantasies from the 2010s, I don’t find myself entering this review with the vehement desire to tear it apart, like with Need or Wings. That’s partly because there is not as big a problematic romance or any absolute dumbass characters.
The book is honestly just a middle-of-the-road fantasy. It’s cliched, not very exciting, and you can almost see the twists coming.
Heck, I sometimes forgot the main character’s name half the time, because she is just another ultra-powerful chosen one.
Let’s break down the ways this book is totally nondistinct from other magic school fantasies:
- The protagonist gets sent to a new school against her will
- She makes enemies with a clique of mean girls who are ultra-pretty and popular
- It’s hate at first sight with her and the male lead, who eventually becomes her love interest
- Said male lead is the hottest guy that every girl lusts after
- And is also the boyfriend of the most popular girl in school
- Said most popular girl is also the leader of the Trinity and a witch in every sense of the word
- There’s an ogre of a teacher who’s out to get the main character for seemingly no reason until the grand reveal later on
- The headmistress is an old, wise woman who is more forgiving of the protagonist’s rule-breaking than maybe she should be
- The protagonist is some chosen one with a special ability that outshines all others
- The magical school is in an old decrepit castle in the middle of nowhere
To the book’s credit, it does distinguish itself in other ways, but not very well.
When the Trinity tells Sophie they want her in their coven, they don’t wait to tell her at lunch or in the hallway, like normal people. Rather, they break into her room in the middle of the night, when absolutely no one would have wanted to talk. Sure, it’s different, but makes no sense.
It might just be my tastes, but Archer Cross, the supposedly hottest guy in school that Sophie inevitably crushes on, is not all that cute. He might pass for the boy next door, but not as Mr. Ultra Popular.
The book tries to conjure up a romance between Archer and Sophie, but they have zip chemistry, and their connection feels rushed and shallow. It’s almost like the author was banking on the reader shipping them from the first page so that she didn’t need to put in any work. The reader could create a perfect story for them in their own minds, and thus, the author didn’t need to create real chemistry, if that makes sense.
Honestly, the whole story feels like the author riding on the tropes and cliches of the magical school genre. I mean, yeah, magical schools were fun to read about in light of Harry Potter‘s popularity, but Hex Hall just feels like any other magical school, hence the above-listed cliches.
But here’s what I don’t understand about the writing. The author is reportedly a high school teacher, and yet, the paragraph structuring is all over the place.
In a normal dialogue exchange between two characters, each character’s dialogue and action is usually in one paragraph to keep the conversation succinct and easy to follow. But here, two characters’ dialogue will be in the same paragraph, but one character’s action and dialogue are divided into separate paragraphs.
What sense does it make to keep two characters’ dialogue in the same paragraph without dialogue tags but to separate one character’s action from their dialogue?
Rachel Hawkins, surely as a high school English teacher, you would have read enough books to understand such a basic writing concept as that.
Also, there are simply some weird witch traditions in this book, namely about witches and warlocks getting betrothed at thirteen years old. It’s all based on some magical compatibility thing to make the best matches, but they are not mandatory since one or both parties can opt-out at any time. I’m sure it’s something that comes up later in this series, but it sounds really stupid here (I mean, getting betrothed at the most freaking awkward age ever), and I don’t care to learn more about it.
Which I surely won’t be doing for anything else in this series since the second book is not going on my TBR list.
I almost wish there was something to get mad about with this book, but as I said, it’s right in the middle. You’d think that this book being as bad as Wings or Need would be a bad thing, but I’d rather a book be totally bad or good than completely forgettable.
The Library Key 