The ’90s setting provides the backdrop for tongue-in-cheek technological references but doesn’t do anything for the plot. While the school is an insidious character on its own and the big reveal is slightly psychologically disturbing, Evan’s positioning as a tragic hero with an uncertain fate-which is connected to his stalking of Emma (even before her disappearance)-is far more unsettling. Evan, a chess prodigy who relies on patterns and has difficulty processing social signals, believes he knows Emma better than anyone. Her boyfriend, an athlete called Aiden, naturally wants to find her. Brilliant chemist Neesha believes Emma has run away to avoid taking the heat for the duo’s illegal drug enterprise. When talented poet Emma disappears, three students, distrusting of the school administration, launch their own investigation. Redemption Preparatory is a cross between the Vatican and a top-secret research facility: The school is rooted in Christian ideology (but very few students are Christian), Mass is compulsory, cameras capture everything, and “maintenance” workers carry Tasers. In a remote part of Utah, in a “temple of excellence,” the best of the best are recruited to nurture their talents. If it weren’t for the unsatisfying, obviously sequel-ready ending, this would be a standout.ĭiverse characters, frank discussions about sexual and mental abuse, and reasonably plausible science-based magic elevate this above many dystopian peers Lee’s debut is a thriller with obvious allegorical connections to today’s political climate, but it doesn’t read as message-y even those with genre fatigue shouldn’t regret giving it a try. If not for the fact that Noam, who is bisexual, harbors lusty feelings for Dara and is sneaking around to maintain a relationship with a father figure at the Migrant Center, or that no witching can be trusted if you don’t know what types of magic they’re good at, things would be simple. Fellow student Dara, a dark-skinned and beautiful teen boy, meanwhile favors an anti-refugee politician who has a frosty relationship with Lehrer. Noam sees this as an opportunity to work from the inside to bring rights to the many refugees who have come to Carolinia to escape the virus that still plagues other areas.
With his parents dead, Noam is brought to the witching training center, receiving personal tutoring from the minister of defense, Calix Lehrer. Noam, the Jewish Latinx son of undocumented immigrants from neighboring Atlantia, is one. If you survive, the magic stays and you become a witching. In Carolinia, one of the nations of the former United States, magic enters people like a virus, mostly killing them.
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