I should have liked it

I really should like this book! It has a lot of the elements needed for a great story. It's half Harry Potter - a school for wizards with evil plots afoot - and half Harry Dresden - a hard-boiled detective with magic powers who walks among humans and the supernatural. But somehow it falls a bit flat.

The stories themselves are good, with likable characters, mysteries, and some philosophy about life, love and magic thrown in to the mix. There was character development for many characters, and some tropes were lampshaded (the hero DIDN'T end up with his crush that he saved in the first book, for example). The system of magic made sense - well, at least as much sense as the one in Harry Potter - and the cast of characters was diverse and interesting. So it's frustrating to admit that it just didn't catch me - I never felt hooked into the 'just five more minutes' feel that I get with really good books.

The narration was part of that. Although the narrator has a great repertoire of voices and accents, the main character and the narrator are both a deep, gravelly voice that would be at home in any movie trailer from the 80s. It really wears after a while, especially when you know the reader is capable of doing more normal voices! Because of that, I have to conclude that it was a stylistic choice to make the main character seem more hard-boiled and manly. it works... but it's tiring.

All in all, I feel like this is a 'good enough' book - I'm not disappointed that I bought it, but I'm not likely to buy the sequel.

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