Review: Something Wicked (University of Morgana: Academy of Enchantments and Witchcraft #1) by Emma Dean

                                                                      

Print Length: 282 pages

Publisher: Crowned Stars Publications (May 2, 2019)

From Goodreads.com:  San Francisco Bay Coven has been torn apart and no one feels this more than Mika Marshall. Kenzie Kavanagh exposed her father and brother's betrayal.

So Mika is starting at the University of Morgana a semester late and praying to the Fates that she'll be able to catch up and graduate with her class. But as a witch with an undeclared specialty she's trying not to bring too much attention to herself.

Because Mika has a secret and if she doesn't learn to control her powers, people will die.

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My Rating: DNF at 34%

2026 really is shaping up to be the year I stop forcing myself through books I'm not enjoying. Life is too short, my TBR is too long, and I'm done convincing myself that maybe it'll get better in the next chapter.

Unfortunately, this was one of those books.

My biggest issue was Mika. She is, quite frankly, one of the most irritating protagonists I've read in a while. I keep seeing people say, "You'll understand her if you read the other series first." That's not a defense. This book is marketed as the first in its series. If your main character has a laundry list of odd behaviors, they should be explained here, not require knowledge from another series.

Instead, we're expected to just accept everything at face value. She constantly complains about having to take eight classes simultaneously, even though she could apparently test out of them and chooses not to. She repeatedly melts down whenever someone touches her, insists she can't perform practical magic despite supposedly being gifted with battle magic, and spends the entire book (as far into it as I got) acting like she's some great mystery the reader isn't allowed to understand.

The contradiction that finally pushed me over the edge was her obsession with anonymity. She claims all she wants is to blend in, yet every decision she makes practically screams, "Please notice how different and mysterious I am." Then, whenever anything becomes even mildly inconvenient (including her fellow classmates simply talking to her), her solution seems to be... run away.

I'm sure there are explanations for all of this eventually. I'm also sure there are plenty more quirks and personality traits waiting to be revealed. I simply wasn't interested enough to stick around and find out.

I was equally uninterested in figuring out which of the "OMG they're so hot... but ugh, I totally don't like them" classmates was going to become the first addition to her inevitable harem.

I'm sure this series has its audience. I just learned pretty quickly that I'm not part of it.