The Incandescent

By Emily Tesh

A Deadly Education meets Plain Bad Heroines in this sapphic dark academia fantasy from bestselling author Emily Tesh, winner of the Hugo and World Fantasy Awards

Doctor Walden is the Director of Magic at Chetwood School and one of the most powerful magicians in England. Her days consist of meetings, teaching A-Level Invocation to four talented and chaotic sixth formers, more meetings, and securing the school's boundaries from demonic incursions.

Walden is good at her job—no, Walden is great at her job. But when a new threat arises in the form of the ancient demon who has long waited patiently just beyond the school’s wards, even Walden and the aggressively competent Chief Marshal, Laura Kenning, may not be able to contain it.

It’s Walden’s responsibility to keep her school with its six hundred students and centuries-old legacy safe. And it’s possible the entity Walden most needs to keep her school safe from—is herself.

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Published May 13, 2025

432 pages

Average rating: 7.33

36 RATINGS

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Community Reviews

Evan
Evan
9/10 stars
4.5 stars

Truly phenomenal book that unfortunately I’d take half a star off just for the last chapter. The world building is incredible, loved the exploration of personal identity and the way we build it, and loved Dr. Walden as a character. I thought the build up to the climax was great, and the way that the Phoenix was written made it even better. Everything was going great until the last chapter after the final fight where the author unfortunately just didn’t stick the landing.
M
mathdoug
8/10 stars
I enjoyed the book. I thought it somewhat similar to the Harry Potter series in the sense of the stting. However, the main character was no a student, but the Magic Director. The lesbian love affair was slow building and wasn't a major plotline in the novel.

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