A dark academia fantasy, “Bodies of Magic” by Freya Marske, was a rather fun journey.
The book follows five scholars at the Academie of the Grand Duchy of Sieuxerr. They attend the school for five years, learning how to control their healing gift, and in the fifth year comes the grand exam: a five-day trial which they must pass in order to graduate and become full healers. Each person is assigned to a group, and that group either passes or fails together. The five scholars the story centers around are Estiene Marcelle, Alys Tixerrant, Moyna Apprice, Jehan Fortier, and Clement Savoye.
Things go awry immediately when they find Ysabel Caudotte, who just so happens to be Clement’s best friend, dead on the first day of their exam. Now, along with the stress of the final exam, there is a murder investigation to pursue, all while each character tries to keep their own secrets intact.
This wasn’t a story I was immediately invested in. I had to get through some world-building and get to know more of the characters before I went from passively reading to actively carving out time to finish.
The characters and the dynamics between them are where this book truly shines. For having so many POVs, I found myself easily being able to follow the story, as well as connecting well enough with all of them. There were two romances within the group, one previously established in a situationship/ex state and the other slowly hinting at mutual attraction. I was invested in the first romance, wanting POVs from either character involved.
With the current rise of “romantasy” books on the market, I stay a reader who prefers my romance as a subplot and not the driving factor of the story. This romance is perfect in that regard. It’s important to the two characters involved and influences their choices, but doesn’t affect the story entirely as a whole. There is plenty going on with all the other characters and mysteries being uncovered that it sits perfectly alongside them.
In addition to the characters, there is a wide range of representation of characters from the LGBTQ+ community. They felt well-worked into the world, including how they incorporated nonbinary or gender neutral individuals. It felt organic to the story, which is something I appreciate, especially when sometimes having queer characters in a story seems like an item to mark off on a checklist.
As for the magic system, it wasn’t very clearly defined. The basics were easy to understand; it’s a form of healing magic. Details about being able to taste sickness, or what was wrong within the body, made it easier to imagine and more immersive as a reader. The nitty-gritty specifics, though, were a bit muddled, and I had to go with the flow. I had no problem with this, perhaps because I’m in the midst of a college semester. But if I had more free time, I could easily see myself getting frustrated with the lack of clarity.
The biggest problem with the book was pacing. For a plot that is supposed to span over five days, far too much happens to be realistically plausible. For all of the events to occur reasonably, it would need to be at least two weeks, maybe even longer.
The novel is marketed as “Grey’s Anatomy meets (insert various other dark academia titles).” I think the “Grey’s Anatomy” comparison is a bit of a stretch. I can see similarities: the residency aspect of the academy, how there are five main characters, and the focus on healing, but I don’t think it achieves the MAGIC (Meredith, Alex, George, Izzie, and Christina) era of the show it was hinting at. Personally, I find it better compared to the show “Bones,” with the focus on finding out the cause of death and the investigation that arises as a result.
Overall, the reading experience was enjoyable, rating between three-and-a-half to four-out-of-five stars.
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