CHARACTERS: 4.5/5
WRITING STYLE: 4/5
CLIMAX: 4/5
ENTERTAINMENT QUOTIENT: 4.5/5
Before I start this review I must state one single fact – I am a complete Harry Potter fan and hence my loving Miss Mabel’s School for Girls was a predestined thing.
How?
Well, for starters this book is about witches and magic and that too in a very Harry Potter way.
The protagonist is a young girl named Bianca, who is a witch and goes to Miss Mabel’s School for Girls which I can safely say is designed or conceived very much on the lines of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry but not that I am complaining.
In fact, I absolutely loved it because that is where the similarities end and the fun starts but before dissecting the book further let us talk a little about the plot.
Bianca is a sixteen-year-old witch who is suffering from a deadly inheritance curse; a curse which was inflicted on her grandmother and has passed on to her through inheritance.
The lady who inflicted this curse was none other than Miss Mabel, the witch who heads the school Bianca wants to apply to.
Reason: that is her only chance to meet Miss Mabel and get her to neutralize the curse which otherwise in exactly one year is bound to take her life.
But is Miss Mabel so easy to please and manoeuvre? Will Bianca live? What will happen when she discovers that Miss Mabel has some evil diabolical plans of her own?
For a fantasy book to click, it is very important that the world they create is – believable, convincing and at the cost of sounding insane, realistic.
The most difficult job for the author is to make the reader believe that such a world can exist without them asking the rationale behind each and every assumption and liberty which the author may have made or taken.
Katie Cross has done just that and done it beautifully. The Network is not just a fully functional, believable and realistic world but is astonishingly interesting too.
The character of Bianca is also a strong protagonist and someone whom every reader is bound to admire and support.
The tragedy which she suffers from and the underlying death in the corner theme are also alluring and add to the entertainment quotient.
The evil Miss Mabel, the noble High Priestess, strict Miss Scarlett, Bianca’s family and friends are all characters to look forward to.
The storyline and the plot are very interesting and make for an absolute page-turning read.
Katie’s writing style is fresh and inspiring in the most sincere way. She has a way of charming the readers which come effortlessly through her words.
Miss Mabel’s School for Girls is the first one in the Network series and I am totally waiting for the second part to release.
I had received the digital copy of the book from Antebellum Publishing through the Net Galley platform in exchange for an honest review.
That being stated, I recommend this book as an “absolute must” to all my fantasy-loving readers and rate it four and a half out of five stars.