Strixhaven fiction book
May. 29th, 2026 09:43 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beccaelizabethI finished reading Strixhaven Omens of Chaos by Seanan McGuire.
I didn't enjoy it much, unfortunately, because I am not familiar with Magic any more. I mean I played but I have Ice Age and Mirage cards, maybe some Visions, not things after that. And I don't see how the magic in Strixhaven is the magic in the card sets. Probably the sets have changed a lot since then.
It also was not quite the book I thought it would be, being set in a school or university. It was a kissing book, when I wasn't in the mood to read a romance or expecting one somehow, and it didn't follow the beats I expected for educational establishments, where they learn things in class and try things out that don't work or make sense to them there, or sensei shows them the moves for fun and then they need to save lives with them, or they play a sport that requires their new skills to make sense, and then something big happens and they need to try it all for real. It felt like they skipped the learning it phase and just got the bits where people attacked them. They used the skills they arrived with, and then did something with them I didn't know they could, so it didn't feel like setup payoff to me.
But maybe it would if I knew the setting.
So many references whooshed right past me and I felt like I was expected to get a lot more out of the Names than I did.
And just the thing where they kept calling every fight Duelling (no matter how many people were involved) felt like an entire culture whooshed past me fast.
The lessons they did have were plot relevant though, so fair enough to that. And the warning flags were planted plainly enough early enough.
It was a pretty good adventure, I just didn't have enough context or relevant expectations to get much out of it.
Also I am cranky and tired and Britain is Too Warm this week and my schedule went unexpected and this new computer keeps on doing the thing where this on screen keyboard turns into the search box unexpectedly and I cannot narrow down why at all AND it has decided Bluetooth doesn't work and at this rate next week it will be going back to the computer guy to fix and it is meant to be the nice new working one that is already fixed. So. Cranky and not in the mood for... anything.
It seems fair to note this as part of my assessment of the text because the heat alone can probably knock a star off my ratings, which isn't going to be fair.
I think the book is probably fun when you know what it is talking about.
I think this on screen keyboard is approaching intolerable.
I didn't enjoy it much, unfortunately, because I am not familiar with Magic any more. I mean I played but I have Ice Age and Mirage cards, maybe some Visions, not things after that. And I don't see how the magic in Strixhaven is the magic in the card sets. Probably the sets have changed a lot since then.
It also was not quite the book I thought it would be, being set in a school or university. It was a kissing book, when I wasn't in the mood to read a romance or expecting one somehow, and it didn't follow the beats I expected for educational establishments, where they learn things in class and try things out that don't work or make sense to them there, or sensei shows them the moves for fun and then they need to save lives with them, or they play a sport that requires their new skills to make sense, and then something big happens and they need to try it all for real. It felt like they skipped the learning it phase and just got the bits where people attacked them. They used the skills they arrived with, and then did something with them I didn't know they could, so it didn't feel like setup payoff to me.
But maybe it would if I knew the setting.
So many references whooshed right past me and I felt like I was expected to get a lot more out of the Names than I did.
And just the thing where they kept calling every fight Duelling (no matter how many people were involved) felt like an entire culture whooshed past me fast.
The lessons they did have were plot relevant though, so fair enough to that. And the warning flags were planted plainly enough early enough.
It was a pretty good adventure, I just didn't have enough context or relevant expectations to get much out of it.
Also I am cranky and tired and Britain is Too Warm this week and my schedule went unexpected and this new computer keeps on doing the thing where this on screen keyboard turns into the search box unexpectedly and I cannot narrow down why at all AND it has decided Bluetooth doesn't work and at this rate next week it will be going back to the computer guy to fix and it is meant to be the nice new working one that is already fixed. So. Cranky and not in the mood for... anything.
It seems fair to note this as part of my assessment of the text because the heat alone can probably knock a star off my ratings, which isn't going to be fair.
I think the book is probably fun when you know what it is talking about.
I think this on screen keyboard is approaching intolerable.
no subject
Date: 2026-05-29 02:23 pm (UTC)