Graduation Day – Christopher G. Nuttall

Writing a review for book 14 of a series seems a bit silly. If you’ve read the first 13 books, you’re probably sold on the series, and if you haven’t, you probably shouldn’t start with book 14. (Book 1, “Schooled in Magic”, is very good, btw.) But book 13, “The Gordion Knot”, was disappointing, and a reader might reasonably ask whether to keep reading. If you’ve enjoyed earlier books in the series, the answer is ‘yes’.

Books 13 and 14 are one extended book, and cutting such a book in two is a gamble. In this case the cut harmed TGK: That book is structured around something fundamentally trivial - Emily’s stint as Head Girl at her boarding school - and has no emotional rewards for the reader, as thing go wrong and wronger . Then they go wronger still, and the book ends.

GD does better in all respects. It is structured around something important - a formal trial with a life at stake - and the trial isn’t something Emily can win by producing a new plot device. She has to do what other grown-ups do, and work with other people. She displays considerable personal growth in this book, and both within the trial story and outside of it she makes good decisions.

The book does end dramatically, of course - the plot structure requires it - but all the plot devices have been foreshadowed legitimately, and the end satisfies.

The author is also taking an interesting story-telling chance by letting Emily outgrow the school. I look forward to the series’s new direction.