Miss Mabel's School for Girls: The Network Series, #1
By Katie Cross
4/5
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About this ebook
*Winner of the IAN 2015 Outstanding Fantasy award*
Sixteen-year-old Bianca Monroe has prepared for this moment her entire life: the day she'll enroll in the quietly famous magical school Miss Mabel's School for Girls.
Winning a spot to work directly with Miss Mabel is a dangerous game. Bianca soon faces enchanting spells, simmering potions, and the warmth of new friendships.
Unfortunately, Miss Mabel has her own evil plans—and if Bianca loses, she's at the very center of them.
Bianca's only hope lies within the power of her closely-held secrets that threaten her and everyone she loves.
Katie Cross
Katie Cross is ALL ABOUT writing epic magic and wild places. Creating new fantasy worlds is her jam. When she’s not hiking or chasing her two littles through the Montana mountains, you can find her curled up reading a book or arguing with her husband over the best kind of sushi.
Read more from Katie Cross
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Titles in the series (8)
Mildred's Resistance: The Network Series, #0.5 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Miss Mabel's School for Girls: The Network Series, #1 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Isadora Interviews: The Network Series, #1.5 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The High Priest's Daughter: The Network Series, #3 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Alkarra Awakening: The Network Series, #2 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5War of the Networks: The Network Series, #4 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Lost Magic: The Network Series, #5 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsShort Stories from the Network Series: The Network Series, #6 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
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Reviews for Miss Mabel's School for Girls
42 ratings4 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5So I'm a sucker for all things related to witchy schools and tough female characters. When I read the synopsis of this, it reminded me of an all-girl cast of Harry Potter and, to be honest, that's exactly what hooked me! What's better than a group of tough girls learning magic? Nothing. Which is why I had such high hopes for Miss Mabel's School for Girls. I wanted to get lost in a new world, full of magic and mischief. I can happily say that this was a great introduction!
Things take off at a lightning pace. Bianca was a wonderful character, and one that I instantly saw myself in. A little less than a lady, but full of the type of fire that makes for a one strong protagonist. Watching her set off on a quest that she absolutely knew would be dangerous excited me. See, Bianca was cursed by the very person whose clutches she was now willingly walking into. Such a great premise. To try to prove yourself to the one person who holds your life in their hands.
Which brings me to the fact that there were a lot of things that I did like about this story. Bianca, for one. The fact that Miss Mabel's School for Girls was shrouded in mystery and magic. Even the fact that all of the characters were so strong. It's refreshing to see a book that features a female cast, that doesn't focus heavily on romance. Maybe that's coming in the next books, but in this moment I felt amazed that it wasn't there. No love triangles. Thank you Katie Cross.
What I wished for more than anything though, was more world building and less "telling" rather than showing. There were portions of this story that moved very slowly. A lot of travel was necessary, and those parts tended to drag on a bit. When Bianca was being tested, it was fabulous. When she was lost in her own head, it was a little slow. It wasn't anything overly exhausting, but I would have loved to see a bit more forward movement. I have a very strong feeling that it's coming in the books down the pipe though, so I'm excited about that.
Long story short, this was a book that I enjoyed. It didn't immediately jump to the top of my favorites list, but I also know that this is a series that I plan on continuing on with. I can't wait! - Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This was very well written, but too dark for me. I thought from the cover it would be cozy, but it's really dark fantasy. Not TOO dark, but darker than I prefer.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Loved the characters, the setting, adventurous --both inner and outer--and have now in 3 days indulged in serial mania with books 1-4. Great fun. Inventive.
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- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Give me a moment to compose myself here because this book was totally not what I was expecting. And it's not that I wasn't expecting it to be good...I just didn't really know what to expect.First off, I never read fantasy. The only fantasy I've ever really read is Chronicles of Narnia, and even then it was just a couple of the books, not the whole series. I've never read Harry Potter, I've never read Lord of the Rings (*dodges flying tomatoes*). But I decided to pick this book up for a couple of reasons: I wanted to support a fellow indie author, and it had a lot of really great reviews, many of which began with something along the lines of "I never read fantasy, but..." So I thought, Hey, why not?To start with, the worldbuilding is very well-done. We're introduced to this land all the characters live in very gradually, and many of the details are introduced via dialogue so there's not a lot of droning exposition. I applaud Ms. Cross for coming up with such interesting names for all the locations, characters, herbs, books, types of magic, etc. - I never put much thought into names until I started writing seriously myself, so now I recognize hard work when I see it! All the environments, both inside and outside the school, were so well-described that I felt like I was right there with the characters.I loved Bianca's character. When the book first started, I let out a sigh and was planning on being disappointed because it seemed like she was going to be just another one of those typical tomboy-ish characters who ends up having to go to an all girls' school and doesn't fit in at all. Sure, some of those elements were still there, but she ended up being a lot more than that too. She's a little bit of an anti-hero and sort of has her own agenda for everything, and I've always adored characters like that. And so sassy! I chuckled audibly several times while reading.I'm still not sure if fantasy, witches, and magic are really my cup of tea, but I know good writing when I see it. It became a classic story of good vs. evil, and many of the exchanges between Bianca and Miss Mabel reminded me of Luke Skywalker and Emperor Palpatine in Star Wars. And really, there were a lot of almost thriller-type elements (spies, murder plots, etc.) that reminded me of the books I usually like to read; they just happened to be set in a fantasy world. And of course we're left with a little bit of a cliffhanger at the end - I'm excited to find out how everything plays out.So that's my two cents. Not sure when I'll have a chance to read Book 2 but I'm looking forward to it.
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