School of Magic 1

Who This Book Is For

Readers who want to see Dante King actually try — crisper writing, a mature lead, and genuine political intrigue behind the harem

Who This Book Is NOT For

Anyone expecting a magic school from page one — the actual academy does not appear until the final third of the book

Our Review

The Setup

Jol Rivers is not the typical Dante King protagonist. He is a veteran of the Imperial Expeditionary Force who has settled into a quiet life as a village blacksmith. He has seen things, done things, and wants nothing more than to shape metal and be left alone. That changes when a beautiful mage discovers that his forged items contain mysterious magical properties — properties that could be the key to defeating malignant forces threatening the Second Empire. She invites him to the Lyceum, a prestigious institute for mages, where he can develop whatever hidden power is manifesting through his craft.

This is a notably different opening for King. There is no rock concert hookup, no instant transportation to a fantasy world, no immediate power explosion. Jol is a mature, grounded character with a past, and the story takes its time establishing who he is before dropping him into the magical world.

What Works

The writing itself represents a significant improvement over King’s earlier work. The prose is crisper, cleaner, and more confident. Sentences do not stumble over themselves, and the narration has a maturity that was absent in Creation Mage or Dragon Breeder. Readers who tried King before and bounced off the juvenile tone will find a different author here — one who is clearly working to improve his craft.

Jol is a more balanced protagonist than King usually writes. He is competent without being overpowered, experienced without being arrogant, and his blacksmith background gives him a unique perspective on magic that feels earned rather than granted. The crafting-hero archetype is underserved in harem fiction, and Jol fills that niche well.

The world-building hints at something genuinely complex. Ancient entities, political intrigue between empire factions, and a magic system with real history behind it suggest a story with more ambition than King’s typical output. The intimate scenes are above average and, importantly, do not dominate the word count — they serve the character dynamics rather than replacing them.

What Doesn’t

The title is misleading. Despite being called “School of Magic,” the Lyceum does not appear until the final third of the book. Everything before that is setup — Jol in his village, Jol on the road, Jol encountering various people and situations that establish the world. It is an extended prologue that, while well-crafted, leaves readers feeling like the promised story has not yet begun by the time the book ends.

Jol’s powers remain frustratingly unclear and possibly contradictory. Three hundred pages in, neither Jol nor the reader has a solid understanding of what exactly he can do or how his magic works. Some mystery is good; perpetual confusion is not. For a progression fantasy audience that expects visible advancement, this vagueness is a real problem.

The ending is poorly executed. Multiple readers describe it as abrupt and unsatisfying, as if the book stops rather than concludes. For a story that takes so long to set up, the lack of a meaningful payoff or climax in book one feels like a breach of the reader contract.

The Heat

A moderate three. King shows restraint here, letting the explicit scenes enhance character dynamics rather than dominate them. The result is intimate content that is more meaningful, if less frequent, than his usual output. This is not a book you pick up for maximum heat, but the scenes that are here have more impact because they are surrounded by actual story.

Bottom Line

School of Magic represents Dante King leveling up as a writer. The prose is better, the protagonist is more interesting, and the world has genuine depth. But the misleading title, unclear power system, and weak ending undermine what could have been a strong entry in the harem academy subgenre. Worth reading on Kindle Unlimited as proof that King has more range than his earlier work suggests, with the caveat that you are buying into a slow setup that only starts paying off in book two.

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