School Library Journal
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Gr 9 Up—A dark academia fantasy for fans of Naomi Novik's A Deadly Education and Ava Reid's A Study in Drowning. The professor leading the honors curriculum their final year at the Stellarium of Cifra is a devil, literally. Summoned every year for each crop of students, the professor is both the teacher and the lesson: if they can't kill him before the last day of school, the devil kills them. The Stellarium is the last school of magic on the continent, and students who pass the entrance exam will pay the exorbitant tuition for the chance to learn. Fabian's student loans are so large the bank required his mother's life as collateral, and he's been aiming for the honors class ever since, using his friends Euphemia and Credence to help cultivate a deceptively agreeable image. As the year proceeds, the class is whittled away with each failed assassination attempt. Miller divides the book into three points of view, one for each term of the year, which ensures no character feels safe from the Professor. The story meditates on themes like the cost of education, self-worth via academic success, and survival versus sacrifice inside a horror story. The characterizations are a little thin, but stakes are high, the premise is fun, and the pacing makes for a delightful binge read. VERDICT Small doses of gore and horror heighten the stakes of this magical survival story. Recommended for general purchase.—Emmy Neal

Publishers Weekly
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In the magical nation of Cifra, three honors students enroll in a class with a dark objective: kill or be killed. As Cifra’s only school, “built upon the traditions of a bloodier time,” that’s willing to train gifted young magicians in the dangerous art of severance, or cognitively leaving one’s body, the Stellarium’s elite honors program tasks 13 students with killing their teacher, a devil, before the last day of class. Failed attempts are punished by death, and all remaining students are killed if the devil-professor survives to the final bell. For ambitious Fabian, his flighty stepsister Euphemia, and their numbers-loving friend Credence, the honors program—which secures voting rights, high-paying jobs, and student loan waivers for graduates—is the only hope of a successful future. But how does a mortal teenager kill an immortal being? Esoteric prose occasionally stifles a compelling premise. Miller (Prince of Glass & Midnight) nevertheless devises a fresh, physics- and chemistry-driven magical system and utilizes cerebral close-third-person storytelling and biting narration to confront the twisted politics of dark academia. Characters are intersectionally diverse. Ages 14–up. Agent: Rachel Brooks, BookEnds Literary. (June)

Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

At the Stellarium, an exclusive school for magicians, 13 sixth-year students are selected for the honors class. The class is always taught by a devil, and the objective is for the students to kill the devil by the end of the school year. If they succeed, then they will graduate, their hefty student debts will be forgiven, and they will join the ranks of the elite, honorable magicians and enjoy all the prestige that entails. If they fail, their lives are all forfeit, and any individual who tries and fails dies immediately. The first part of this moody, atmospheric narrative introduces three students: Fabian, Credence, and Euphemia (Mia), best friends who are determined to succeed. The first term explodes with a jump scare. As time starts running out and students die, the survivors become more desperate, and what was once a competition becomes a concerted effort. Miller’s text is richly written without weighing down the narrative, and the characters shine against the dark academia backdrop. The detail is astounding, ranging from what students wear under their robes to the way their clothes, hair, and hands are artfully daubed with ink to demonstrate their devotion to scholarship. The suspense rises subtly as the year progresses, and the storytelling is engrossing in this stunning debut.

Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

At a magical school, students must kill—or be killed. Fabian, Euphemia, and Credence attend the Stellarium, an elite academy for training honorable magicians. Their honors class teacher, known only as “the Professor,” is a devil—an immortal with a simple objective on his syllabus. Kill him before the semester is over and you pass; fail, and he will kill all 13 students. Given the astronomically high tuition, which they can’t afford, the three friends are also eager to see their tuition forgiven, another part of the deal if they’re successful. Split into three sections—which are named for each of the three leads—this slow-burn novel delves into each character’s machinations, and it quickly becomes apparent that deceit and sabotage run rampant throughout the Stellarium, few will be spared, and even fewer can be trusted. The premise has all the elements dark academia readers wish for: magic, politics, a gothic-tinged setting, and swoonworthy romance. However, Miller mires the narrative in minutiae, exhausting readers’ attention over trivialities that feel irrelevant, leaving more important elements (specifically the overall worldbuilding and magic system) to falter. Occasional odd turns of phrase pull readers out of the story. Nevertheless, devotees of the genre may be able to overlook these missteps, reveling in the omnipresent and precarious balance between life and death, and the author’s pull-no-punches treatment of her characters. Credence has brown skin, and Fabian and Euphemia, who’s queer, read white. Intriguing but frustratingly unfocused.(Dark fantasy. 13-adult) Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.