The Towers of Nine

By: Alyssa Louttit

Narrated by: Carol Beth Anderson

The Towers of Nine School of Magic Study and Practice is an institution rich with ancient traditions and secrets. Serafina Stewart has grown up on stories of this place, passed to her by her witch mother. Now Serafina is finally old enough to attend. But getting in is the easy part. And Mother's stories never included ghosts or deadly spiders.

©2022 Alyssa Louttit (P)2023 Alyssa Louttit

Engaging YA Fantasy

This was my first experience with Alyssa Louttit's work, and I enjoyed it. Serafina Stewart dreamed of going to the school of magic, but first she had to pass the entrance exam. This story was about her adventures. The characters were quirky and fascinating. The tale had some surprising twists and turns. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series. Carol Beth Anderson's narration was fine, and her performance kept my attention. I was given a free copy of the audiobook, and I have voluntarily posted this review.

I need more!

This was a very engaging story and beautifully narrated. I was pulled in quickly and couldn’t stop listening. I’m off to search for the next book because I really want answers to the questions left hanging.

Exciting first month at a school of magic

A fun quick read, but perhaps a little too quick.

A magical school story with a decent mystery at its heart, but the end of book one comes much too soon. As a tale set in a school setting you might expect book one to cover the first year of what the story clearly states is a 5 year education, but this book only covers the first month of Serafina's first year. It's a pretty busy first month and a lot happens, and a lot of questions are raised, but all the answers have been put off for the sequels (lucky for the reader there's already two more volumes at time of writing that hopefully have some answers to the presented mysteries).

The highlight of the book is Serafina's relationship with her friends, and I'd love to have some of their backstories more fleshed out. Serafina herself was a little cynical for my taste, and since the story is from her point of view we're constantly being told how much she hates everything, but that's just me. Some of the ideas about how magic works in this world were cool. I especially liked that every person's mana has its own unique color.

Overall I liked it, and I plan on getting to the sequels at some point.