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Behind the gates of Britain’s most prestigious magic school, Briar Jones finds the former best friend they lost, the world they were denied, and the rot hiding beneath all that power.
From New York Times bestselling author Lex Croucher, The Unmagical Life of Briar Jones is an adult fantasy debut praised by John Green, Olivie Blake, and Laura Steven, and pitched for fans of The Magicians, Ninth House, The Atlas Six, Babel, and A Deadly Education.
Rent new hardcover on Trove: $12.80 - Each rental copy can be rented for 30 days. If you love the book and decide to keep it, the remaining balance applies.
Buy new hardcover on Trove: $32.00
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About the book:
Briar Jones spent childhood dreaming of Temple School of Thaumaturgy, the elite boarding school rumored to be magical. When their best friend Sebastian Wolfe receives an acceptance letter and Briar does not, the future they imagined together breaks apart.
Seven years later, Briar finally gets inside Temple through a temp job sorting through the school’s forgotten attic junk. What they find is not the glittering dream they once worshipped, but a place built on secrecy, privilege, and corrupted power.
Sebastian is no longer the quiet, sensitive boy Briar loved more than anything. He has become Bastian: beautiful, cruel, feared by the entire school, and tangled in the secrets Temple is desperate to protect.
The Unmagical Life of Briar Jones is a dark academia fantasy about class, longing, grief, identity, and the cost of wanting to belong somewhere that was never built for you. It is also a slow-burn queer romance about best friends turned enemies, the ache of lost intimacy, and the dangerous pull of the person who still knows you best.
____________________________________________
This book is for you if:
You love dark academia filled with secret societies, magic schools, libraries, rituals, and power.
You want a slow-burn queer romance with best friends, enemies, longing, betrayal, and years of unresolved feelings.
You like fantasy that mixes sharp banter, found family, emotional damage, and social critique.
You want an adult fantasy debut with the atmosphere of The Magicians and Ninth House, but with messy romance, queer characters, and a deeply personal coming-of-age story.
____________________________________________
About the author:
Lex Croucher grew up in Surrey and now lives in London. They are the author of adult historical-ish rom-coms including Reputation, Infamous, and Trouble, as well as historical fantasy rom-coms for teenagers.
Their YA novel Gwen & Art Are Not in Love became a New York Times and USA Today bestseller and won the 2024 YA Book Prize. The Unmagical Life of Briar Jones is Croucher’s adult fantasy debut, bringing their wit, emotional intelligence, and talent for romantic tension into a darker magical world.
____________________________________________
The reviews are in! Pre-release readers are calling it addictive, angsty, and magical:
Early readers describe The Unmagical Life of Briar Jones as dark academia at its finest, with secret societies, elitist class systems, and a magic school that feels both seductive and rotten.
Booksellers are praising the slow-burn romance between Briar and Bastian, calling it full of yearning, angst, betrayal, chemistry, and emotional mess.
Reviewers highlight the queer found family, sharp humor, and vulnerable character work as some of the book’s strongest elements.
Behind the gates of Britain’s most prestigious magic school, Briar Jones finds the former best friend they lost, the world they were denied, and the rot hiding beneath all that power.
From New York Times bestselling author Lex Croucher, The Unmagical Life of Briar Jones is an adult fantasy debut praised by John Green, Olivie Blake, and Laura Steven, and pitched for fans of The Magicians, Ninth House, The Atlas Six, Babel, and A Deadly Education.
Rent new hardcover on Trove: $12.80 - Each rental copy can be rented for 30 days. If you love the book and decide to keep it, the remaining balance applies.
Buy new hardcover on Trove: $32.00
____________________________________________
About the book:
Briar Jones spent childhood dreaming of Temple School of Thaumaturgy, the elite boarding school rumored to be magical. When their best friend Sebastian Wolfe receives an acceptance letter and Briar does not, the future they imagined together breaks apart.
Seven years later, Briar finally gets inside Temple through a temp job sorting through the school’s forgotten attic junk. What they find is not the glittering dream they once worshipped, but a place built on secrecy, privilege, and corrupted power.
Sebastian is no longer the quiet, sensitive boy Briar loved more than anything. He has become Bastian: beautiful, cruel, feared by the entire school, and tangled in the secrets Temple is desperate to protect.
The Unmagical Life of Briar Jones is a dark academia fantasy about class, longing, grief, identity, and the cost of wanting to belong somewhere that was never built for you. It is also a slow-burn queer romance about best friends turned enemies, the ache of lost intimacy, and the dangerous pull of the person who still knows you best.
____________________________________________
This book is for you if:
You love dark academia filled with secret societies, magic schools, libraries, rituals, and power.
You want a slow-burn queer romance with best friends, enemies, longing, betrayal, and years of unresolved feelings.
You like fantasy that mixes sharp banter, found family, emotional damage, and social critique.
You want an adult fantasy debut with the atmosphere of The Magicians and Ninth House, but with messy romance, queer characters, and a deeply personal coming-of-age story.
____________________________________________
About the author:
Lex Croucher grew up in Surrey and now lives in London. They are the author of adult historical-ish rom-coms including Reputation, Infamous, and Trouble, as well as historical fantasy rom-coms for teenagers.
Their YA novel Gwen & Art Are Not in Love became a New York Times and USA Today bestseller and won the 2024 YA Book Prize. The Unmagical Life of Briar Jones is Croucher’s adult fantasy debut, bringing their wit, emotional intelligence, and talent for romantic tension into a darker magical world.
____________________________________________
The reviews are in! Pre-release readers are calling it addictive, angsty, and magical:
Early readers describe The Unmagical Life of Briar Jones as dark academia at its finest, with secret societies, elitist class systems, and a magic school that feels both seductive and rotten.
Booksellers are praising the slow-burn romance between Briar and Bastian, calling it full of yearning, angst, betrayal, chemistry, and emotional mess.
Reviewers highlight the queer found family, sharp humor, and vulnerable character work as some of the book’s strongest elements.
