The Incandescent
core novel 2025 The Incandescent
Record
| First published | 2025 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 3.92 (15,365 ratings, collected 2026-09-15) |
| Page count | 416 |
| First-edition ISBN | 9781250835017 |
Synopsis
The Incandescent is set at Chetwood School, a centuries-old elite English boarding school with a full academic staff alongside its resident magicians, and follows Saffy Walden, the school's Director of Magic, as she balances teaching, parenting, and the demanding, dangerous work of supervising student demon-summoning. Responsible for keeping roughly six hundred students safe from the magical hazards inherent to their curriculum, Walden must also manage the school's politics and her own complicated relationships with colleagues and pupils alike. When the boundaries she has spent her career maintaining begin to strain under new pressures, she is forced to confront the possibility that the greatest threat to her school's safety may come from within her own practice of magic rather than from any outside force.
Where it sits
- Universe: The Incandescent
- Series: not part of a registered series (standalone work within its universe)
- Author: Emily Tesh
Awards (verified)
- Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature (Adult Literature), 2026: finalist; 2026 Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature finalist (shortlist announced; winner not yet decided as of admission).
Sources
- Macmillan / Tor Publishing Group
- https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250835017/theincandescent/
- The Mythopoeic Society
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