After reading the reviews for Darke Academy here on Goodreads I didn't really have much hope for it. How wrong was I. What fantastic start to a series, witty, mysterious and well written, quite an intelligent read for a YA novel. The plot is fairly good and runs quite smoothly, perhaps with a few overused themes, but that's common in almost every genre of book. The lead protagonist is your usual vexing fumbling innocent heroine but she's endearing enough, the male characters are razor sharp and sarcastic, they're also very typical of YA males but in a funny ironic way. The only real potential flaw in Darke Academy is the old fashioned humour, irony & sarcasm, though I personally prefer books this way, younger readers and a lot of YA fans will not understand it. Overall a great first book and for the first time in a while I'm excited to start the second. This was awkward. Really awkward.I didn't care for the way scenes were dropped with nothing coming of them. Like when she saw Ranjit while she was out snooping around after Jake, what happened there? I wanted to know what was or wasn't said there...it just fell off a cliff into an abyss. She never even thought about it afterward. No recap. Nothing. Very annoying.I couldn't keep up with the awkward slang. I know a few British terms because NZ shares a few, and because of Coronation Street...but yeah, this was something else. Must be the Scots! (Who I do have Ancestors of) Give it over? What the fuck does that mean?Anywho, this book is completely forgettable. Because I can't even remember the main characters name. I was bored. I won't be reading further into the series.
