Bodies of Magic

Grey’s Anatomy meets A Deadly Education in this dark academia fantasy set at a magical medical school, with murder, magical discovery, and burnt-out medical students

At the Academie of the Grand Duchy of Sieuxerr, mages with the healer’s gift undergo a demanding six-year course of study before facing the Grand Exam: a five-day trial whose results will determine what shape their future holds. For five of this year’s students, what awaits them on the first day is—murder.

Ysabel was not well liked, but she was one of the brightest students to come through the Academie in

years. The institution has reasons to want to pass her death off as a suicide, but as her best—or only—friend, Clement knows they’re wrong. And when the five members of their Exam group receive a letter from Ysabel from beyond the grave, it becomes clear she was up to something someone was willing to kill for.

The friend who stood in the dead girl’s shadow.

The academic rival who was battling her for the top class ranking.

The girl no one ever thought would amount to anything.

The foreigner conscripted into this life who would rather be doing something, anything else.

The boy whose traitorous secrets Ysabel had already uncovered years ago.

If they can solve her murder, they may find more answers than they bargained for—but if they don’t, one of

them may be forced to take the fall.

About the Author

Freya Marske is the author of A Power Unbound, A Restless Truth and A Marvellous Light, the latter of which became an international bestseller and won the Romantic Novelists’ Association’s Award for Romantic Fantasy. Her work has appeared in Analog and has been shortlisted for three Aurealis Awards. She is also a Hugo-nominated podcaster, and won the Ditmar Award for Best New Talent. She lives in Australia.