Imagine attending Hogwarts...but the school seems designed to murder you. The car wreck that killed Spirit White’s family left her in the care of Oakhurst Academy, a luxurious private school in remotest Montana, the curriculum of which revolves around elemental wizardry. Spirit, like all the orphans at Oakhurst, is a “legacy” student, and her magical heritage makes her a target, even though her powers stubbornly refuse to manifest. Demanding coursework, hostile staff and vicious competition leave her little time to grieve. Until she realizes that students are disappearing, as if something were hunting them...This dark mirror of the standard magic-school story makes an intriguing premise, and Spirit is a likable heroine with a strong, sharp voice, although the constant pop-culture references may date quickly. Other characters are more sketchily defined, but Oakhurst itself exudes a brooding presence, a portentous brew of isolating strictures, up-to-yesterday technology and moldering secrets. While the immediate menace is economically dispatched, numerous ominous threads still dangle for inevitable sequels. A competently crafted fantasy that should satisfy all but the most exacting fans of the genre. (Urban fantasy. YA)
