Professor of Magical Studies
By Stephen Granade
☆☆☆☆☆ (5/10)
Ngl, I kinda feel bad about giving Professor of Magical Studies a thumbs down. Like, it’s not a bad work by any means. It has its flaws, sure, but it’s generally well-liked and well-written. But the author has a clear vision in mind, and sadly, I did not vibe with it. At all. You see, I was hoping for a “light academia” aesthetic, where I play as a professor, romance a coworker, and tutor the young, bright minds of tomorrow. I got that—somewhat. However, Stephen Granade veers more into the dark academia aesthetic.
To be quite frank, Professor of Magical Studies filled me with annoyance and frustration. The game is less focused on teaching and more focussed with juggling all the different stressors of a junior faculty member—one with magic. You will have to study pattern magic (very cool!), groom your apprenticeship, find love, deal with gentrification, focus on research, participate in service, spend funds, sabotage (or help) your coworker/rival, jostle for tenure, and save the universe. As you might imagine, that is A Lot™️ I found juggling three areas, max, difficult enough, and it did pain me when I failed in other areas. I felt like taffy getting pulled in every direction. Your stress will also be increased due to your conniving and/or inept coworkers who insist on being nuisances. All in all, Professor of Magical Studies is a rather grim, dark work that wasn’t exactly fun for me. YMMV. Still, I am forever grateful to the staff for giving me a free copy.
Pros:
Magic system. The magic system Granade created is incredibly fascinating and unique. It’s all about patterns. You can have your own method of pattern magic: are you a more logical person, requiring patterns to be a diagram on flashcards? Or do you use memorized poems to help you focus? These patterns can do anything, even shape the world. To be honest, I didn’t quite understand all of it, but I know it was cool and a welcome departure from Harry Potter spells.
Good use of flashbacks. Flashbacks are always hard to pull off, but Granade has done them quite well. They’re a good way to establish lore and characters without awkward time skips. They worked well because I, as a player, still had choice that affected the present. Plus, they showed off his worldbuilding too!
Clear choices. I don’t know why I noticed this, but Granade has some of the most clear, signposted choices. He uses the keywords from stats in each choice, so there’s no confusion. Much appreciated. His prose is readable, as well, with lots of details.
The Lodger is f*cking hilarious. Did I think it was fanservice (especially the poly romance)? Yes. Did I roll with it? Also yes.
Cons:
Tone. I truly don’t know how to make this constructive: everyone is annoying. Is this on purpose, to give conflict and stakes? Absolutely. Did it go overboard imo? Sorta, yes. There is a group of characters that will make your life miserable. They will belittle, taunt, and even attack you, and you cannot do much except verbally snap back. The payoff comes at the ending, but it’s too far and few for me. I hate you Wilcox, Blankenship, and Darcy. Truly, I’m the biggest hater, I hate the way that you walk, the way that you talk, I hate the way that you dress, I hate the way that you sneak diss etc. etc.
Ending. Again, this is such a personal quibble, but I wasn’t a fan of the Vastness subplot. I tend to roll my eyes at world-ending threats—not because the stakes are low, but because they’re too high to feel personal. When everything is on the line, the danger becomes abstract, and the outcome feels foregone. Billions will die? Damn, that sucks. The big bad is scary? Nothing I’ve heard before. In general, I already know the world won’t end; the franchise exists, the sequel is loading, the save file is safe. So for me, the last couple of characters dragged on, as I was not interested in the Vastness.
ROs. For some reason, I was not interested in the ROs. I’m a pretty simple reader: give me a pretty face and honeyed words, and I’m a sucker. However, I was irritated or “meh” about the ROs. I think for at least three of them, their introduction or impression was rooted in conflict. Darcy is … well, Darcy. (More on them below.) I wasn’t a fan of how Manisha was reintroduced into the narrative. They are missing, possibly dead, and the reunion is rather stilted and oddly confrontational. For example, when they found out the MC was a professor, I think I recall them becoming withdrawn, due to their belief that the college was harmful to the town. I do remember at least two scenes talking about magical gentrification, which … I get? But to me, it seemed rather heavy-handed and oddly modern. Similarly, Hayley’s only personality trait was being a blue-collar worker who also did not like us uppity college elites. What happened to hello? How are you? My name is?
Darcy. I’m sorry, my only notes for this character is “FUCK YOU DARCY.” I think the author was trying to go for an enemies-to-lovers route, but it was more like they treat you like garbage, and you take it. I’m serious when they have little to no redeeming qualities. At every moment in the book, they make life worse for you with the sneak disses, rudeness, and unapologetic manner. I’m still not over how they betrayed you. For me, they also refused to help with the end of the world stuff. Which, whatever. I’m not even going to waste my time.
The art. I was also not a fan of the character portraits. It looked like Artbreeder generated it, though you can turn it off!