A Door in the Dark by Scott Reintgen

The quick cut: Six classmates from a magical school find themselves working together when a spell malfunctions and sends them to the middle of nowhere. 

A real review:

 It's a known reality that your social class changed your life experience dramatically. If you're lower class, you have to work endlessly to get what you need. If you're higher class, opportunities for more can be endless. In this fantasy series, your class can dramatically impact your ability to perform magic. 

 Ren has spent the past four years proving herself as one of the best magicians in her class. Number five in her class, she is doing what she can to impress the major houses and ensure a premier opportunity after graduation. When everyone is set to travel home for break, six classmates gather at the waxway to leave school and enjoy time off. A spell malfunctions and instead sends all six together to the middle of nowhere. Can they work together to survive and get back to safety? Or will they die instead? 

 This is one of those books I decided to pick up after spotting it on a Target run and I'm happy I did! Fantasy and magic books are a dime a dozen, but I love the way the author here makes it unique with the class aspect. In this world, magic isn't free and just like money, you need the currency to do magic. It's a small change that creates a lot of opportunity to show how unfair life can be when you don't have opportunities easily given to you. 

 Ren is doing what she can to secure a great role at a major house. Unfortunately, that's easier said than done when she's not a social climber and a book of a book worm instead. She's spent her life working on her skills so that she can secure a better future. It hasn't worked as planned though and now she finds that it's who you not that gets you a job - not how skilled you are. 

 Theo is the opposite of Ren in so many ways: he's the son of a major house family and in turn has had every opportunity. While Ren has to be frugal to maximize on her magic, he frivolously uses it when he wants. It's his poor choices and the resulting damage that puts him at the waxway with his other five classmates. He plays a critical role here and I do want to see where that takes him in the next book of the series. 

 I did find some spots a little slower than others. Overall, this was a fairly fast paced story though. 

 A brutal fantasy series with a class element to the tale. 

My rating: 4 out of 5