The Marvellers by Dhonielle Clayton

 Ella Durand comes from a long line of Conjurors, magical folk who can gain access to the underworld.  They have been excluded from interacting with Marvellers, magical people who gain their power from the stars.  Ella's father is the foremost "High Stepper" among the Conjurors, and arranges for Ella to be the first Conjuror to be admitted to the Marveller school, the Arcanum Institute.  She is very excited to go, but is met with more prejudice and fear than she was expecting. She manages to make two friends who are also misfits, Brigit, and Jason, but they all become concerned when their favorite teacher who is sympathetic to Conjurors, Masterji Thatker goes missing. Meanwhile a prisoner escapes from magic prison, and threatens all the Marveller world.  Can Ella defy prejudice and become the hero the Marvellers need?

This is an interesting book.  Ella is a cross between Ruby Bridges and Harry Potter. There are a lot of the now very familiar magic school tropes; the two best friends, the wise teacher mentor, the rumors of the rising force of evil etc.  There is also a lot in there about being the first to cross the lines of segregation and the cruelty of child to child prejudice. There is also lot of southern black folk tale references in the book, which reminded me of Disney's The Princess and the Frog which my husband and I watched recently. I generally liked the book, but I thought it was too long and the pacing was a bit slow.  It could have used a 25% edit. Ella is also a little too perfect.  She is facing hard stuff, but she, herself, doesn't have many (or any) personality flaws. Brigit, with her grumpy disdain for the Marvellers, is a more interesting character than Ella. That was one of the strengths of the Harry Potter books. Harry was not at all perfect. In the first book he isn't the top student, and got stuck looking at the Mirror of Erised every night because he is messed up about his parents.  It is hard to write a flawed character that is still endearing but when a writer can manage it, the book is better. There are two more in the series, and I might read them, or I might not. (416 p. 2022)