Thank you to NetGalley and Text Publishing for an Advanced Reader Copy in exchange for an honest review
I didn't really know what to expect going into this. Maybe something like a weird "school" that was also a therapy session for troubled youth? And that is sort of what this was in a sense... yet at the same time it felt like this story didn't have a point beyond that.
I understand (kind of) that Daniel and the rest of the characters were subjects in this school of troubled youth instead of them being sent to juvie or somewhere not conducive to their growth as young people. I didn't understand the purpose or the outcome of them being there. it seemed as if they were studying things while being studied themselves, but nothing really happened with that. I also understand that the Doctor was in court, along with the other teachers, probably in defense of the School but it was never disclosed why they were in court in the first place.
At first I liked, not really knowing what was happening because I expected some sort of explanation later on but that never happened. I liked learning the backstories and quirks of Daniel and his friends at the School. I thought the mini-crush Daniel had on Rachel played an interesting element, and it seems to have gone beyond their time at the school or it was hinted that it did at least.
One of the confusing things that I didn't enjoy about this book were the subtle jumps between Daniel at the school and Daniel talking about the school in the future. There wasn't enough explanation from Daniel in the future for it to fully make sense or be connected to the minimal plot. It seemed like a cop-out to make the story move forward or to maybe try to make it make more sense, yet it didn't. However, when it was easy to distinguish between Daniel at the school and future Daniel, it was interesting hearing his future thoughts about what he and the others experienced at the school.
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