The Incandescents

PRE-ORDER FOR MAY 13, 2025

The Incandescents by Emily Tesh

A Sapphic Dark Academia Fantasy from Hugo and World Fantasy Award Winner Emily Tesh
For fans of The Scholomance and Plain Bad Heroines—a magic school where the real danger may be the one casting the spells.

In The Incandescents, Emily Tesh, internationally bestselling author and winner of the Hugo and World Fantasy Awards, delivers a sapphic dark academia fantasy steeped in danger, desire, and demonic power.

At the prestigious Chetwood School of Magic, Doctor Walden serves as Director of Magic—tasked with protecting the school's legacy, mentoring volatile teen prodigies, and holding the boundary lines against infernal forces.

Walden is powerful. Disciplined. In control.
But even the most experienced magician is vulnerable when the darkness outside starts to reflect the darkness within.

As demonic incursions escalate and the line between protector and threat begins to blur, Walden must reckon with her own forbidden hunger for magic—and the chilling truth that the greatest danger to Chetwood may be hiding in plain sight: herself.

🔥 Perfect for fans of Naomi Novik, Tamsyn Muir, and Leigh Bardugo
🔥 Features queer representation, morally gray magic, and high-stakes mentorship
🔥 A gripping blend of atmospheric gothic fantasy, academic politics, and inner demons

Format: Hardcover 
Genre: Sapphic Fantasy, Dark Academia, Supernatural Fiction
Tropes: Magic School, Queer Protagonist, Forbidden Power, Teacher/Protector Conflict
Audience: Adult and New Adult readers who love character-driven fantasy with dark intrigue and magical peril

✨ The Incandescents is a spellbinding story of control, temptation, and queer power set in a magical institution where danger wears many faces—and some of them are your own.