Castaways by Craig Schaefer Series: Castaways #1
on February 22, 2025
Genres: Young Adult, Urban Fantasy
Pages: 358
Format: eBook
Source: Purchased
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Trapped in a dead-end town and a dead-end life, Amy Nettle dreams of escaping her abusive father and starting over, somewhere far away. The arrival of a black envelope heralds just that, in a way she never could have imagined. Whisked away to the Saunders Academy, a Gothic manse in the heart of an eternal storm-tossed ocean, Amy is one of dozens of teenagers plucked from dozens of parallel Earths and selected for an education in witchcraft. It seems too good to be true...except.
Except no one will tell them why they were chosen, or what happens after graduation. Or why the dormitories on the fourth floor are completely empty. There are tentacled leviathans and carnivorous mermaids in the water, a saboteur stalking the halls, and danger lurks around every corner. Worst of all, failure means the Arch of a one-way trip back to where you came from, without your memories or your magic.
If you are down on your luck because fate, that fickle B, has worked you into a corner and it looks like there is nowhere for you to go and nothing you can do, well you might just be a great candidate for a new kind of magical school. This is not the Hogwarts letter that you have been waiting for. This school for magic might just kill you, or worse, it could take all of your memories and send you back to the pitiful life and world/dimension you came from. Castaways is the first book in a brand new Castaways series by the same name. Set in the same multiverse as some of Schaefer‘s other works it is his stab at dark academia.
The Saunders Academy has just selected a new class of students, the black envelops have been sent and they have all arrived alive (for now) to a magically protected Island on some water world. How long the students stay that way will be a mystery. There are a few things to be noted right away:
1 – No one in the class is from the same world
2 – There doesn’t seem to be a specific age to go with the classes as the students range from 14 – 19
3 – Everyone is desperate and has no desire to go back to the life they left
4 – Some of the upper classmen seem slightly unhinged and a bit murderous
5 – Out of bounds on the Island pretty much means certain death
Amy is desperate to stay at the Academy. For one, there is nothing on her world to go back to. Not her deadbeat dad that stole the money she was saving for school, the dead end job she hated or even the few people she called friends. She didn’t come from a world where magic was considered real to most of the population, so for her, this is an opportunity to do something with her life. Amy quickly finds a group to call her own, a new set of friends also determined to stay and learn magic. Together they will try to figure out how to help each other survive and navigate the school.
I enjoyed this first year of magical classes and obstacles for the students. It was nice to start off with some kids a little older than in traditional magical schools. We journey along with this class as they figure out some of life’s bigger mysteries and try to assess who is friend and foe on the Island. Teachers are hard and push the students, the upperclassmen have issues of their own and mysteriously there are no fourth year students, but no one is saying what happened to them. Amy has quite a few mysteries to figure out, the main being how to tap into the in-between and harness the magic that is there for those who know the way.
So far I didn’t see much of a crossover into the other books by Craig Schaefer, but I am interested in exploring this world and the dangers in it a bit more. I have many questions but the main one is. For a school that teaches magic to students, what does it want for them at the end of their studies? When you graduate, then what? I’m sure there is a purpose to it all and hopfully we get a few more hints to that in some of the future books because as someone in the book said “Always remember this, kid: if you get offered anything for free, that means you’re the product.” What product is that school trying to produce?
“You’re becoming the weird animal chick,” Vail said.
“I am not.”
“Amy? Every morning a gang of crows shows up in our dorm room and screams at us until we get up and you feed their boss.”
“I wouldn’t say gang — I would use more of a musical chorus analogy—”
“Of course you would. Because you’re the weird animal chick.”
About Craig Schaefer
Craig Schaefer’s books have taken readers across a modern America mired in occult mysteries, from the seamy criminal underworld of the Daniel Faust series; to the supernatural espionage and intrigue of the Harmony Black series; to the apocalyptic parallel worlds of the Wisdom’s Grave trilogy.
He currently lives in North Carolina, where he can be found haunting museums, libraries, abandoned crossroads, and other places where dark fantasy authors tend to congregate.
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I’m a real sucker for strong magic school stories – Emily Tesh’s The Incandescent is my favourite read of the year so far – but as an ex-teacher, I do get a bit fed up when the school’s purpose for its students is too shrouded in mystery. It’s very difficult to mould young minds if they don’t know what they’re being moulded for.
So true!
Still a good start and I think we will see more of that in the next books to really understand the purpose of the school and who is funding it.
“When you graduate, then what?”
oooo yes. I think they need to show more of the “adult” world.
I think these are supposed to tie in somehow to Daniel Faust and Harmony Black series somehow and somewhere. Very interested to see how that works out.
Other than HP and maybe kind of Percy Jackson, I’ve not really been a big fan of magic school stories, but my students love them, so I’ll have to check this out. Great review!