Is there any monster in the Monster Manual scarier than a high school girl with a vendetta and a secret society backing her up? Seriously, I'd take a Beholder over the Red Court any day.
I picked this up because my advisor, Dr. Patel, sent me another email about my thesis draft, and I needed to dissociate into a world where the biggest problem is social hierarchy rather than procedural terrain generation algorithms. I went in expecting Mean Girls, but what I got was basically a rogue trying to infiltrate a Thieves' Guild, just with more prom dresses and fewer daggers. That same high-stakes infiltration energy shows up in I Am Pilgrim, though with actual espionage instead of cafeteria politics. (Well, metaphorical daggers, anyway.)
The DM of High School Drama
Let's talk about the voice in my ear. Laura Knight Keating. I hadn't listened to her before, but she understands the assignment. You know that specific tone of voice that screams "I am popular, bored, and could ruin your life with a text message"? She nails it. Chef's kiss for the vibe.
She gives Ember, the main character, this gritty determination that really sold me on the whole "revenge at all costs" plot. At least in the beginning. I noticed halfway through—somewhere around hour five while I was ignoring my laundry—that the energy started to dip a little. Ember's voice lost some of that shiny, sharp edge. And look, I'm a guy who listens to Steven Pacey do thirty different distinct Northern accents, so I'm picky. Keating is solid, but a few of the side characters started sounding like the same NPC with a different wig on. If you're bad at tracking names, you might get confused.
When The Campaign Goes Off-Rails
The premise is wild. The Red Court is this secret society run by the "Queen of Hearts" (subtle, right?) that grants favors for a price. It's a classic Warlock pact structure. Ember wants to take them down because they paralyzed her sister. Standard vengeance backstory.
Here's the thing—you have to suspend your disbelief. Like, really suspend it. Hang it from the ceiling. The power this high school club has is... a lot. My D&D group would have exploited this system in five minutes flat. But if you just roll with it, the tension is actually pretty great. It's fast. It's dark. It's not trying to be high art; it's trying to be entertaining, and it succeeds.
There were moments where I literally rolled my eyes at the melodrama—some of the "missions" are a bit much—but I didn't stop listening. I finished the whole thing in two days while "working" on my code. Honestly, I need to check out Get Sh*t Done before my advisor finds out how much time I spend not writing my thesis. (Don't tell my mom.)
Who Should Roll Initiative
If you like Riverdale or Pretty Little Liars—shows where teenagers act like 40-year-old mob bosses—you'll have a blast. Perfect palate cleanser between 50-hour epic fantasies. Skip it if you need airtight world-building logic or can't handle high school melodrama cranked to eleven.
Closing My Laptop on This One
Is this Sanderson-level world-building? No. The magic system is just bullying weaponized. But it's a fun, trashy thriller that keeps moving. Laura Knight Keating brings enough attitude to make the cattiness fun, even if the plot requires you to turn your brain off a bit. Now, I should probably go write a paragraph of my thesis. Or just start another audiobook.
