“Carpe Arcanum” takes place at a college that is more than it seems.  The Assistant Dean, Janice Bulldern, is also Mistress of the Arcanum, a mysterious body of magic users referred to throughout the story.  Janice finds and recruits new members from the student body.  She’s been alerted that one of the new students this term will possess a new form of magic, the first found in a long time.

The prologue introduces Janice and her entrapped servant, a dragon named Gwendolyn.  Both are interesting characters; clever, shrewd and calculating.  Gwen uses information to barter for periods of freedom.  Janice uses that information to run the college and help the Arcanum.  Gwen is just one of the secrets she hides from the world.

The first chapter introduces three of the new students as they arrive at the college.  None of them seems to have any special abilities or know that the college is different than any other.  Marc just wants to get away from home and be on his own.  Tanner had to find a school that would accept her on short notice when her family suddenly moved from Ireland to America.  Neal is still missing his girlfriend.  Several installments are taken up with the hassles of arriving, finding their way around campus, and moving into their dorms. 

So far the story is fairly mundane when following the students, although there is some fairly explicit sex described in one scene, but the supernatural side picks up when the the story follows Janice.  Gwen had told her she was going to be seeing an old friend soon, and that friend is very interesting, as is their relationship.  However, while we’re given some of Janice’s backstory, there hasn’t been much information about what exactly the Arcanum is and what it does, other than having something to do with magic. 

The writing is good but, unfortunately, it suffers from the lack of a good editor.  There are a lot of typo’s, missing words, and grammatical mistakes.  Also, while the story is written in third person, every once in a while the narrative voice slips into first person.  These problems sometimes cause confusion and detract from the story.

As it stands, “Carpe Arcanum” is an interesting beginning to a story about magic users at an American college.  The stage is set, the characters have been introduced and there are hints of the plot to come.  If you like supernatural stories with some sex and violence, you might want to check this out.

2 of 2 members found this review helpful.
Help us improve!  Register or log in to rate this review.