A book about a magical school will inevitably draw comparisons to Harry Potter, but that was where the similarities ended for me. I really enjoyed this book, from the 'triumph over adversity' undercurrent to the side story with Gia Trivelino. The one thing I would comment on (incidentally what Harry Potter does do well) is that you're bombarded with new words that don't necessarily get explained - for example stellacity presumably is their equivalent of electricity. I understand in a magical world there will be different objects and things, I just feel like they could have been introduced more slowly and explained better, maybe from the perspective of someone new to their world (like Ella). The story made me want to continue reading, and as it only covered Ella's first year at school, you're nicely set up for a series of books. I for one would definitely like to read the rest of the series.