An Academy for Liars had a lot of potential. The school for magical adults trope is something I've always enjoyed, and Alexis Henderson is the kind of writer who I believe could have executed it well in different circumstances. Unfortunately, I think that the loss of Henderson's mother, as mentioned in the acknowledgements at the end of the book, may have turned this book into something that Henderson wrote to meet a deadline rather than because she was inspired. I have a lot of empathy for that, and certainly won't hold any lack of enjoyment of this book against her. I will continue to read whatever she puts out, but in this review space, I have to be honest and admit that this book was not what I'd hoped.

I think that this book would have perhaps worked better as a duology, mostly because the world building is complex enough to warrant it. Lennon's progression with her magic felt abrupt, because any work toward improvement was glossed over. Because there was so much information to absorb, so many characters to follow, so many plot points to address within it's pages, this book felt rushed even being 464 pages.

As far as main characters go, Lennon was not my favorite. I feel like she fell a little flat, a mentally unstable magical-Mary Sue. Because the progression of her magic wasn't really shown effectively, it seemed like she just consistently grew magically when it was convenient for the plot.

With that said, I did have a decent time reading this and think that someone interested in dark academia would like this.