The Novice by Trudi Canavan

I have to admit, this book felt clunky to me, in both dialogue and plotting. At least one romance seemed to sprout up out of nowhere, and all the bullying that happens at the school seemed a bit over the top (surely someone could do something to stop it or mitigate it). At the very end, the book suggests that there's more to the leader of the Guild's black magic than we might guess, so I'll read the third book to see what that is (I have a hard time stopping series).