I came across this as part of the Storybundle on Magic Schools, a sub-genre I've always enjoyed - learning more about the world around you however strange it seems. This was a particularly good example! Even though it's also in a historical setting which I'm generally not so keen on.

Kip is a Fox-Catalonian, a human-fox mix created by a Magical Feat a hundred odd years ago, but as far as he knows the first of his kind, any Catalonian-kind to attempt to join the human-only Sorcerer's guild and learn the secrets of magic. He knows he has some ability, because he can already summon magic, as can a small percentage of humans, but its the control he needs to learn. Facing extreme prejudice he learns as best he can along with his best friend an otter (not normally an animal that associates with foxes, but there's also reference to mice etc, so many of their normal traits are ignored) and another new recruit testing the acceptance of the Master, a girl names Emily.

The setting is colonial america, with Independence just starting to be considered by the uprising Separatist Movement, and obviously the parallels to slavery are clear and obvious, but not massively belabored. It works well, it's a clever setting interesting characters, the expected bully, reluctant and unbelieving teachers, and wider back-story that slowly emerges.

Looking forward to the rest of the series ( )