Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik

8 reviews

lucystolethesky's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Confinement, Gore, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Bullying, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Islamophobia, Pregnancy, and Cultural appropriation

jaedia's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, Abandonment, and Classism

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Death, Blood, Vomit, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Drug use, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, and Grief

ryyyaaan's review against another edition

adventurous dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Overall this was a fantastic read. I really had fun with it and it was a great choice for getting back into the habit of reading.

Positives:

• El is a well rounded character who is easy for the reader to like despite her being disliked by other characters.
• The premise and plot is enjoyable and easy to get hooked into.
• The worldbuilding is fantastic. It’s woven into the text so well it never feels like slogging through pages and pages of lore.
• It’s funny at times without taking away from the atmosphere.
• A great stepping point between YA and adult fantasy

Negatives (nit-picking here, the book was great)

• I dislike El’s relationship with Orion towards the end.
  It feels forced to me that she’s starting to have feelings for him already. Or, at all for that matter. They just don’t seem compatible to me. Also, small point, but El mentions wanting kids badly at one point, which feels so out of character for her. Maybe later depending on how she’s developed, but it just didn’t seem right to me.<\spoiler>
• I desperately wish there was any queer rep at all

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Violence, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, Vomit, Murder, and Classism

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Drug use, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury

applezing's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Blood, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Drug use, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Classism

eni_iilorak's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

Interesting concept of an unusual magical world. Not only the magic system but also the society with its complex mechanisms of privilege are well thought out. Thinking through the details of a complex society is Naomi Novik's strength.

Writing emotions is not. 
A first-person narrator with little interest in other people is a baffling  and unfortunate choice. As a result, most of the other characters are completely forgettable. As the protagonist rarely talks to anyone, there is very little dialogue. The narrator takes us through the details of this fictional world. Very little is shown or discovered, almost everything is explained. Large parts of the book read less like a novel and more like an essay that details the rules of its universe. This style of writing left me detached from the story and characters.

I'm not sure I would have finished the book if it hadn't been for the excellent audiobook narration.

With one single sentence, the very last one in the book, Naomi Novik made me want to read the sequel, and I don't know if I am impressed or angry.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Gore, Violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Bullying, Racism, Vomit, and Medical content

Minor: Drug use, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

mariareviews's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Orion and Galadriel officially hold my whole heart. Their names are so well thought I love it. The whole concept of The Scholomance is so well thought and I like the way it connects with the scholomance folk tale. 
I’m a bit disappointed because it took me quite a while to realise that this book’s part of a series (that’s my fault honestly) and I refuse to read the second book until the third one is out. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism

Moderate: Violence and Murder

Minor: Bullying, Drug use, Violence, Grief, Stalking, and Death of parent

nutm3g's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

A quick way to describe A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik would be to say it is like Harry Potter meets The Magicians meets Deadly Class. The students are all fighting to stay alive till graduation day (and especially make it through that day) whether it be from themselves, fellow students turned dark, the mal creeping in, and even the magic they are learning. There is a great sense of wrongness with how there are enclaves, and how the world and school itself was designed with them in mind at the sacrifice of those with the unfortunate luck of being born into nothing. The friendships are developed well, considering the Scholomance is not a place where trust is taken lightly.

**POSSIBLE SPOILERS** It was very interesting how it starts off letting us know El is evil-inclined (regardless of if she wants to be) and with a foreboding prophecy about her supposed destruction, but as the story unfolds you begin to see that she is very much a hero and that her fate may be leaning more towards salvation for the disenfranchised magic-wielders.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Violence, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Vomit, and Cannibalism

foreverinastory's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

I'm still debating my rating because there was an overtly racist statement, which has been addressed by the author and changed for future printings, but I still don't like that it hasn't been updated in the audiobook. Plus besides that I was still so confused by the whole premise of this book, like why would anyone want to go to this school??

Rep: Indian female MC. Various students from all over the world. I wish I could be more specific but I already forgot everyone...

CWs: Blood, bullying, child death, confinement, death, fire, injury/injury detail, gore, toxic friendship (of side character), violence. Moderate: Addiction, drug use and abuse by side character, murder. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Murder