Scan barcode
00phantom's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Vomit
Moderate: Child death, Death, and Death of parent
Minor: Body horror
readwithsophsx's review
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-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
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
maxierosalee's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This was another book that unfortunately falls in the "cool premise, mediocre execution" for me, although there were times when it peaked to fall into the "borderline good" stage, hence the extra half-star.
My biggest problem was just the exposition dumps. There was so much exposition to slog through.
In my opinion, Novik has made a legitimately fascinating world, on paper at least. I love the idea of Harry Potter but deconstructed and showed how legitimately deadly a world like that would be to magical children. There were times when maybe Novik toed the line of ridiculousness a bit too much, but I didn't mind too much. If anything, it almost added to the dark humor of the book. Harry Potter is an idealized magical world (at least in the early books), Scholomance is the exact opposite and is borderline grimdark.
Unfortunately, Novik's strategy of worldbuilding is to have El, the narrator and main character of the book, grace us with exposition dumps. Paragraphs and paragraphs of exposition dumps. I loved the world but hated reading about it. Scenes would stop because a character would introduce a new aspect to the world, some kind of new creature or rule of the magic system, and then El would have to stop and explain it to the reader in full, pace-halting detail. When it feels like the story has to grind to a halt and half a chapter is dedicated to exposition, it's no longer engaging to me. It's tedious. Really, I feel like that's the main issue I had with the book. Weave the exposition into the story in a less heavy-handed way, and I feel like this would easily be a 4 star book for me.
Galadriel (El for short) was annoying at first, but I actually warmed up to her by the time the book ended. She gave me petulant child vibes. She puts on a front of being rude to everyone. She's snarling at Orion constantly, she snaps at her classmates. She thinks about how she can blast Orion into a bloody pulp, how she can level the school with her magical powers, how she can take on Orion in a fight, but never actually does. A lot of her thoughts, especially in her interactions with Orion, boil down to "I wanted to [insert physical hostile action here] to Orion, but ended up not doing it." While I maybe thought her development and the character arc she goes through might have been a bit sudden and it would have been nice to have the seeds of it sowed earlier, it was still a nice character arc to see develop.
I don't know if any character outside of Galadriel and Orion in last act of the book were really all that engaging, but they weren't overly dull or tedious to read about. Novik didn't fall into the usual boarding school tropes that are in so many other books. She could have given us the same exact character tropes we see in boarding school books: the fish-out-of-water main character, the good-without-question allies of the main character, the obligatory mean bully, shallow love interest put on a pedestal. It's a breath of fresh air, and I commend Novik for it.
Also, confession: Part of me thought Orion and El was cute. Yeah, it's the kind of silly where it's like "El is constantly rude to Orion and in real life, this would be a toxic relationship" but...I don't know, man. It's a romance trope guilty pleasure of mine.
So, do I want to read the rest of the series? Maybe Novik got out all of the exposition dumps in the first book and it'll make the other ones better for me to read.
I'll be real. If I do read the rest of the series, it'll just be to see where El and Orion end up. I hope they kiss again.
My biggest problem was just the exposition dumps. There was so much exposition to slog through.
In my opinion, Novik has made a legitimately fascinating world, on paper at least. I love the idea of Harry Potter but deconstructed and showed how legitimately deadly a world like that would be to magical children. There were times when maybe Novik toed the line of ridiculousness a bit too much, but I didn't mind too much. If anything, it almost added to the dark humor of the book. Harry Potter is an idealized magical world (at least in the early books), Scholomance is the exact opposite and is borderline grimdark.
Unfortunately, Novik's strategy of worldbuilding is to have El, the narrator and main character of the book, grace us with exposition dumps. Paragraphs and paragraphs of exposition dumps. I loved the world but hated reading about it. Scenes would stop because a character would introduce a new aspect to the world, some kind of new creature or rule of the magic system, and then El would have to stop and explain it to the reader in full, pace-halting detail. When it feels like the story has to grind to a halt and half a chapter is dedicated to exposition, it's no longer engaging to me. It's tedious. Really, I feel like that's the main issue I had with the book. Weave the exposition into the story in a less heavy-handed way, and I feel like this would easily be a 4 star book for me.
Galadriel (El for short) was annoying at first, but I actually warmed up to her by the time the book ended. She gave me petulant child vibes. She puts on a front of being rude to everyone. She's snarling at Orion constantly, she snaps at her classmates. She thinks about how she can blast Orion into a bloody pulp, how she can level the school with her magical powers, how she can take on Orion in a fight, but never actually does. A lot of her thoughts, especially in her interactions with Orion, boil down to "I wanted to [insert physical hostile action here] to Orion, but ended up not doing it." While I maybe thought her development and the character arc she goes through might have been a bit sudden and it would have been nice to have the seeds of it sowed earlier, it was still a nice character arc to see develop.
I don't know if any character outside of Galadriel and Orion in last act of the book were really all that engaging, but they weren't overly dull or tedious to read about. Novik didn't fall into the usual boarding school tropes that are in so many other books. She could have given us the same exact character tropes we see in boarding school books: the fish-out-of-water main character, the good-without-question allies of the main character, the obligatory mean bully, shallow love interest put on a pedestal. It's a breath of fresh air, and I commend Novik for it.
Also, confession: Part of me thought Orion and El was cute. Yeah, it's the kind of silly where it's like "El is constantly rude to Orion and in real life, this would be a toxic relationship" but...I don't know, man. It's a romance trope guilty pleasure of mine.
So, do I want to read the rest of the series? Maybe Novik got out all of the exposition dumps in the first book and it'll make the other ones better for me to read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Blood, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Toxic friendship
Did my best to list things as accurately as possible. I know the "toxic friendship" is really played for laughs but thought I would include it just in casechristinereads1823's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
fast-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
4.75
A fascinating introduction to a new, darkly intriguing magical world. El is one of the most interesting leads I've read in a while, and her prickly exterior combined with her strong will and dedication to her friends is so well-written. Novik's worldbuilding is captivating, if dense at moments, but overall excellently
done.
done.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
dasinnett's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
fast-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? No
4.5
Monster slaying, making friends, mysteries, and more, A Deadly Education has it all! Highly recommend to anyone first getting into fantasy, and lovers of the genre who want something unique and easy to read.
A Deadly Education was engaging and particular, and quite unlike anything else I've read. Novak's prose was easy to consume and I immediately fell in love with the POV character El, and the way she interacts with the world around her.
The world building at the beginning felt a bit clunky, but never made the pace drag. After the first two or three chapters, the world, magic system, social structure, and setting was perfectly set up, and I was free to be sucked into Scholomance and the strange creatures, oblivious characters, social strategizing, and super unique happenings.
A Deadly Education had the perfect ratio of social machinations to plot, alongside a teensy blush of romance. Finally a writer who understands how deeply one can feel simply by making eye contact with another person. This book was hilarious and I had to keep myself from cackling maniacally whenever I was reading it in public.
This was one of my favorite books this year! I have relentlessly recommended this book to anyone who would listen to me, and handed my copy of the book off to a friend who, the next time they saw me, requested the sequel as soon as possible. Hats off to Naomi Novak for writing such a kick-ass book.
A Deadly Education was engaging and particular, and quite unlike anything else I've read. Novak's prose was easy to consume and I immediately fell in love with the POV character El, and the way she interacts with the world around her.
The world building at the beginning felt a bit clunky, but never made the pace drag. After the first two or three chapters, the world, magic system, social structure, and setting was perfectly set up, and I was free to be sucked into Scholomance and the strange creatures, oblivious characters, social strategizing, and super unique happenings.
A Deadly Education had the perfect ratio of social machinations to plot, alongside a teensy blush of romance. Finally a writer who understands how deeply one can feel simply by making eye contact with another person. This book was hilarious and I had to keep myself from cackling maniacally whenever I was reading it in public.
This was one of my favorite books this year! I have relentlessly recommended this book to anyone who would listen to me, and handed my copy of the book off to a friend who, the next time they saw me, requested the sequel as soon as possible. Hats off to Naomi Novak for writing such a kick-ass book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror
lirio_dendron's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
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? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Gore, and Violence
Moderate: Death of parent and Murder
Minor: Vomit and Grief
littlestdread's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-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
5.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
nainz's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-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
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror and Rape
pandemonicbaby's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
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
5.0
Loved this book! The lore is so rich and intricate, and the cast of characters is so lovable and diverse. Loved every second of being inside this universe!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Violence, and Death of parent
Moderate: Gore, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cursing, Racism, Vomit, and Pregnancy
ashawrites's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
4.5
I was so excited to read Astolot's published work and it's SO GOOD. I think it took me a while to finish because I had to like get my head to line up with El as a character? Don't get me wrong, she's fun and I love her so much, but in a Our Little Queen of Darkness teenage emo kid sort of way so I had to adjust the vibe in my head haha. Fantastic world building, the way the monsters were described was horrible (affectionate). The cliffhanger was Rude and I need to pester my friend for the second book immediately.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror and Gore