lizcastner's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Gore, Classism, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Cursing, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Dysphoria, Grief, Pregnancy, and Vomit
Minor: Suicide
mycology's review
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.
Spoiler
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Body horror, Death, and Death of parent
Moderate: Classism, Confinement, Cursing, Murder, and Vomit
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Fire/Fire injury, Drug use, and Grief
bethanycrowepowell's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
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
4.5
Galadriel Higgins is destined to bring death and chaos to the wizarding world, or so it was foretold. "El" doesn't want to rain destruction, but is finding it harder and harder to avoid in a school that is actively trying to kill her.
Scholomance was built to protect teen wizards from the evil creatures drawn to their magic, but after some major technical failures, it doesn't quite work that way. Instead, students have to be on guard constantly, and their graduation is a gauntlet through where the largest of the monsters gather. When El starts to question whether it can be fixed, she's up against a lethal status quo that not everyone wants to change.
This book launches a trilogy that deconstructs magical school escapism with an eye to societies built around power disparities, full of compellingly complicated characters. El is a cranky but very relatable heroine whose fight against her prophesied destiny as a dark sorceress kept me reading through the whole series in a matter of days.
Scholomance was built to protect teen wizards from the evil creatures drawn to their magic, but after some major technical failures, it doesn't quite work that way. Instead, students have to be on guard constantly, and their graduation is a gauntlet through where the largest of the monsters gather. When El starts to question whether it can be fixed, she's up against a lethal status quo that not everyone wants to change.
This book launches a trilogy that deconstructs magical school escapism with an eye to societies built around power disparities, full of compellingly complicated characters. El is a cranky but very relatable heroine whose fight against her prophesied destiny as a dark sorceress kept me reading through the whole series in a matter of days.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Classism
Moderate: Child death, Cursing, Bullying, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Sexual content
Minor: Sexual violence and Rape
icarusandthesun's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
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
3.75
i didn't expect a lot going into this book. i thought it was just gonna be another ordinary young adult fantasy that's a little silly and a little over the top.
now, that wasn't quite the case, but i wasn't a hundred percent wrong either.
the main character, el, struck me as a little bit of a deus ex machina with insane killing powers only she has that could get her out of every dangerous situation if only she wanted.
she's also the tiniest bit unlikable, but given her circumstances, i get it. plus, the character development made up for it.
i was fairly disappointed in orion's character though. we had some chunks of interesting back story thrown at us, but the actual reasons for his behavior, singling out el, were simply boring.
i just thought the author could've given orion some more depth and more profound motives because i thought he was quite a unique and relatable person. but perhaps we'll find out more about him in the next book, which the cliffhanger hints at anyway.
the writing was catchy, some descriptions a tad too long, but that's alright. the romance was very curious and i'm totally here for the dynamic.
now, that wasn't quite the case, but i wasn't a hundred percent wrong either.
the main character, el, struck me as a little bit of a deus ex machina with insane killing powers only she has that could get her out of every dangerous situation if only she wanted.
she's also the tiniest bit unlikable, but given her circumstances, i get it. plus, the character development made up for it.
i was fairly disappointed in orion's character though. we had some chunks of interesting back story thrown at us, but the actual reasons for his behavior, singling out el, were simply boring.
i just thought the author could've given orion some more depth and more profound motives because i thought he was quite a unique and relatable person. but perhaps we'll find out more about him in the next book, which the cliffhanger hints at anyway.
the writing was catchy, some descriptions a tad too long, but that's alright. the romance was very curious and i'm totally here for the dynamic.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent
Moderate: Death, Violence, and Cursing
Minor: Fire/Fire injury and Blood
danicakvcs's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Physical abuse and Murder
Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, and Addiction
luciiee's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Murder, Cursing, and Blood
severelyhopefulcloud's review
adventurous
dark
tense
slow-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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore and Violence
Moderate: Classism, Death of parent, Death, and Cursing
axelboc's review
adventurous
dark
funny
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? No
5.0
A bit grim at first, but builds up to a wonderful mix of wittiness, unspoken romance and thrilling action, with clever world building throughout. Difficult to put down. The first of a guaranteed hit series!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death
Minor: Cursing
cdt96's review
adventurous
funny
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
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore
Moderate: Body horror
Minor: Animal cruelty, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Violence, Abandonment, Animal death, Bullying, Classism, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Child death, and Murder
queer_bookwyrm's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
4 ⭐ CW: violence, murder, grotesque descriptions of monsters, swearing
A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik is the first book in the Scholomance series. This was a weird read for me. It started out slow and I felt like I wasn't going to like it, but it quickly turned around!
We follow Galadriel (El), a junior at the school if magic, the Scholomance. The Scholomance is a place where kids go to learn magic and hone their affinities so they can survivor graduation. Did I mention the school is literally trying to kill them? El is a bit of an outcast, people just don't like her, though she can't figure out why, but it might have something to do with the fact that her affinity is death and destruction. Unfortunately for her, she is a good person who wants to hurt no one, but is constantly plagued with mass destruction spells.
Out of nowhere, Orion Lake keeps saving her ass along with everyone else, making more and more monsters come out of hiding for a snack. Not only that, everyone thinks their dating, and El does not like it. El has some good character development, and I think Novik did a good job of relaying that, because I wasn't too keen on El in the beginning, but she grew on me. I thought her friendship with Aadhya and Liu was wonderful.
The beginning was very info-dumpy--there was a lot of information about out at you in the first third of the book. The magic system and world building of the school confused me for a bit as well, until I got used to it. I'm glad it came back around to capture my attention, because I was seriously thinking about not reading the next book, but now I will!
A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik is the first book in the Scholomance series. This was a weird read for me. It started out slow and I felt like I wasn't going to like it, but it quickly turned around!
We follow Galadriel (El), a junior at the school if magic, the Scholomance. The Scholomance is a place where kids go to learn magic and hone their affinities so they can survivor graduation. Did I mention the school is literally trying to kill them? El is a bit of an outcast, people just don't like her, though she can't figure out why, but it might have something to do with the fact that her affinity is death and destruction. Unfortunately for her, she is a good person who wants to hurt no one, but is constantly plagued with mass destruction spells.
Out of nowhere, Orion Lake keeps saving her ass along with everyone else, making more and more monsters come out of hiding for a snack. Not only that, everyone thinks their dating, and El does not like it. El has some good character development, and I think Novik did a good job of relaying that, because I wasn't too keen on El in the beginning, but she grew on me. I thought her friendship with Aadhya and Liu was wonderful.
The beginning was very info-dumpy--there was a lot of information about out at you in the first third of the book. The magic system and world building of the school confused me for a bit as well, until I got used to it. I'm glad it came back around to capture my attention, because I was seriously thinking about not reading the next book, but now I will!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Murder and Cursing