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scarlett_f's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual content and Death of parent
A recipe of Hunger Games and Harry Potter, but with a pinch of sinister steampunk and dystopian stirred in.whynotreadwithalex's review against another edition
- 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
- This is the 2nd book in the series…so you’ve got a bit of a slower pace at the beginning, which I think stumps some people. However, the cliffhanger at the end of the first book is immediately addressed (which I really appreciated because oh my word that shook me the first time I read A Deadly Education).
- And then we see El really struggling with the concept of no longer being completely on her own — she has to overcome a lot of fear, as well as her natural inclination to think only of her own survival. This makes the pacing of this book a bit slower right at the beginning because El hasn’t quite decided what kind of person she wants to be.
- But once El decides, oh my word the action picks up like crazy! And it is definitely worth it! We see lots of character development, not just in El but across the board. Everyone is challenged — including the Scholomance, which makes for a really engaging story of struggle, sacrifice, and personal growth.
- Remember, Novik is a world builder! And El isn’t necessarily a reliable narrator, which leaves the reader, well, reading between the lines to get at the truth. This creates a lot of suspense, and had me hanging on to the edge of my seat up until the final page.
- And finally, that ending…I mean, we all knew there would be drama and heartbreak and probably some destruction…I think I just didn’t expect that it would be my own! Ahhh! I will be grabbing the final installation of this series ASAP. Send actual help.
But seriously, this book is easily 5/5 ⭐️s
Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail
evarinya's review against another edition
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.75
But somehow, something changed between the books. Suddenly, both main characters turned into what felt like the worst versions of themselves.
While I had liked El's snarky comments in the first book, this time, many of them seemed mean-spirited, sometimes borderline abusive to Orion.
Orion too. He was a great character in the first book, and I liked the 'naively heroic' act he put out, including his flaws. But this time around, he barely even appeared, and when he did, he was mostly whining or being saved by El. Like... what?
In general, I hated the way El's power was developed because... honestly,
And all that talk about 'because ONLY I can save them,' 'I am the only one who can do this', and her general skill to simply kill anything with any spell.
Until it mattered, at which point she started to be kind of... useless? I don't know. How her power or anyone's skills worked against that many mals really didn't seem to have been explained well enough for me to understand why she suddenly had issues. And why couldn't they have just run around that mawmouth? Huh?
And I don't even want to look at that ending. I had to read the last pages twice because I couldn't believe just how stupid the characters were acting. Or maybe I still missed something, but...
Added to this that I had to start and skim most pages in the middle of the book as basically nothing happened (besides endless worldbuilding and El going off of five mental tangents in the middle of action scenes, somehow?), and... yeah. I wanted to give two stars after that endless middle part but went down 0.25 stars for that ending.
As a comparison: I needed less than two days to finish the first book, with me being endlessly amused by all kinds of little things and situations. It took two weeks for me to slog through the second. I don't even know if I laughed once. It mainly was eye-rolling and groaning instead.
It really is frustrating because I loved the idea of the setting and where it could have gone with it... but after checking out what's going to happen in the next book, I certainly will not continue to read this series.
What a frustrating experience.
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexual content
Minor: Vomit
blacksphinx's review against another edition
- 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
It's lovely watching our protagonist grow as a person, opening up, learning to ask for help, and forming close friendships with other girls. (The unexpected LGBT+ representation was a nice bonus!) There was at least one plot point in here that didn't really make any sense to me, but the emotional through line and building themes stop me from giving it less than five stars.
Graphic: Violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Pregnancy, and War
abookwormspov's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Child death, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Blood, and Murder
katjonzz's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Child death, Death, Violence, and Classism
Moderate: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, and War
angela005's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Graphic: Violence and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders
nutm3g's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Confinement, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Genocide, Gore, Homophobia, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury
ednam0dewannabe's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cursing, Death, and Grief
Minor: Child death, Confinement, Panic attacks/disorders, and Blood
avadore's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child death