Reviews with content warning for Animal death - A Deadly Education

I really loved this. I've been a fan of Novik's work in the past, so even though the summary didn't catch me, I was willing to give it a chance. I loved the characters, the dynamic between them, and most of all the worldbuilding. I'm struggling to come up with any criticisms for it.

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shos's review against another edition

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adventurous dark 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? Yes

4.25

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nutm3g's review against another edition

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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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gothlawyer's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

I haven’t raved about a book like this in ages, the only one that’s better is the sequel!!

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blissofalife's review against another edition

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adventurous 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

4.75

No love triangle, no real angst, believable interactions, developed relationships, solid world building without info dumping! It was a fun read that seemed to straddle the line of Hunger Games and Hogwarts. I can’t wait to read the next one!

4.75 because some of the grammar read weird to me and was a tad distracting at times.

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oliverreeds's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

good vibes. very dark. the lore was good but not spread out enough and very thick and dense in some areas. believable characters.

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soundlysmitten's review against another edition

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adventurous 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

4.0

The premise of this story is unlike any I’ve ever read and I think the author built a brilliant world for such a narrative. I was a little disappointed to find a lot of details relayed through info dumps. But for a story without a clear plotline which takes place in a confined setting, I seldom found it boring. It’s a rather tense read and though the action seems paced pretty well, the chapters are longer than I personally like. Still, any issues I took note of felt minor and didn’t negatively impact my experience much.

When I first started reading, I thought I was going to hate the book because I found the main character extremely annoying. El’s hostile narration can get repetitive fast, but the way she holds herself makes sense once you learn how her experience differs from others. So I’m glad I kept reading. Truly, I was so happy when things started to look up for El, you’d think she was a real person 😹

My favorite part of the book was the dynamic between El and her allies. The development of their relationships is heartwarming as it marks El's first experience of social acceptance and support.

El and Orion have an amusing kind of chemistry, her being really smart but somewhat of a jerk and him being totally nice but a bit of a moron. And as for Aadhya & Liu, they're probably the most genuine chicks El could’ve made friends with, so I really enjoyed how that played out too.

I also appreciated the ethnic and financial diversity of the different characters and think the author did a good job mirroring certain real world inequalities that are perpetuated by the corrupt social systems we’ve established.

All in all, I'd say give this one a shot. It won't be for everyone, but no book is!

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bluejayreads's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This was already on my reading list, but when I realized the author was the same author who wrote Spinning Silver, it jumped to the top of the list. And it was 100% worth it.

I'm going to start here with an apology. I hate when people compare books to the Harry Potter series, not in the least because Harry Potter is just not that great. (I will do a full post on this eventually but for now please bear with me.) So it is with the deepest apologies that I call A Deadly Education "Harry Potter but darker and much, much better."

You want a magical school? I give you the Scholomance. You want a magical school with halls that move on their own? I'll do you one better: A magical school that is sentient to some degree, warps space for its own purposes, will only put classrooms and staircases in a particular place if you believe they will be there hard enough, and is literally built inside a magical void.

You want a powerful protagonist? I give you El, the protagonist, whose magic specialty means that defending herself with magic could mean killing everyone in the Scholomance. You want a protagonist with interesting heritage and a prophecy about them? I'll do you one better: El's mother is famous for her magical ability, and El's own extended family tried to kill her due to a prophecy about her.

You want a constant sense of danger even on school grounds? The Scholomance is infested with malevolent monsters, to the point where every bite has to be checked for poison, every cafeteria table has to be inspected for monsters, and going to the bathroom alone is a death sentence. There are no teachers because it isn't needed - if you don't learn, you die. You only have an 80% chance of surviving the Scholomance, but only a 40% chance of surviving the monsters out in the world without the training the Scholomance gives you. The Scholomance may be hellish but it's everyone's best shot.

El herself is fantastic. She doesn't know why people don't like her on sight, but she hides under layers of anger and sarcasm and biting ... I was going to say biting wit, but it's not even witty, it's just biting but I enjoyed it. She is prickly and unfriendly but so damn relatable at times and the kind of absurdly-powerful-but-always-underestimated that I absolutely love. Plus she has so much character growth in this story and I can't wait to see where she goes in the rest of the series.

Admittedly, this book is not perfect. There is a ton of exposition dumped in to explain the world, the way the Scholomance and the magical world works, and El's backstory. It did slow the action and very much felt like an info-dump. I found it to be interesting info, and I was intrigued enough by the world that it didn't interrupt my enjoyment of the story. I do recognize, though, that if you're not engaged enough in the world, it will come across as really boring and poorly paced.

I cannot say enough good things about this world, this magic system, this magic school, everything. It's dark, violent, magical, and real, with all the grittiness of a bunch of high schoolers cloistered in a sentient school where at least 20% of them will die before graduation and the dark whimsy of a magic system that would just as soon drain you dry and toss aside your desiccated corpse as help you create a magic mirror. Classism and privilege are major themes and they fit seamlessly into the story. I can't say too much more without spoilers - this story unfolds like a black rose, each petal opening and revealing more darkness and danger within. And it deserves to be read without spoilers. It deserves to be experienced as fully and wonderfully as it exists - unapologetic, dark, enthralling, full of beautiful and hideous magic.

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