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ashley_reya's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
The masterful world building that Novik gets to display in this story was blowing my mind left and right. It truly feels like a completion to the Scholomance Series.
El, Orion, Aadhya, Liu, and even Liesel have a part of my heart with this story. ❤️
El, Orion, Aadhya, Liu, and even Liesel have a part of my heart with this story. ❤️
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Body horror
louise_french_rider's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
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
What a series ! One of my favorite for sure, I really enjoyed every single book.
This book is full of plot twists we weren't prepared for. The end is quite unexpected, I had lots of fun reading it.
I like the characters development and the relationships are well developed. I still don't get why there's this lgbtqia + passage, it is unnecessary and adds nothing to the series, it feels like it's there to say we checked the box "Reaching the lgbtqia+ community". Apart from that, I would have liked a more developed relationship with Orion, it feels like he's there but not really there, which we can understand at the beginning but in the last chapters is confusing.
Overall, it is well written, you don't get bored while reading it, there's always a storyline making you want to turn the next page.
Congrats for this amazing series !
This book is full of plot twists we weren't prepared for. The end is quite unexpected, I had lots of fun reading it.
I like the characters development and the relationships are well developed. I still don't get why there's this lgbtqia + passage, it is unnecessary and adds nothing to the series, it feels like it's there to say we checked the box "Reaching the lgbtqia+ community". Apart from that, I would have liked a more developed relationship with Orion, it feels like he's there but not really there, which we can understand at the beginning but in the last chapters is confusing.
Overall, it is well written, you don't get bored while reading it, there's always a storyline making you want to turn the next page.
Congrats for this amazing series !
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, and Murder
Moderate: Body horror, Sexual content, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Cursing and Deadnaming
dejanira's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
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
This book feels like putting together the missing pieces into a puzzle; it's a satisfying ending to a masterfully written series.
I have only one controversial take that cost the book the 0.25 star: I decided that Orion Lake needed to die.
I have only one controversial take that cost the book the 0.25 star:
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Torture, Blood, Abortion, and Injury/Injury detail
bakerindale's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
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? It's complicated
4.75
Novik has done it again; it’s a worthy finale for the series.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Gore, Torture, Abortion, and Injury/Injury detail
kelisabeth's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
micallab's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts
katy_bee's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
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
3.75
I've raced through this series, rather like a mawmouth. I've seen in other reviews that there are issues with the writing style- lots of telling rather than showing- and I agreed. The chosen one trope is very much present so if that's not your thing, beware. But I just really enjoyed them. I got swept up in the world and El's journey. The first half was definitely more page turning. Things slowed a little in the middle but I wanted to see what happened to the characters and have the mystery of the enclave attacks solved and it all came together very satisfyingly.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse
Moderate: War and Injury/Injury detail
firefenix14'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? It's complicated
4.5
LOVE this trilogy!!! This is the second time I've read through this series, first time was early 2023. I blew through these because I love the world and the story. El has so much going on, and the number of shifts and turns in this is amazing and captivating. There are definitely some slower moments within her internal dialogue incorporating more world building/history that I felt were unnecessary, but overall I really loved this series. Something is great about a bitter main character that begrudgingly does the right thing even though it is insanely hard. She never takes the easy way out, that's for sure. Everything about Orion and what he is, the way her mum tried to heal him, and the resolution between El and Deepthi Sharma was really well written. The emotional conclusion of that felt really satisfying, and her granddad threatening to leave the house/estate was a great show of his real love for Arjun, El, and her mom.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Death, Death of parent, and War
Minor: Sexual content
whynotreadwithalex's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
I absolutely hate disliking books. It honestly causes me physical pain because I love stories and I want to love each story I come to. But every so often I pick up a book that is just too painful, frustrating, or disappointing to like — and I’m so very sad that this has been the case with The Golden Enclaves. Especially because I absolutely adored the first two books and had every expectation that I would love this one.
Unfortunately, there are a many number of things, characters, story elements, and plot choices that I found underwhelming but what really disappointed me the most was that all of the character development we saw in El over the course of the first two books was completely undone in the first half of this one, and then not adequately built back up again by the end. This left me feeling like I didn’t know her, which is not how you want to feel at the conclusion of a series. So many of the things I had come to love about her (such as her resilience, her discipline, her strong foundation of morals, and her journey of personal growth that allowed her to let people in) either faded into the background or completely flipped. She lost her voice, her passion, her ferocity, her community, her drive. And that just wasn’t realistic, interesting, or relatable for me. Not only that, but it made me really really sad.
The wrap up regarding the creation of enclaves and how that is tied to malia was interesting — but the conflict with Ophelia, the revelation of the prophecy, and the resolution weren’t enough to make up for the other ways I was really disappointed.
Finally, I love Orion. And I truly believe he deserved better. Not just from the other characters, but from the author.
Honestly, really heartbroken with this one, guys.
Unfortunately, there are a many number of things, characters, story elements, and plot choices that I found underwhelming but what really disappointed me the most was that all of the character development we saw in El over the course of the first two books was completely undone in the first half of this one, and then not adequately built back up again by the end. This left me feeling like I didn’t know her, which is not how you want to feel at the conclusion of a series. So many of the things I had come to love about her (such as her resilience, her discipline, her strong foundation of morals, and her journey of personal growth that allowed her to let people in) either faded into the background or completely flipped. She lost her voice, her passion, her ferocity, her community, her drive. And that just wasn’t realistic, interesting, or relatable for me. Not only that, but it made me really really sad.
The wrap up regarding the creation of enclaves and how that is tied to malia was interesting — but the conflict with Ophelia, the revelation of the prophecy, and the resolution weren’t enough to make up for the other ways I was really disappointed.
Finally, I love Orion. And I truly believe he deserved better. Not just from the other characters, but from the author.
Honestly, really heartbroken with this one, guys.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
doahdancer's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual content