A review by jamie1498
A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-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

2.75

The concept is interesting, but the pacing dragged. The world is really interesting and a lot of the side characters would have been great to see more of. I wish a good chunk of this book was not info-dumping and just spoon feeding things to the reader. It got repetitive and kept the pace too slow. If you focus on what the book does well, there’s rich magic and creatures, an interesting school setting, and diverse characters. Unfortunately, it’s just overshadowed by SO MUCH info dumping and a hard-to-love protagonist.