A review by xengisa
A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik

5.0

i assume the writing style is super divisive? loved it. the style is basically a stream of consciousness, so it's mostly galadriel's thoughts; whether you hate it or love it depends if you like her. i loved her, so it was incredibly enjoyable once it got going. for a while it was kind of stale, but i was reading during unbearably boring classes so i kept going, and i was so absorbed finished it in four classes worth of snuck-reading. sometimes veers extremely ya-ish (for lack of better term) but it's a good "you're in class hoping (to no avail) your classmates will stop asking mundane or stupid questions so you'll get dismissed on time for once" carthatic mood management read. plus she's smart and mostly practical and also understandably jaded. el really got me when she said "i looked at him with murder in my heart". slay.

it's hilarious in a sad way but i was rooting so hard for el (i have not had this feeling in a long while esp. in my recently read books where i was almost cheering for them to lose, which i also think was the intended outcome of the previous books, so) and her friends and everyone. the scholomance itself is described wonderfully, and world-building exquisite. only, i don't really understand why the previous groups of paid wizards couldn't clean the place if that was all it took.

yi liu my beloved. i sort of half wish el got with her instead cuz stay winning queen but orion is funny enough.

the ending though. damn.