A review by selectedfictions
The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik

4.5

Wow, what a trilogy.

I was curious about this one as it was set after graduation from the scholarmance, the other main character in the previous two books and after THAT ending, I couldn't imagine where it would go and how it would keep the threads and characters together. But it did, it kept it all together and hit me with reveal after reveal, all intertwined with some of the darkest scenes from the series so far. This is not low stakes wand waving, this is visceral life altering, savage choices magic. This is the magic introduced in Book 1 of the scholarmance and book 3 delivers on this ten fold. 

I think the high stakes of the scholarmance were lost in some senses and that this read more as a sequel to a duology than an end to a trilogy in that sense. 

I found myself wanting to wrap El up a lot and just give her a break, especially when revelation after revelation kept coming. The reveals in this are GOLDEN. 

This is another 4.5 for me but 5 because this story just stayed with me.