Very dark but very good. Novik has created a fascinating, if extremely grim, world and characters. I look forward to future books.

I tried to read this book, but was not interested from the first chapter. I also read many reviews from other people describing the problematic and frankly racist depictions of certain characters, and I have no interest in continuing to read this book. At this point, white authors should know it's not their place to write from the point of view of non-white characters, even if they are half white. Doing research does not take the place of lived experiences. And making up bugs that only live in loc'ed hair? How does something clearly that racist get past a team of people into a final book (I know how--this is why there needs to be diversity in every stage of publishing a book).

Novik knows no bounds when it comes to writing great stories. There are so many wonderful aspects to this book, but the relationship between El and Orion made for an interesting pairing, not unlike a certain pair from Harry Potter. Of course, this is understood to be a darker, gender-bent similarity to the that series, but Novik makes the story her own.

A Deadly Education by Naomi Novak is a new spin on magic school, with much deadlier consequences. It is a must read for fans of the genre.

This was an AMAZING book. Like, I need the next one right now amazing. I've always enjoyed Naomi Novik's books, but this one takes the cake. It's like if Hogwarts (the school itself) was deadly and students had to make pacts and keeps secrets to survive. All I can say is, well done!

This book was just far too slow and I really struggled to get into it. I also really did not like any of the characters. I wanted to love a book about a magical school that’s trying to kill it’s students, but the pacing just didn’t work! I had the same struggle with Uprooted, if I’m being honest, but the story was interesting enough to keep me engaged.

This book unfortunately was not for me. As much as I wanted to love it (the main character's name is Galadriel! That alone should make me love it), I just didn't connect with the main character. Naomi Novik is clearly a talented writer, but this is different from her past two fantasies (Uprooted & Spinning Silver), which had a more historical tone. This is contemporary, which might contribute to why I had a hard time enjoying it. However, I will still recommend it to patrons looking for fantasy/boarding school novels.

Thank you to NetGalley, Naomi Novik, and Random House Public Group - Ballentine sending me the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is a very well told story, by a well-rounded and respected author. As the first in a new series, it has phenomenal world-building and character development. I am really looking forward to the next addition as I'm already addicted, but it didn't feel like the traditional cliff-hanger ending, which I and and many patrons find infuriating. Plus in a sea of similar-sounding storylines I found very unique elements that I quite liked in this one. I have already started recommending it, even though I don't usually do that for the first book in a series because I like to make sure it has "legs." However, I do believe after reading other books by this author that it is quite likely this series will take off like an Olympic sprinter. I can't wait to read the next one to see if I'm right..

Magical schools! Monsters! I want it all. This is my kind of book in theory, the overall story is really inventive and the author's imagination can't be understated. Despite that, the execution and info dumping honestly made it drag. I felt the same way about Spinning Silver, so maybe this author just isn't for me even if I do try to keep forcing it.

ARC received from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I am so late to the game with this book that it is kind of sad. Still, I am happy I gave this book a chance because man I really did enjoy all of it. While I have heard the discourse going on about this book I am not going to touch much on that in this review. Mainly, because I am a white woman in my twenties whose opinion does not really matter. I would rather leave that up to people that actually have first hand knowledge of racial stigma. I do have to say that I quite enjoyed all the different characters and their backgrounds in this book. It felt like it was only lightly touched on but that was kind of the point. These kids are all shoved together without adults around. They are just trying to fight to survive not worrying about anything else.

I have seen this book being compared with Harry Potter and I can definitely see the similarities. This world feels like if Hogwarts had decided to say screw it and get revenge for all the students have put it through. The ending felt like there was still more to work on which, while a bit disappointing, was the whole set up for the second book. I can't wait to read it and she were the story goes.

This book was FANTASTIC!!!!

El is just trying to survive her school year. She keeps getting textbooks about raining terror and being the best evil sorcerous ever, the school is trying extra hard to kill students this year and to top it off the resident Hero has made her his pet project, aka kill her if she goes evil.

This book was soooo goood!!! I love that El is determined not be evil when being evil would be the easiest path. Orion is ridiculous. I adore El making friends, yay!!!

I cannot wait for the next one.

It starts off slow and kind of dense, but once the action begins, it's hard to resist the story as it drives forward. It reads as a true epic, one that makes you feel the world really has been reshaped as you read it. Would recommend.

This was a thoroughly enjoyable story about a magic school that’s very different from Hogwarts. Basically everything in the Scholomance is trying to kill the students but they still have a better chance of survival than in the mundane world. I can’t wait for the next book in the series!

Wow I didn't like this one. Everything was SO grim and SO dangerous that like . . . nothing landed. Where are the stakes if literally everything is life/death? Doesn't work for me, thank you

Uprooted and Spinning Silver are two of my favorite books so when I heard Naomi Novik was coming out with a magical boarding school series, I couldn’t wait to start this book. But I ultimately ended up waiting a few months. And A Deadly Education is an interesting start to what promises to be an intriguing series.

The beginning of the book is slow. There’s quite a lot of info-dumping as Novik introduces the characters, the world, and the unique entity that is the school. And El really got on my nerves at first. But then I hit a point about a third of the way in where everything started to come together and I started to understand the characters and the harsh world they live in.

A Deadly Education is innovative, atmospheric, and rather dark. Novik has thought of every last detail of the Scholomance (and it’s various monsters) and it shows. But, ultimately, this is a character study about friendship and family and accepting yourself. El grew on me over time and I really liked seeing how she changed over time as her situation changed. I also thought it was interesting to see how her internal dialogue regarding the other characters changed over time, from harshly analytical to more emotional. Orion’s storyline was also quite entertaining and I liked how Novik turned some tropes on their head.

While this book did feel a bit younger than I was expecting, I thought that A Deadly Education was an entertaining series opener with some incredibly detailed world-building. I’m looking forward to continuing with this series, particularly after that ending. Also, if you’re planning to read this book, it’s worth checking out Naomi Novik’s apology and commitment to doing better in regards to the representation in this book.

Set in a deadly school for magic beings where allies and connections can make the difference between death and graduation (high school is rough)--whether it's the school and it's monsters trying to get the students or each other for survival. Loner Galadriel "El" inadvertently finds frenemy-ship with the class hero, Orion Lake, who has saved at least 600 students since his enrollment. Scholomance may have moving staircases, but unlike Hogwarts death can come at you at any moment (oh wait...); there are enclaves rather than districts like Hunger Games, but enclaves don't work together among themselves for survival (oh wait...); unlike Lord of The Flies, kids don't go around deliberately killing each other off (oh wait...); there's a void filled with monsters, but unlike Stranger Things, there isn't a main character named El who reluctantly tries to stop the monsters from destroying everything (oh wait...).
Overall, the world building was somewhat creative (see above) with descriptions of vicious monsters that feed off students. El was a difficult character to like, but I was definitely rooting for her and the unexpected partnership with Orion. Because the narrative is first-person from El's perspective, there is a significant limit on other POVs, which may add to the narrow view of languages, cultures, and enclaves. El is half-British, half-Indian, raised by her mother, who is a healer. El is isolated from much of the outside world because of a deadly premonition from her grandmother, and she is of a lower-class than her well-off, enclaved peers. As a result, El is prickly, standoffish, and sarcastic, which is woven throughout the narrative, but also generous and loyal to those who genuinely help her. Overall, the book was a fine, distracting read (didn't love it, didn't hate, just ok) with a catching cliffhanger (guess I'll have to read the 2nd one).

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy of A Deadly Education.

You know how we all dreamed of going to Hogwarts after reading HP? Well, imagine the opposite and you’ve got the Scholomance. No teachers to protect you and no holidays home. This school is full of mal, monsters that are constantly trying to kill and eat you. We see all of this from the prospective of El, and woo does she have a lot to tell us.

I definitely enjoyed parts of this book, like her interactions with other students as she slowly formed friendships, and the action scenes with fighting the mals BUT there was so much back story and inner monologue that it just lagged the story down the entire time. There’s too much and it read like a history book of magic and enclaves- so much with the enclaves, that I started internally groaning every time she brought it up. This book would have been a really fun read with some major editing, but as it, it was a struggle to get through a lot of it. I appreciate the world building but prefer to be shown, not told. With that ending, I’ll definitely read the next in the series, but I was disappointed in this one overall.

Oh man; I did not like this book as much I thought I would. And I really did want to love it - having fallen for Novik's previous work, Spinning Silver. THAT one I would recommend over and over again. "A Deadly Education"...? Well here is what I took issue with:

1. Nothing happened, plot-wise. THERE WAS SO MUCH EXPOSITION. There was personally barely any build-up to climatic event (unless you count the predictable one in Chapter 12) and majority of the novel spent its time building the main character's backstory. This hindered my enjoyment as since this is part of a series, most world-building is often reserved for the second instalment and the first serves to draw the reader in, usually through something exceptionally exciting. Said exciting thing was missing here.

2. The romance was lukewarm. Orion Lake and El, our narrator, are clearly meant to be together, and then there is this sudden revelation in the final chapter (no spoilers, don't worry) - but the revelation is jarring vis-a-vis the rest of the relationship. Aside from some snarky remarks and Orion's hero-to-the-rescue complex, no real tension is built - romantic or otherwise.

3. Cultural insensitivities. The use of the word "mana". The term "mana" derives from Polynesian tradition (yet is never credited as such). Throughout the novel, El constantly refers to her mana (which is a supernatural power that can be inherited or transmitted). El is annoyed that she has to learn Marathi (her mother's language) and reminds the readers that English and Mandarin are the languages we REALLY need to know. Some characters have non-Western names but could have been easily named "Tom" or "Sally" for the lack of depth given to them.

And do not get me started on how the novel feels highly derivative of Harry Potter. I know that Harry Potter, as a cultural standpoint, seeps into the imagination whenever there is any novel that attempts to portray a magical school to train budding wizards. I acknowledge my bias here. BUT THE SETTING IS LITERALLY A MAGICAL SCHOOL THAT TRIES TO KILL ITS STUDENTS.

I wanted so much more. I really wanted to love this. This was a miss for me.

Thank you to Penguin Random House and Net Galley for this #gifted ebook in return for an honest review.

This is my first Naomi Novik book and it sounded right up my alley. A magical school? Check. Drama? Check. Great premise? Check again. In practice, there was some rambling that made me not sure I was willing to read the second book. I felt like I really needed to invest in the world building and I'm not sure it was worth it. Did I like the book? Yes. Did I love it? No.

Naomi Novik’s latest fantasy series takes place in a magical school located in the Void, called the Scholomance. There are no teachers, homework and textbooks seem to appear as students need them and cast spells to bring them. There are no Houses, but there are enclaves from major areas like New York and London – and every spellcaster in that school is jockeying for a position in them. Oh, and there are demons and monsters wandering around the school waiting to kill you. Or your fellow students will, if you’re too much of a threat. You think a Zoom graduation stinks? The Scholomance graduation is when all the monsters rush the seniors as they try to leave the building. It’s an all-out brawl for survival to graduate, because to graduate is to live. Enter El, short for “Galadriel”, a half-Indian, half-Welsh magic user with incredible destructive power. She’s also misanthropic to the point of mania, in part because of a rough childhood (see: destructive power) and the fact that her father died protecting her pregnant mother at graduation.

But El realizes she’s got to make friends to survive, and a shining knight named Orion Lake, the school good guy, is determined to get through that antisocial exterior. He saves her life multiple times, to her frustration, but she also discovers that his good deeds are causing major fallout in the school – and a group of students have to come together to set things right.

While I loved the premise of the “dark magic school”, I didn’t fully connect with A Deadly Education. El got on my nerves quickly as the “lone wolf” schtick wore me out; Orion’s stubborn insistence on being the good guy grated, and there were moments when the book just didn’t move forward for me. I normally love Naomi Novik’s writing, but this one wasn’t my book.

A Deadly Education has starred reviews from BookPage and Publishers Weekly.