I had a hard time with this one, unfortunately. I confess I struggled with Novik's other works, however, I heard this one was quite different - an assessment I'd agree with. It was so much more voicey than Uprooted and Spinning Silver - and honestly, from the first few pages, I suspected this would land a solid five stars. There's so much to love - particularly the main character's sass and grim outlook on life. She's fun to follow and a perfect MC.

However, I couldn't seem to get a footing in this world. It's very abstract and most of the terms are glossed over, so I was honestly lost half the time. I felt unsettled and I couldn't visualize anything.

I wanted so badly to love this book, and I truly thought I would. The relationship between her and Orion was addicting, and yet I couldn't bring myself to finish because I felt so clueless and lost in the world itself.

I will probably try this again via audiobook in the future, but for now, I don't think I can continue.

Regardless, I'm so grateful to have had the chance to dive in!

DANG IT HOW IS NAOMI NOVIK SO GOOD? Just when you think all the magic has been wrung out of the magic boarding school concept, along she comes with A Deadly Education to pull you back in again with a fabulously angry and potentially world-destroying heroine, full of sharp commentary on societal inequities and dealing with trauma and trying not to let your worst impulses get the better of you. It is a perfect book for this moment.

4.5 stars. The half star was knocked off for some plodding pacing/"telling" in the first couple chapters, but I have very minimal complaints after that. This book was maybe exactly what was needed for this former Boy Who Lived fan disillusioned by She Who Must Not Be Named. Looking back at Hogwarts as an adult, it seems insane to think that these large groups of children could regularly face demons and life threatening situations and only lose a few over years and years of battles. The Scholomance, on the other hand, has students dying left and right as part of regular daily life.

Initially I loved Galadriel purely for being named Galadriel, admittedly, but I have to say that I LOVE her voice as well as her growth through the novel. It was nice to see the trope of "awkward friendless loser at a magical school" dealt with in such an aggressive evil sorceress way.

I love the monsters, I love the terrifying minutiae of the school (especially the void in everyone's bedroom and the demons waiting to attack students trying to bus their trays in the cafeteria), I love the magic system here and its heavy emphasis on education.

I had so, so much fun reading this. That ending was so freaking intense and so deliciously wicked and enjoyable. I can't wait for book 2!

Thank you Del Rey and NetGalley for the ARC!

First of all, as ALWAYS, thank you to NetGalley, Del Rey books, and Ms. Novik for the opportunity to read an ARC of this title. An honest review was requested although not required.

I should preface by saying I'm a big fan of Ms. Novik. The Temeraire series, and then her standalone fantasy titles (Uprooted, Spinning Silver), all warmed the little Grinchy corners of my heart. I had high hopes for this. I mean, it's practically been marketed as a reverse image Hogwarts, amiright?

WELL. I am on a real book high this month because between this and Emerald Blaze by Ilona Andrews I am absolutely maxed out on awesome awesome awesome awesome fantasy. How did I get so lucky!!!!!!!

I devoured A Deadly Education in two great big gulps, ironically enough like a great big mal chomping down an unfortunate freshman. The first half got me through a five mile run on the treadmill, and the second half saw me through a nice epsom salt soak. I literally could do nothing else until I had gobbled this book right up.

Galadriel - or El to her (few) friends - Higgins is a real delight. She has the kind of sarcastic outer voice that I can only claim to have as an inner voice as I'm not brave enough to be rude to other people. However, neither have I been practically shunned and treated as an unwanted outcast my entire life. That could really make a girl rude, ya know? Why keep trying to "get along" with people who don't even try to hide that they don't want you around? I loved her.

The so-called info dumps did not bother me too much. This is a large, grandly conceived world and frankly I think Ms. Novik really had to set up Scholomance on her own terms, fully-fleshed out in all its details, or be accused of ripping off Hogwarts. And while there are a few similarities - the school moves its parts on its own, for example - it really is its own distinct place. And it's SO cool! But I digress. I think that part of the reason El imparts these big chunks of knowledge "to the reader" (she does, in fact, address the reader a few times) is that she obviously had to figure all this out on her own when she got to the school. No one helped her. No one wanted her around. And then she had no one to talk it over with, no one to compare notes - so sharing her experiences with the way the school works with "the reader" is probably the first chance El has EVER had to do so. Of course she has a lot to say! Am I over thinking this? Maybe. But I was so in love with the school and the atmosphere that none of it, NONE of it, really bothered me. I just wanted to wallow in this world a little longer.

If I could have changed one thing, I would have wished that El didn't come across as looking helpless quite so often. I mean, we ("the Reader") know that she's not, but it's so aggravating that someone who knows so much and quite obviously is loaded with talent ends up looking like a bumbler all the time.

Other than that, though, I'm completely hooked. I loved the multicultural diversity amongst the students; it was a lot more multinational than Hogwarts which was refreshing. I loved the inventiveness of the mals, and the politics of alliances and trades between the students. I loved the social aspects of the enclaves and the jockeying to get in. I loved the whole set up of the sentient, semi-evil, professor-less school. I loved hapless Orion and El's puzzlement over whether they were "dating,", lolololol. I loved it ALL. And I am dyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyying to get my hands on book #2.

I will be re-reading this, oh I don't know, at LEAST four times I am sure before book #2 comes out.
At this point I would purchase this author's grocery list if she chose to publish it. Ugh.

Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for providing me the opportunity to review this title.

I was intrigued by this novel, but unfortunately was let down. This book, while the premise of prickly protagonist reluctantly teams up with a golden boy hero at the magic school that's actively trying to kill the students all the time is good, was a slog and a half to get through. It was EXTREMELY exposition-heavy, with pages and pages of Galadriel explaining the school and the rules of magic to us. This made the story choppy and clunky. It sadly ended up being a bit of a mess with too much telling and not enough showing. I was very bored throughout and therefore chose not to finish the book.

I really tried with this one, but I haven't even hit the 20% mark on this one and I desperately need to DNF this book.

One of my biggest pet peeves when it comes to books is assuming that your readers are incapable of grasping complex worldbuilding, so you feel the need to constantly be condescending with monotonous exposition interludes.

Chapter one starts with our MC Galadriel 'El' being rescued by Orion, another magical student at the Scholomance from some magical beast. That takes up all of a few pages. The reader is then subjected to one of the most painful info dumps that I've ever experienced for 20+ pages as the MC addresses the audience with every painstaking detail and history surrounding said creature. After my eyes were done rolling back to my head, we finally get back to El and Orion only for the chapter to abruptly end.

Cue chapter two. Now we have sentences that last a full page. Talk about flashbacks to the tedium that is T.S. Eliot's The Wasteland. And again, there's a page or two of action before the El goes back to her pedestal to lecture the reader about the history of the Scholomance rather than just letting us experience it for ourselves.

I got through half of chapter three, but as soon as El started her history lesson again rather than, oh I dunno show so character depth or her experiences at the Scholomance, I realized that I had enough.

Thank you to Del Rey Books for providing a review copy through NetGalley. This did not influence my review. All opinions are my own.

A terrific first entry in the Scholomance series. It's difficult to not mentally reference a certain school of witchcraft and wizardry, but this high school for magicians is lacking all of the comforting ghosts and portraits of wizards past. All of the kinder, softer elements are replaced with monsters -- called maleficaria --primed and ready to devour our magical scholars at any second. A meditation on class and a host of fantasy tropes, A Deadly Education is a perfect spooky season read and is tailor made for any fans of Lev Grossman or She Who Must Not Be Named.

Naomi Novick has created another world that I would love to live in if it weren’t so scary. This book reminds me of a cross between Harry Potter and the Hunger Games starring a rude Hermione Granger. At first I thought, meh, another magical school story, but I’ve loved Naomi’s other work, so I decided to request an Advanced Reader’s copy. I’m very glad I did. Instead of a beloved castle, the wizards are basically in a death trap of a school that is filled with creatures trying to eat them for their magic while they try to learn as much as possible and avoid getting eaten on their graduation run right out of the Scholomance (their school). The relationship between the white knight of the school Orion Lake and the dark, bitter, amazingly bitchy Galadriel, who is basically the unwilling recipient of dark magic powerful enough to level cities, but is determined to take the less destructive road. Good humor and strong relationships bring a unique flavor to this novel. The prose is much more conversational and humorous than her other novels, but it builds an immersive world. I definitely stayed up too late to read this novel and I wouldn’t be surprised if readers stay up late to swallow it whole as well.

I seriously enjoyed the school environment, which is rich in danger, strategy, and politics. Students must protect themselves while they're vulnerable (sleeping, collecting supplies) and even ensure their food isn't compromised before eating. Alliances are made for survival or in exchange for help. There are only two ways for the students to leave the school -- upon their graduation or their death. There's a lot of action for a book that takes place entirely within the school building. It makes for an interesting fictional environment, but it's not a school I'd want to enroll in!

The characters' studies are also interesting -- El's track is languages, which allows her to find and learn more spells. Students at the school trade spells like Chocolate Frog Cards, and spells aren't easily translated from one language to another. Students must have enough background in each language to be able to effectively cast a spell. Other skills like metallurgy and alchemy are studied, but each student has a specialty. The specialty can be determined by their natural affinity for a type of magic or by a strategic decision to make themselves more useful to others.

El is an appealing character because she has the potential to be a great dark sorcerer, but she doesn't want to use the "bad magic" stolen from others and continues to only use her own power. She's been a loner for most of her schooling so far, but when the most popular boy in her year starts paying attention to her, everyone is suddenly interested in aligning themselves with her. As the novel progresses, you start to realize that El is more powerful than those around her as long as she can acquire enough mana to cast her spells. The ending will leave the reader wanting to know what happens in the next book in the series!

Recommended for adult fans of Harry Potter and readers of contemporary fantasy. Teens really into YA fantasy would enjoy this book, and it's less adult in content than some YA titles like Sarah J. Maas.

A Deadly Education is a fascinating, fun, and dangerously exciting concept. I was continually delighted by the ways in which the school tried to kill its students and the imagination behind the monsters. El is at times a frustrating character, but charming despite all efforts not to be. Novik throws you into this world and expects you to survive, much like she does her characters. Overall, it was a very enjoyable reading experience.

This book only misses the five star mark because of some repetition that became distracting in the second half of the book. (If I had to read one more time about how the NYC enclave is elite and doesn’t make friends with the rest of them, I was going to throw the book across the room.) That said, this was a strong start to a new series, and I will be picking up the next eagerly.

This book was an utter delight to read and I devoured it in one day on my vacation. My enjoyment of an older book about a school of magic has been... severely complicated this year, and while this is certainly darker and geared toward an older audience, I feel like I've gained some of that joy back. Thank you, Naomi Novik.

This is being sold as an adult book, which is fine, but I'll probably also buy a copy for my library's teen section. There's nothing here a high schooler who likes the Hunger Games couldn't handle.

Years ago, I discovered a cover and a title to a book that intrigued me immediately. It had a fairytale feel to it, so naturally, I was drawn to it, and upon reading the description, I had a feeling that Naomi Novik would be special. And so I picked up Uprooted and read the first page, and I was done for immediately, and by the end, it cemented itself into a list of books that did something good for my heart and soul. My admiration only grew by reading Spinning Silver, a book so perfect I can’t praise it enough, and it quickly became one of my most talked-about books. And so, when Naomi Novik announced that she was writing a darker Harry Potter with feminism in mind, I knew that I had to get my hands on it. I’m excited to say that it did not disappoint, and I’m thrilled that I get to talk about and review it.

In A Deadly Education, the Scholomance school is not run by teachers, but by the school itself. In order to graduate from the Scholomance, magically gifted students must stay vigilant and guide themselves to success or die. Unfortunately for the students of the school, death can be inevitable, but chances of survival of puberty are better inside of the school than outside of it. In order to avoid an untimely demise, students must never walk the halls alone, and keep in mind that monsters, called maleficaria or “mals” or short, lurk everywhere, waiting for students to let their guard down. The school may give you spells if you ask for it; however, it may be in a language the student doesn't know and must learn. Everything the school does is to make or break a student.

Galadriel, or El for short, never lets her guard down, and is always preparing for the next task. El is uniquely prepared for the brutal world of the Scholomance, for she has a particular talent for mass destruction and death magic. El is just trying to survive graduating without taking out the rest of her class by accident, remaining a loner that never gets too close, while the hero of the school, and El’s nemesis, Orion Lake, is trying to save everyone he possibly can, no matter the cost. El and Orion come from opposite ends of popularity but form a reluctant alliance when El realizes that Orion needs someone to save him from his hero complex or face the consequences of his actions.

This book was a ton of fun. Even though we are all extremely used to the magic school trope, Novik made it feel new again, which I consider a huge accomplishment. If I had to compare it to another magic school book, my first thought would be to Vita Nostra, because both of these books have the same “succeed or die” theme of the school and heroines who refuse to stop fighting for what they want. El is a fantastic MC, and I was rooting for her the whole time. El is smart, driven, and loyal, and even though she has vowed to remain on the outskirts of any kind of real friendships, she starts to let her walls down and show some vulnerabilities. I absolutely adored that her power is so devastating and that no one at the school knows just how deadly it could be. Because El is destined to be evil and Orion is destined to be a hero, they make quite the pair. I cannot wait to see where their stories go from here.

The only thing that gave me any sort of pause was that I was expecting it to be very Adult Fantasy and it instead felt more YA. Which is fine! I just felt like it was marketed way differently and I was expecting it to feel like it was written for adults. That’s all. Besides that, I have no other complaints at all. I was riveted by this book!

The worldbuilding is super fun, and very clever, just as you’d expect from Novik, and the magic felt unique to any I’ve read about. I don’t want to go into too many specifics because it’s entertaining to find out more about the world as you go along, but *how* magic is used can say a lot about someone, and it just further endeared me to El. Novik thought through every inch of the magic system for the Scholomance, and I commend her for it.

All of these elements put together made for a fantastical and compelling book that began to crescendo to a point where I could not put the book down. It’s a subverted heroes’ journey with magic, humor, and intrigue abound. I was basically screaming at the ending and already cannot wait to read the second book in the series. Naomi Novik is truly such a special writer, and she has shown us once again how wonderful her storytelling is in A Deadly Education.

I honestly have no idea how to rate this book. I adored the setting and the story, but at the same time I was extremely bored because of all the info dump. This book had little action, which I'm fine with, but every time there was an action scene it was interrupted by more (sometimes useless) information. Otherwise the writing was beautiful and it was a really interesting read.

Hogwarts from Hell. No one could possibly have happy memories from going to school at Scholomance, the school for the magically gifted. Graduation means you live to make it out the front doors. There's incentive to do well in class. No teachers or tutors or pats on the back, but plenty of ghouls and beasties and things that go bump in the night - and the day, and under the bed and in the bathroom, and what's wrong with that jello? One has to always pay attention, and never, never, NEVER go anywhere alone. So talents and alliances, power and source energy is everything, and El is walking a fine line without friends and allies, but with powers she doesn't dare use for fear of killing everyone, or not use, for fear of dying herself.... And then this boy the other students practically worship keeps "rescuing" her - it's deeply annoying. She's having none of it. Things have got to change.
And things do. As only Naomi Novik can. What a wild roller coaster ride full of adventure and excitement and the discovery of friendship and maybe even trust. El has never had friends in her life, never had anyone in her life who even liked her except her mum, who liked everyone, so taking those first steps into an alliance/friendship are very difficult and foreign and she stumbles a great deal, and is, well, very brave. Splendid character development, totally believable, and lots of fun. An unbelievable variety of monsters literally coming out of the woodwork and splattered all over everywhere. I can not wait for the next in the series.

Truly adored this book! I was nervous it might be too gory/ edge to close to horror for me but it didn't at all, while still maintaining a very urgent sense of the stakes and the danger. The world-building is a high concept but still manages to pull you in and make you care deeply about the characters. The underlying points about sexism and wealth inequalities feel extremely relevant and make this not only an exciting story, but an incisive one as well. I stayed up all night reading it and am only disappointed I'll have to wait for the sequel.

A Deadly Education follows a girl is in a boarding school where monsters are trying to kill her and everyone else in the school, so the name of the game is survival at all costs. And then one day, the most popular kid in school befriends our grumpy heroine and her situation starts to change (basically, what you need to know is: boarding school, monsters, magic, snark).

Oh y'all, I loved this. It had all the things I want in a book - the characters were likable (well, it's really just the main character that gets developed, but I 'm thinking side characters will get some love in the next one), the worldbuilding was creative and cool, and it was really funny! It was kind of like if Gideon & Harrowhawk the Ninth were one book that wasn't confusing and also Yennefer from the Witcher (tv show version, and sans weird uterus-driven side-plot) was the main character. It was awesome. It won't be for everyone - the tone is really snarky, and there's almost no plot to speak of until the last few chapters, but when all the other stuff is so great, who cares? I really want this to be a graphic novel and then a tv show - some of the monsters (mals) sound so grossly awesome that I need to see them and their comic gory deaths on the glossy page and then screen.

5 stars - I loved it, and if you are a fan of the aforementioned magic boarding schools with monsters trope, then you should 100% give it a read.

Book news you can use: Naomi Novik’s A Deadly Education is an instant contender for the best YA fantasy novel of 2020.

The story, which arrives just as many of us are uncomfortably wrestling with our complicated feelings about J.K. Rowling and her Harry Potter universe, gives us the sorcerers’ boarding school saga we’ve been waiting for, complete with an appealingly difficult heroine, an exciting, fast-paced plot, and an entirely unique universe populated with matter-of-fact diversity and one of the most intriguing magical worlds in fiction at the moment.

Full review coming to Culturess on release day: https://culturess.com/2020/09/29/deadly-education-review/

I decided that Orion had to die after the second time he saved my life. I hadn’t really cared much about him before then one way or another, but I had limits.

And so begins A Deadly Education. This book is so much more than a darker Harry Potter. The main character lashes out at everyone in a school where survival is only possible through alliances. She is capable of more power than all her classmates together but it depends on dark arts that she refuses to unleash. Each save will bring on more negative or mal energy, She is full of anger and sadness and rage. And she is so alone,
In walks Orion who runs around saving everyone indiscriminately and he seems to get good energy from each save. He is surrounded, seemingly, by tons of friends. But once he saves her and she attacks him verbally. He starts to hang out with her, won’t go anywhere without her. He is as alone with his sycophants as she is alone. Only she sees him.
These two flawed students must draw together a team to scour the monsters of the building to give folks half a chance of making it out alive.

As someone who loved this darkly entertaining novel, here are five reasons you should read A Deadly Education, a story about dangerous magic spells, powerful alliances, and deadly monsters.

A dangerous school of magic. I would not mind being in Scholomance, a vicious magical school in which students learn by going to classes and receiving assignments that they must complete without a teacher to help. Unfortunately, not completing a task or failing a class means death, but those are just details. Right? Scholomance ends up being the most unsafe school I ever read about: walking alone in the school halls or being in a classroom all by yourself signifies being exposed to deadly attacks by mals, monsters lured by magic that will suck one's vitality and later feed on the corpse. Nonetheless, something was enticing about Scholomance and its darkness. I must say that I would love living in the library -- that is if the school didn't turn it into a mortal maze.

Spine-chilling and blood-curdling monsters. Don't judge me, okay? I love monsters! Most mals are unnamed, notwithstanding, they are all unique, creepy, and most importantly deadly. These beings are actually things made of nightmares -- some have a spider-like appearance but double their size, others are shadow-like beings and can crawl under door cracks, and so on. Always hungry, these creatures can hide inside cupboards or among books and worksheets, patiently waiting for their human prey.

Galadriel (also known as El). My grumpy and fierce, Galadriel (yes, she shares the name with Galadriel from The Lord of the Rings), I just loved being inside your head. 💛 El is constantly thinking about her next step -- which class to take; what to trade; which language should learn next to get her hands on good spells to trade -- and alert not to become the next mal meal. Of course, sometimes one gets distracted and that is how Orion ends up saving her countless times, even though El can defend herself. As a matter of fact, she can destroy the whole world with her magic/affinity.

There were a few moments I wanted to hug El. She was never welcomed by her peers, feeling lonely for most of her stay in Scholomance. She did have some people with whom she traded spells and materials and students who would let her join them while walking to and from classes because there is safety in numbers, but that's all. So when Orion, who belongs to the most powerful enclave in the whole world, decides to be her friend (which means walking with her to classes, seating at her table at lunch, following her to the library, and saving her from monstrous beings), things get awkward. El is not the most approachable person and attempts to keep her distance from Orion. Nevertheless, she can't! I simply loved her reactions to Orion (she refused to be nice to him just because he belonged to an enclave) and how she was never afraid to speak her mind or being blunt.

Strong friendships and dubious alliances. When Orion bursts into her life (literally), El finds herself slowly building friendships and alliances. Although she was in uncharted waters, El was faithful to her convictions and wasn't easily charmed by the possibility of being part of an enclave. She was able to build not only alliances with people who would protect her but also friendships that I cannot wait to see how will blossom in the sequel -- especially after that ending. And that leads me to the last reason you should read A Deadly Education.

A jaw-dropping cliffhanger! How am I going to survive a whole year after how A Deadly Education? I don't know if my poor heart will be able to deal with so much anticipation.

Review published on September 17.

A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik is the first in a new fascinating series: Scholomance. This is an excellent science fiction/fantasy/epic novel that kept me enthralled from beginning to end.

This is a genre that I am quick picky with. I find that I either love the novel and am truly enraptured, or I find it tedious, dramatic (unnecessarily so), and a chore to finish. This book was definitely a gem.

I loved the concept: a school for dark magic where to graduate means to survive. The stakes are high, the dramatic events abound, and action/surprise is around every corner.

I really enjoyed the main female character: Galadriel Higgins (El). She was smart, sassy, funny, dark, sarcastic, and I loved her verbiage, dialogue, and complex characteristics. Was she perfect? Nope. But that would have been boring. I like my main characters having chips and flaws. I find that infinitely more beautiful and intriguing. I also enjoyed her love-hate, push-pull, fiery relationship with Orion. There was just enough of a touch of romance between the two to add a great extra level to the story. Somehow it made them seem even more real.

I enjoyed the descriptions, the beyond unique concept, and of course I loved, LOVED the ending. It just sets it all up perfectly for the next book in the series.

I am so glad I went outside of my comfort zone and picked up this book to read.

Truly enjoyable. 5/5 stars

Thank you NetGalley and Ballantine/Random House for this ARC and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.

I am posting this review to my GR, Bookbub, and Instagram accounts immediately and will post it to my Amazon and B&N accounts upon publication.