I would not be so angry if this wasn't so good!

It did not end 0n a traditional cliffhanger, but more like a record scratch. Now I'm stuck in the pause and it will be more than a year before the music starts again.

The international school is a great setting for equality/diversity class-privilege discussions, but orientation diversity is missing because everyone is too busy keeping themselves alive to hook up.

I also hate it when an author makes me enjoy the hate-to-love trope, but Novik is just so darn good at it.

Lots of people die, teamwork gets things done, and an unlikable person gets allies by acting rather than talking. Recommended.

CW: a bunch of really murderous monsters of various kinds

This was my first Naomi Novik book and I had an absolute blast with it. From the premise alone, I already had a strong feeling I would enjoy A Deadly Education, the first book in the Scholomance series, but I wasn’t prepared for just how much fun I had with it.

From the beginning, Galadriel, who is usually just going by the name of El, was a hilariously snarky narrator. She finds very little to like about the people around her or the situations she finds herself in. Where other people try to see the good to get by, she is utterly prepared for the worst and expects nothing from no one. The amount of times she described herself as not being able to stop seething almost felt like a running joke at some point, because she really did have the hardest of times feeling anything but angry, which makes the moments she feels vulnerable all the more special.
However, what could have easily been an annoying trait after a while, worked incredibly well for her. Death seems to be a constant companion at the school and everyone is way too okay with more than half the class dying until graduation. It felt so callous and cold. All I wanted from El was for her to actually care for someone, to break that carefully crafted facade, and during the course of A Deadly Education, that’s exactly what you get, which is what makes it such a joy to read.

The strong suit of the story is definitely El’s interaction with her fellow classmates, be it with enclave kids she hates, the few kids that tolerated her or, most fun of all, shinning knight and do-gooder Orion. If I had to describe him, I’d say he was a classic example of a himbo – not the brightest bulb out there, but a boy with a heart of gold … and not bad to look at either. His banter with El was really EVERYTHING! If you can give me a good “Why are you being nice to me? Are you mad at me?”-kind of dynamic, I am hooked! I don’t really want to speak more to the nature of their relationship, because I don’t even know if I can call it fake dating or not, but it’s hilarious.

Where the novel struggles a bit is the world building. I never really found myself confused by the concept of the school, the international aspects with students from literally all over the globe being in this one void place or the onslaught of murderous monsters. What I did struggle a bit with was the enormous info dumps though. El is telling everything from her point of view (with a really interesting 4th wall break at some point), with long paragraphs of inner monologue and little else, which establishes her voice nicely, but also just means info on info on info in some sequences of the book. I wish there had been a sleeker way to introduce all that to us, but it kept happening throughout the novel, even after the initially very info-dump-heavy first chapter.

What really throws you for a loop is the final line of the book though! Honestly, this could have easily been an interesting standalone book (with only a couple unanswered questions left), but with that one last line, it turns your whole world and the experience you just had upside down. Now I am really full of questions and anxious to find out what the frick is going on!

Fazit: 4/5 stars! Absolutely loved this and am already so looking forward to the sequel!

A compelling, if a bit overwrought, entry in the magic-school canon from the reliably terrific Novik. She takes the Transylvanian legend of the Scholomance, strips most of the legend away except for the school-submerged-in-darkness thing, drops it in England, and systematically sets about destroying every sacred trope of the kids-learning-magic genre. There are no teachers, most of the kids die, it's thoroughly gruesome... and, if you think about it too hard, you start to wonder if it is a bit *too* constructed a concept.
There's a lot of expository magic-system explanation (a pet peeve of mine) and Galadriel, our main character, has many of the things that are annoying about all 16 year olds... but Novik keeps things humming along towards an inevitably smashing and shocking conclusion. Frankly I wish it'd been a standalone, but also I'll be here waiting eagerly for book two (and, I guess, three? I'm hearing trilogy?) because it was, in fact, good enough.
(I know this all sounds like damning with faint praise, but I read the book in 36 hours -- it's good enough indeed.)

One of the things that Naomi Novik does extraordinarily well is to present well-known fantasy or science-fiction premises in a way that makes them feel unique and fresh. I loved this book. The main character, El, is enrolled in a school of magic (enter well-known fantasy setting), where she is surrounded by dangers from the school and from other students. The story is told from her point of view - but it is clear that her perspective on life at Scholomance is not necessarily shared by her fellow students. She is highly analytical and strategic. The school has no teachers, but there are punishments for not completing work, brought by the school itself and the bevy of monsters that live there. Students must be self-directed and resilient to make it out after graduation - especially if they do not have powerful family alliances outside of the school that offer them advantages.
El becomes friends with a student who does have certain advantages that she doesn't. And, both characters come to realize through their friendship how privilege has affected their lives and perspectives, especially when it comes to what is fair or unfair. I was not expecting this book to really go there, but it works beautifully and is doing the work that a lot of readers are doing now - asking questions about privilege and how it works at many different levels, including who does well in school.
El is a very powerful magically, and she knows this from the very beginning. This is not a story about a young girl who comes into her power. She is already incredibly powerful. Instead, we see El making moral choices constantly about how much power to use, where to draw that energy from, the harm that power may inadvertently cause. Her coming of age arc is more about developing friendships and building trust in others than it is about power. This is so different from how many fantasy/magical coming of age stories develop, and it felt so timely and wise. We should all be asking ourselves these questions. But, this book is also just really fun and exciting to read. The weight of these moral choices doesn't feel like a slog or tacked on at all. And, the school is vibrant and alive and a great setting to hang out in for a while - if a little scary.

From the premises I was very confident for this new release and, although it turned out to be different from what I expected, I must say that I was quite satisfied. I devoured it in no time, the chapters are very long and at the beginning it is difficult to mesh, but once you "get it" the story went smoothly.

I loved the dark reinterpretation of the classic school of magic. The setting is very atmospheric and also very innovative. In fact, the school is not made up of teachers, but it is the building itself that is almost "alive" and assigns homework to the students.

The characters are well characterized and I found it easy to get attached to them, the secondaries are also very good. In particular I see a lot of myself in El, the protagonist, I'm sure many would find it irritating. She is the classic grumpy girl who is mad with the whole world, but only because she is afraid of being alone, and then turns out to have a heart of gold. 
The relationship between her and Orion is that something that gives an extra boost to the novel, I was always looking forward to their interactions. From complete strangers both become important to each other and that ending! I don't want to dwell on the latter because it would be a spoiler but I think I need a sequel, NOW.

Absolutely recommended if you are looking for a book set in a school of magic with a little twist.

If you have read any of Novik's other books such as Uprooted or Spinning Silver, then you know that she writes complex characters and gratifyingly complex plots. In this case you might try to imagine that Hogwarts meets The Maze Runner. That wouldn't begin to cover it, but would at least give you an inkling of the setting.

The Scholomance is a school for young magic users. Once you are inside, you do not come out until unless you graduate. There are no teachers, no adults at all, so you may want to add a dollop of Lord of the Flies to your mental recipe. Since the presence of so many magic users draws the mals (maleficaria - "nasty things that routinely come after wizards looking for a meal"), students get plenty of practice on their offensive and defensive spells. They also form alliances, figure out who they are going to throw to the mals to make their own escape, etc.

The character El is the narrator. She is smart, snarky, and not good at social skills. One of the students finally explains that El makes others feel as if they are out in their best outfit without an umbrella and suddenly realize it is about to rain. That would put a damper on forming any friendships, you must admit. El's mother lives in a yurt in a commune in Wales and actually named her daughter Galadriel. El jokes that she is "the 'love me and despair' version" of Galadriel from the movies.

Without giving away any spoilers, let me just say that this book takes place in the junior year of El and her classmates. They deal with mal attacks in the hallways, library, shop class, even the dining hall. Those who come from large magical enclaves (yes, those are as ritzy and posh as they sound), have a head-start on the alliances and power brokering that will help them to survive past graduation, while El and the other who are loners or from smaller groups must be especially clever to stay alive.

The characters are from around the world - London, New York, Bangkok, Shanghai, and Dubai are just a few of the enclaves represented in the student body. The descriptions of the coursework, physical structure of the school, and how magic works are all well done and consistent. The maneuvering within and between the groups is like high school cliques on steroids. And along with the danger and deception, there are also really funny moments. An example would be the snack vending machine that randomly gives out items that are "usually aged, and sometimes inedibly ancient. Once I (El) got a military ration from World War I...Aadhya got ...a completely fresh salmon onigiri dated this very morning." How do you deal with something that randomly absurd?

If you enjoy stories of young wizards, especially if they are still learning their craft and trying to survive school (quite literally in this case), and figuring out friendships and relationships in general - then pick this up when it hits the shelves on September 29. You will be in for a treat.

*Advance Review Copy generously provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*
Uprooted and Spinning Silver has made it to my personal bookshelf, I love them so much. I freaked when I found out about this, I mean a black magic version of Harry Potter is what I was imagining. No brainer, right? This wasn't completely what I was looking for, but still a ton of fun. It got a bit bogged down, but overall a win. Definitely purchasing for our collection and I look forward to booktalking this one.

"A Deadly Education" is a dark, ugly, unattractive, off-putting, gory, violent story with an unlikable protagonist and a truly annoying love interest, and I really enjoyed reading it. Naomi Novik's Scholomance is like if Hogwarts was sentient, had no adult supervision, and was filled only with Slytherins: brutal, cutthroat, and pretty violent. What students need to graduate from Scholomance is straightforward: survive. That's hardly simple when the school is filled with maleficaria, beasts and creepy crawlies that have only one mission: to eat young wizards. Will our stubborn, blunt protagonist El (and her faithful and infuriating stalker I MEAN...no, Orion is a stalker) make it to graduation alive? While some parts of the book felt slow, much of the information conveyed at those points felt like world-building, setting up Novik for a series that has the potential to be really exciting. Fans of Leigh Bardugo and Draco Malfoy will thoroughly enjoy "A Deadly Education."

I feel incredibly lucky to have been able to read this Naomi Novik book early. So far I have loved all her books. However while I have rated this 4 stars this is not the kind of book I am used to by Naomi Novik and I think it is the book I like least so far. Still it was good in general. 

The thing with A Deadly Education is that it is a much more introverted and bleak book than any of her other work has been. It is a first person point of view in a setting and situation where our main character can never really relax. 

Scholomance is a school without teachers where the students learn by getting assignments and sheets that drop on their tables as they are in class. They always have to be careful of monsters that can attack at any moment, even in their dorm rooms. Luckily, or unluckily as El feels, their year has Orion who has been slaying most of the monsters. More students have been surviving. Orion saves El once more at the start of the book which frustrates her immensely. 

I enjoyed the setting, the story and the characters. But I felt that the writing drones on in places with introverted thoughts and too lengthy world building explanations. 

One of the plus points of this book is Orion and his relationship with El. El isn't exactly easy going but he hangs out with her regardless. Orion is just deliciously oblivious and kind hearted. Their whole school thinks they are dating and he doesn't notice anything. El gets so frustrated by him and it gives some funny interactions between them. 

El might not be the easiest person but she is fair when she does trading and treats those around her equally. When this gets noticed by those around her, it is appreciated and she manages to create a group of girls around her with Orion. Alliances that are based on friendship, and not who is the strongest or who has the most the offer. I liked seeing that. Their friendships grew slowly and in between the darkness of the school it was a shining beacon of hope. 

Lastly I'm going to note that El is a biracial (half indian, half welsh) character. Nothing in that stood out to me as bad rep throughout this book. BUT I am white so please take that with a grain of salt and listen to the opinions of own voices reviewers on this particular instance.

Naomi Novik knocks it out of the park once again! I can't praise this book enough. The magic system, the malevolence of the school, the social hierarchy of the students, the protagonist's internal monologue, everything was fantastic. The slow burn between El and Orion was truly delightful to watch. I'm already eagerly awaiting the next book, and this one hasn't even released yet!

I have SO much to say about this book, and thank you to the publisher for gifting me the ARC ebook to read! I reviewed it for a virtual program for my library and it ended up being an 18 minute video...and that was with me cutting content. I just couldn't stop talking about it! Needless to say, I loved it. Here are some key points, and when the program is posted on YouTube/social media, I will link it!
I adored El as a main character. It was super refreshing to read from the antihero's perspective, and her witty dialogue and quick internal thoughts are a delight to read. Orion came off immediately as a Harry-Potter-Humble-Savior type (NOTE: this does not make El our Hermione. She's far too independent and self-assured for that but you can see the comparisons as you like.) but El saw right through it and didn't care for it, and I loved that dynamic. Even as he clings to her, she doesn't adore him as others do and in fact reminds him of his failings. No coddling here, only stark honesty. Their relationship is fantastic, and I loved watching it grow as well as her other friendships. I saw more going on here than I say in my 'official video review' because I didn't want to spoil anything, but let's say there are def some side characters to keep an eye on! Naomi Novik wrote ADE so well that I was so absorbed in the larger plot of surviving the Scholomance that, until the twist, I had no idea to strongly suspect certain characters of negative motives and now I can't wait for the next book.
I also loved the politics of the Scholomance (and reflectively the world outside) and the classism aspect. It was a great element to a new adult read, and reading that instead of standard 'school gossip' you might expect since it does, in fact, take place in a school, made the read much more mature/intense because the consequences are so real.
I loved the mals! Of course they're gross and evil, but I could picture them so well and they reminded me a lot of DnD monsters. There's also a great variety, so I can see we'll have no shortage of things to watch out for in the future.
Another Harry Potter comparison I couldn't help but make- having seen other soon-to-be readers wondering- does ADE reflect the world of HP or the Magicians, etc? I have to say, it doesn't and I'm glad it doesn't! The Scholomance is a world that's totally dark, powerful, sometimes creepy, intense and completely engaging all on its own.
Overall I rated this a 4/5, but for nitpicky reasons. I felt it was a little babbley at times. However, if you keep in mind that we're basically reading El's stream of consciousness, it can be forgiven. I also was expecting more of an enemies to lovers situation, and we got not-even-caring-about-each-other-at-all to good friends so that was a bit disappointing for me personally, However, (again) the friendship was so fun to read that I quickly gave up on that disappointment. I've already recommended this to my book club, and I can't wait to recommend it to library patrons!

I was excited to read this book, but it just didn't grab me. I've tried the past two titles by Novik and haven't finished any of them. I'd hoped that, based on the description, it was just that those two previous titles weren't to my taste, but I think it may be the author's writing. There's nothing wrong with it, it just doesn't resonate with me. Lots of readers adore Novik's books, and I'm happy to recommend them to library customers all the time. Granted, the pandemic has wreaked havoc on my reading habits and I've had a lot of trouble finishing any book this year; however, since this is the third time my "rut" has occurred with Novik, I think it's safe to say she's not for me.

DNF @ 14 %

A Deadly Education was just all parts confusing and messy. Unfortunately (for me), it wasn't the good kind of confusing and messy. This is such a huge disappointment. I've heard nothing but good things about the book and now I can't help but wonder if I read another book entirely?

The premise was great and original. I even grew to like the MC, Galadriel, in the very few pages I've read. Maybe in another lifetime I would love this.

It took me a while to get into this book, but once I did, I read for 3 hours straight because I needed to know what would happen next.

A DEADLY EDUCATION is like a dark mashup of Harry Potter -- if the only class was Defense Against the Dark Arts -- complete with the magical puberty problems and monster-attraction issues ala Percy Jackson, but if instead of Buffy we had Faith saving the world all the time.. though hella reluctantly. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

This book is nothing like what I expected a book by Novik would be. This, for all the darkness and the fact that it's set inside a castle that seems to be actively working to kill it's residents --- or at last lead it's inhabitants into a position to die and casually look away -- is funny, quippy, and strange.

Unlike Harry Potter or Percy Jackson or even Faith, we are tossed into the depths of things via Galadriel's (El's) point of view. She isn't a noob blinking big innocent eyes as she wanders into this new world, no. She's in her second to last year, having survived many years, many near deaths, with a prophecy already hanging over her head; she's full of the bitterness and disdain from years of rejections, years of loneliness, and completely unimpressed when the school's hero not only suddenly takes a shine to her but also saves her life.. a lot.

I liked our MC so much. I thought El's snarky voice, her rudeness, was great. She has cultivated her niche deliberately because of circumstances completely out of her control but as delightful as she is at the onset, I loved her journey and evolution even more. Equally fun was Orion, the hero, the saviour, was equally not as one-note as he could've been. There are layers to both these characters and their interactions were a lot of fun as this definitely leaned into the enemies-turned-reluctant-allies-turned-friends trope. Infact, I don't think I disliked a single character? Yes, I, too, am shook.

Though we never leave this young-person death trap of a school, Novik still manages to make her world feel big. This is helped not only because of the diversity of the students we are exposed to but, more importantly, all the Enclaves all over the world (think of them as Shadowhunter Institutes) they might be invited to after graduation if they are smart, skilled, or sought after enough. The rules are strange. I won't explain further but.. don't expect House points!

I had such a good time reading this, despite how different it was from my expectations, and I devoured it in less than a day. I enjoyed this so much and am very intrigued and very keen for more.

From the beginning few chapters I had mixed feelings about this book. The first third of a book has little plot progression and focuses a lot on world building. The author does a lot of this through info dumping which can be a bit tedious. Despite questioning if I wanted to continue, I stuck in there. I am so glad I did! The second half of the book is filled with character development, action and craziness. The world building is imaginative and original. I loved the twist on 'magic school', where learning was important for survival. The characters are diverse and interesting. There is a lot of angst in the book on the part of the main character, El. I felt this to be very much in line with her judgemental attitude towards other characters and their motivations. I really liked seeing the growth in El through the book and how she eventually began to open up to the other character. Over all, an enjoyable, interesting and exciting read. I finished the book very excited to read the next installment. This is definitely a series I will follow in the future.

A huge thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy and the opportunity to read the beginning of this exciting new series by Naomi Novik!

Well this has become an instant new favorite. I can't wait for the rest of the series! I'll admit that the beginning was slow going. There's a lot of info-dumping that made my head spin a bit. El is also not an instant BFF character. She took a big portion of the book for me to warm up to. But, man, the world building is top-notch and the story is super exciting. This book is like a twisted Harry Potter with an evil Hogwarts mixed with The Hunger Games.

I want to film a fake infomerical that's like "Did you grow up on Harry Potter? Are you now finished with grad school, and a little grumpier than you used to be? Pick up A Deadly Education wherever books are sold." This and the next Victoria Lee, a Lesson in Vengeance please. It's like Harry Potter meets the Secret History but also with way more monsters constantly. 

I've only ever read one Naomi Novik book--Spinning Silver, recently--but when I heard this was like dark, feminist, magic school, I was like "okay yes plz sign me up" and this is such a unique "magic school" boarding school because it's basically Hell and also there are no professors and you're basically set up to die. Oops, right? Well, enter El, short for Galadriel from the Lord of the Rings because this book is magical but also set in a mildly familiar world outside the school.  We meet El after the class golden boy has saved her life for the second time, and he's not letting her out of her sight. The presence of Orion Lak in her life, and the way that makes others treat her, sets El on a crash course towards the end of the semester and the seniors graduation that includes a heck ton of "mals" trying to end them, a stabbing in her bedroom, a new alliance, enclave offers, new spellbooks appearing out of thin air, and El's dreadful power is about to be put to the test. 

I really enjoyed this book! It wasn't as...schooly as I thought, maybe because of how monster-filled it was. Yes, I kept screaming at Orion and El to just make out already, but what really drove me through this book was just trying to figure out how it was going to end. I'm excited to see what happens in book 2, because we've still got El's senior year, but this book basically took place over a month or two, so maybe El's senior year will be more than just one book? It'll definitely be interesting! The magic system is really fascinating, something new for me a non-fantasy reader, but I also liked how well Novik explained the facets of the school. Can't wait to go back!

A Deadly Education is one of those rare books that I immediately knew had the potential to be huge--like The Hunger Games or Divergent or The Maze Runner level, although it'll be interesting to see how being published by an adult SFF imprint rather than as YA will affect that--and which will doubtless bring an even bigger wave of readers to Naomi Novik's already passionate fanbase. Short version, it's a brilliant and better written answer to Harry Potter and The Magicians, and I'm praying this will be the project of Naomi's that finally makes it to the screen and makes her the household name she deserves to be! I can't wait for the next two.

Naomi Novik absolutely dominates any other Scholomance tale with Deadly Education. The world-building is world class and the characters are vivid. This isn’t a Wicked type-story, it’s way more than that. To say that it’s about the villain perspective would be selling it short.

This narration in this novel is snarky, sensitive, and laugh-out-loud witty. Galadriel (what a name to give the main character!) is bold yet introverted, an outcast yet a charismatic and loyal friend. I will be recommending this book to everyone.