A great book 2. Lots of action and suspense. Not too much romance, I'm not a fan of overly romantic YA fantasy. A great series overall

I don't know what I thought was going to happen in this sequel, but it was really slow. I read the first book a few months ago, so at first I thought it was me just not remembering details, but no - I feel like Novik has the characters jump around when "telling" what's happening. El gives a lot of details, but time and again I kept thinking, how did we get here? Did I miss a step? This was a lot of "telling not showing" which is frustrating at times. I finally got into the last few chapters when they were practicing for the Graduation run, and the run itself. I know I'll read the last book, thanks to that cliffhanger ending, but I hope it's more like the end of this book then the slog of the beginning.

Thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

I loved how the MC evolved in this book. I found her tone of voice to be entertaining and loved how the author took her story. She was such a unique character and the male in the book was also a focal point I enjoyed while reading.. The plot and magical system was also something I was all in for and found myself hoping to learn more about it.

Rating: 4.5/5
e-ARC review - The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik

It was never this hard to me to finish a book before. I was shaking at the end. I couldn't read anymore, I didn't want things to go wrong, but I couldn't stop. I had to keep reading. It was a very weird experience and when I finished the book, it felt like I ran a marathon, except I was lying on my bed reading. And as I finished the last chapter, I found myself standing there, staring at the void, as I also lived in a room in Schoolomance.
What am I supposed to do now?

I can't really think much about the rest of the book right now, I just have the last chapter burned into my mind forever. I remember it was the same thing as the first book, El's monologues are too long and exhausting, yada yada yada. But it's not a difficult book, even when nothing is really happening, you can read it just as quickly and enjoy it.
I just need to have a nice bath and then a lie down now (and anxiously wait for the last book).

A big thank you to the Random House Publishing Group for the opportunity to read this ARC.

The first book in the series was okay, even if I didn't like the writing style of the author. The second instalment however didn't work for me at all. It was dragging, and there were scenes where I couldn't really follow what was happening.

A delightful tale of magic, that was filling a void that had been left open for a while. The story telling abilities of Novik are on absolute display throughout this book and series.

It's a 4.5 star in my system
"The Last Graduate," the second book in Naomi Novik's Scholomance series, is an enthralling continuation of El's journey through the deadly halls of the magical school. Picking up where "A Deadly Education" left off, this sequel dives deeper into the perilous world of the Scholomance, delivering high-stakes action, emotional growth, and surprising twists.

Novik excels in expanding the world-building, making the Scholomance even more vivid and treacherous. The magic system remains complex and fascinating, with new elements introduced that keep the reader engaged and intrigued. The school itself feels alive, with its constantly shifting rooms and lurking dangers adding an ever-present tension.

El's character development is a highlight of this book. Her growth from a solitary, cynical student to someone who begins to embrace her connections with others is portrayed with depth and nuance. Her relationship with Orion Lake evolves in unexpected ways, providing both tension and moments of genuine warmth. The supporting cast also gets more attention, adding layers to the story and enriching the narrative.

The pacing in "The Last Graduate" is excellent, with a perfect balance between intense action sequences and quieter, character-driven moments. The stakes are higher than ever, and the sense of urgency propels the plot forward, making it hard to put the book down. The climax is particularly gripping, setting the stage for an eagerly anticipated finale.

While the book is nearly flawless, some readers might find the ending to be a cliffhanger that leaves them anxious for the next installment. However, this speaks to Novik's ability to keep her audience invested and eager for more.

Overall, "The Last Graduate" is a stellar sequel that builds on the strengths of its predecessor while pushing the story and characters into exciting new territory. Fans of dark academia, complex magic systems, and character-driven narratives will find much to love in this riveting read.

I adore anything with magical schools and this was no exception! It's been a while since I read it so my review isn't going to help very much! I haven't been on my Netgalley in years.

I've heard so much about this book and have read Naomi's other books and liked them alot. I loved it so much. This series is amazing.

The Last Graduate is the second volume in the Scholomance series, and it's becoming a big "hate to love it" read for me. I am a big fan of Naomi Novik's range, so mild annoyances aside, this was a truly great book.

The story unsurprisingly suffers from the same slow pace and extensive internal monologue from the first volume, but makes it up by bringing back the compelling characters and highest possible stakes that kept me spellbound to the end of the book. It's a dark story, so don't expect a charming universe where everyone is happy and learning at a magic school. Oh no, the school is out to get everyone in it and our main characters are next. If you're into DARK dark academia, you reached the right place.

Warning - there's a big cliffhanger. Thankfully book 3, The Golden Enclaves is already available and I'll probably jump right back in to finally finish the story.

✨ Disclaimer ✨ I received a free copy of this book and this is my honest review.

Thank you to the publishers, author and NetGalley for the free copy of this book.

I barreled through the first one, immediately started on this one and couldn't put it down. Naomi Novik is fast becoming one of my favorite authors and I can't wait to see where this series goes- already starting the 3rd!

This one meandered a bit for me. The stakes were raised but so was El's power level, to the point that I never felt like anyone was in any danger. It's a bridge book, teeing up the finale well without much happening in this one. I kinda miss angry loser El.
The audiobook narrator is fantastic.

3.5
Her talking got a tiring and too much for me, which made this book a drag. But the last line kind of made up for it.

Ahhhh this book had me on my toes. It was so intense and I couldn’t put the book down. Naomi Novik’s writing captivates me each time I pick up something from her. I wasn’t sure because dark academia is always a struggle for me but Novik has made me a believer.

In the second volume of the delightfully crazed Scholomance series El continues to snark on in her first-person narration of events taking place in the school from hell. This time out she’s bent on getting the entire student body outa there (as the book title implies). By hook or by spell she will do her best.

There are fewer mals to fight this time around (El and her pals did a good job of ridding the school of them in the prior book in the series), and Orion is frustrated. El is frustrated with Orion. Some great sexual tension going on there.

The book builds up step by step to the escape scene, which is priceless. And there’s another volume to come. It’s already published.

El and the gang are back at it, constructing elaborate plans and alliances to thwart the mals lurking in the graduation hall—for everyone, not just a chosen few.

Although I wanted to see how the story unspooled, the narrative drags in places due to infodumping, especially about spell details largely irrelevant to the plot, and some long stretches of exposition that exemplify the bad sort of "telling" rather than "showing."

Character development is also unbalanced, here. I can appreciate that Novik seems to be trying her best when it comes to including characters from a wide array of racial and ethnic backgrounds. However, in balancing the ever-expanding cast of characters and the rest of the narrative's goals, it often seems like Novik has taken on too much, inadvertently falling back on harmful stereotypes in the process. In addition, although El's closest friends finally have a bigger chance to shine, other characters that we're supposed to care about, such as Orion, remain solidly one dimensional.

Take the cliffhanger, which seems to be doing a lot of work. Instead of helping the reader connect with Orion on a deeper level beyond being a dude who lives to blast mals, Novik effectively tosses him into an abyss, at the very end, to generate emotional damage. But even here, if the reader feels anything, it's because they're connected to El rather than Orion.

Despite all this, it's still a solidly enjoyable installment in the Scholomance universe.

So addictive. The Last Graduate was definitely more than just another magical school story. It can be a hit or miss because of the writing style, which is different from the usual YA. Definitely recommend this series

I wanted to love this book but honestly, it was a drag. The concept is amazing, but it took forever to get to the plot.

Thank You to Naomi Novik and Random House Publishing Group, for the digital ARC provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!

I admit that when I first heard the plot description for this series, I sighed. "What if Hogwarts, but evil" is a pretty tired concept, much less in 2020, when the first volume in the trilogy, A Deadly Education, was published. And with a heroine whose description seemed to suggest a genderbent Kylo Ren, the whole thing seemed very aggressively Not For Me. It was a lucky break, then, that Novik included the entire trilogy in this year's Hugo voter packet, because this series turns out be both delightful and clever. The setting—a self-sustaining, self-contained school for wizards designed to protect them from the perils of the outside world, but which becomes its own death trap which only a small percentage of students manage to survive—is elaborately worked through, and the psychological cost of attending this school, in which students scramble for survival, make desperate alliances, and weigh the consequences of surrendering to the dark side for some extra power, are explored with a refreshing lack of sentimentality. Also refreshing is the series's heroine, who resists the pull of the dark less out of an innate desire to to do good as out of a furiously annoyed sense of ethics. By the time we get to the third volume, the elaborate worldbuilding has revealed a society that has locked itself, through technological choices made centuries ago, into a series of increasingly bad options, which makes for both a powerful environmental metaphor, and a satisfying villain for the heroine and her friends to tilt against.

I like how this novel wrapped up the trilogy. It had all the formulas for a great fantasy school ending and I could see teens enjoying this title because the romance was not graphic and mostly off-screen.