Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! No spoilers. Beyond amazing I enjoyed this book so very much. The characters and storyline were fantastic. The ending I did not see coming Could not put down nor did I want to. Truly Amazing and appreciated the whole story. This is going to be a must read for many many readers. Maybe even a book club pick.

I was given a free copy of The Last Graduate in exchange for my honest review

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Oh my god?? The ending??

In TLG we continue on straight away from where we left off, its senior year, mals are after the students and El has caught feelings.

This was definitely a step up from the first book and feels like it had a lot more going on. El is more established now and her budding relationships continue to flourish and its sweet to see, especially with Orion ofc.
She grows a lot as a character and becomes more of a full fledged person with her own hopes and dreams (beyond simply surviving)

There's a lot of drama of course, things can't be too easy for ole Galadriel but somehow her snarky ways do come out on top
Part of me doesn't really get why she couldn't do a lot of the stuff during her first 3 years but I guess she just didn't have the mana for it without going to the dark side

I'm repeating myself here but this book was definitely an improvement on the first, now the world building (school building) is done it really gets into the nitty gritty of senior life at Scholomance and El does not have it easy.
You couldn't catch me doing all that work while I'm the only kid there getting jumped by monsters

The cliffhanger ending from book 1 doesn't make the most sense to me after reading this one as it doesn't really come into it
I feel like I have no idea where book 3 is going now but I do wanna see how this story ends

If you're reading this it's safe to say you read ADE so you already know the writing style and while it's not my preference I feel it does suit the character and their age, I think for a YA it works and I like El as a character and what's going on in her head


.. I feel sorry for the school

I read A Deadly Education and enjoyed it, so I was happy to get the chance to read the next book in the series. I do actually think I liked this one more than the first, which feels like a rare happening when it comes to a trilogy. Very fun and dark, I can't wait to see how this series ends!

This was the 2nd part of El's journey and what a journey it's turning out to be.

I'll be honest. The middle of the book dragged for me a bit. However, the ending saved it. The ending of this book was amazing. I cannot wait to read the final book in this trilogy.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine and Netgalley for the opportunity to review this book.

What a sequel! This one actually broke my heart a little as I read, but it was such a great middle! I need to know what happens next, as these characters are my children.

I've heard so much about this book and have had this on my tbr for ever and I'm so glad to have received a review copy it was amazing. I loved it so much.

In Wisdom, Shelter. That’s the official motto of the Scholomance. I suppose you could even argue that it’s true—only the wisdom is hard to come by, so the shelter’s rather scant.

Our beloved school does its best to devour all its students—but now that I’ve reached my senior year and have actually won myself a handful of allies, it’s suddenly developed a very particular craving for me. And even if I somehow make it through the endless waves of maleficaria that it keeps throwing at me in between grueling homework assignments, I haven’t any idea how my allies and I are going to make it through the graduation hall alive.

Unless, of course, I finally accept my foretold destiny of dark sorcery and destruction. That would certainly let me sail straight out of here. The course of wisdom, surely.

But I’m not giving in—not to the mals, not to fate, and especially not to the Scholomance. I’m going to get myself and my friends out of this hideous place for good—even if it’s the last thing I do.


Rate : 3 out of 5
Thoughts : I just want them to be happy.
Thank you Netgalley for the advanced copy!

I received an ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I love the story, plot, and setting of this series so far. The only thing that is still tough for me to look past is the writing style. Unfortunately the style in which this was written is really not my cup of tea, even though the book itself is everything I want. The majority of these books is written as the rambling inner monologue of the main character El, although it helps to put you in her headspace and better understand her as a character and her personality, it sometimes feels like her thoughts are off on a tangent and gets a little distracting to the story itself.

Writing style aside, the second book of the series had me on the edge of my seat in the last third of the book and I had to start the third book immediately when I finished (what a cliffhanger!).

I am glad this second book wasn’t a dud like most second books in series. This was so much fun like the first one but more dark. I can’t wait to jump into the 3rd one because the end left me hanging.

The 2nd book in the series did not disappoint! I really enjoyed the first book, as it did remind me of a teacherless Hogwarts with loads more chaos, but the last graduate excited me all over again! Great read for young adults and everyone who enjoyed harry potter.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for approving my request of this eARC, even after the release of this series.

The Last Graduate picks up directly after A Deadly Education. The story flows seamlessly between the two, with El beginning her senior year in what is going to be the pinnacle of her scholomance education. The stakes are high, and it seems these only get higher as the school begins to take out a personal vendetta against her.

While the year is new, the story is much the same and I did find myself flipping pages in hopes of something new. It began to drag around the 20-40% mark where it’s really just a story of El’s misfortunes and miraculous escapes.

It isn’t my favorite series, nor is it something I’ll reach for, but it still delivers a unique take on common themes that appeal to a wide audience of readers.

The Scholomance Trilogy is definitely one I will finish and recommend to anyone in search of a YA magical fantasy, similar to Harry Potter and with a strong antagonist of a protagonist, akin to Katniss.

In the second installment of the Scholomance, El is faced with more turmoil, emotional growth, and the will to overcome her innate nature to be destructive.

I don't really understand the hype for the series, other than the strength of the narrator. The only reason I picked up the second one was because it was a Lodestar finalist last year, and this year I just skipped that award list entirely. I also don't like the swapping between adult/ya for this series.

OH.MY.GOD! I absolutely loved this book so much!! I tore through it so frickin fast. I couldn't put it down!! The whole series is amazing. Naomi Novik immediately became an auto buy for me after this!

The world- AMAZING!!! The characters- AMAZING!!! The plot- AMAZING!!! It was just amazing! Think Harry Potter but add in the Hunger Game and make it more deadly? That's the best way to describe it. I don't want to say anymore because I don't think I can talk about it without spoiling it, but 10/10 hands down!!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

What?

No. Really.

What?

Thank goodness I am reading this with the third book already published because what the hell. The cliff hanger ending in Deadly Education wasn't that bad. It left a lingering desire for more but if I did not have access to The Last Graduate immediately I could have survived.

The ending for The Last Graduate is not survivable. What the hell.

That said, The Last Graduate is just as strong as the first book. I devoured it with just as much enthusiasm. I love Orion even more so than before. He's so awkwardly adorable. El's just as prickly if not a tinnnnyy bit more fluffy thanks to her friendship with Aad and Liu.

But seriously. That ending. I'm moving on book 3 now.

4.5 stars

Thank you NetGalley and Random House for the ARC. All thoughs and opinions are my own.

'Keep far away from Orion Lake'.

'The Last Graduate', the second book of the Sholomance series, picks up from this cliffhanger with all the brilliance of the first book - and more! The book follows El through her last year at the Scholomance as her friends (yes, she realizes she has friends!), and she try to rescue every student from the world's maleficaria until the very last graduate.

El's character growth is considerable in this book, always listening to her conscience and driving the story forward - her bubble of 'us' grows from one to three to dozens to hundreds, her sarcasm and impertinence notwithstanding. Orion's character arc provides a great complement to El's as he finally finds himself looking beyond just fighting mals and cares about something for himself.

The world-building is well done, especially as we hear it from El's snarky point of view. We find out more about how this world works along with the magic system. The Scholomance itself is finally seen as an individual entity with (artificial or natural) intelligence as it 'protects all the wise-gifted children of the world'. It actively prods El and the other students towards definite plans and conclusions, even driving the story at certain points.

Novik's masterful writing interspaces the story with world-building as well as character growth. Many secondary characters are given time and space to grow and overcome the politics of the outside world, some even proving we can't truly know what people would rise to do in a crisis. It was wonderful to see many people take the reins on different projects and working together in the end. The book, on the whole, makes for a great second part of the series and ends with a cliffhanger (of course) for the third and final book!

Thanks to NetGalley and the Random House Publishing group for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[One star for the premise and the whole book; One star for the characters; One star for the writing; One star for the story; One star for the world-building - Five stars in total.]

The last graduate is second book of the deadly education Trilogy. This is definitely better than the first book. I liked El and Orion overall. But I feel the character development could have been better.

The end cliffhanger was really good so I will be reading the third and last book of this triology. Good for one time read.

Thank you Netgalley and Random house publishing group Ballantine for the ARC in exchange of an honest review.

Another great installment to this series. What a cliffhanger at the end though! Can't wait to see what happens to El next!

Fantastic! An excellent follow up to the first book. I couldn’t put it down! And that cliffhanger!!! I loved it and so did my wife.

This is book 2 of The Scholomance series, after A Deadly Education. After having read the first novel I was prepared for the vocabulary of this world. I think I enjoyed this book more than the first one, because I had information and was able to focus on the characters developing and working towards a common goal.

I loved getting to see El and Orion and their weird relationship affect them both in different ways. It was interesting to see more characters introduced and how they related to the politics and the journey of survival. It's hard to believe how much action is packed into this book, considering the story takes place in single building cut off from the world.

Of the 3 books in this trilogy, I believe this one is my favorite. Ragtag characters with unique backgrounds and skills all working together in the hopes of survival will always pull me in.