This is the best book I have read this year! I am absolutely in love with this gripping, dark, fantasy adventure. The only problem is that I don't know how I will wait until book 3 comes out.

The story continues. Fans of magical schools and those that were the outsider will enjoy this edgier twist on other similar books. I was reading and thought I had at least 2-3 chapters left and then all of a sudden, I’m at the end, no 2-3 more chapters. So many relationships and questions still need answered. Now I can’t wait for the 3rd installment!

If you're a fan of magical schools, portal fantasy, and Naomi Novik, this series is a no brainer. Really, you don't need to read a review, this book is well paced, engaging, with an evolving threat that the protagonist and her fellow students must continually adapt and overcome.

It's senior year, one last year to build reserves, refine your craft, and survive for the final push and to escape the school.

Only, the rules have changed this year in ways the students don't quite yet realize. There's prophesy and destiny hanging in the air, and Novik constantly teases us with potential that leaves us guessing until the end.

Fantastic and engaging, the sophomore addition to The Scholomance trilogy keeps pace with the first book while further fleshing out Eli’s world. Her tone is engaging and playful and Eli’s character arc fully believable. Just stunning

Review will be published on Goodreads by 7/31/21

This book begins right after the events of the first book and it is quickly propelled into the story of the new senior class. The author has a small review of what happened in the first book, but it is seamlessly woven in with the rest of the story.

The last year in the Scholomancy is about to be the biggest hurdle that El, Orion, and the rest of their classmates have to face. The events of their junior year brought about the potential for fewer mals during graduation, alliances for the more outcast members of the class, and the strangest class schedule that El has ever seen. She is right to be wary when she is surrounded by first year students because they are downright magnets for things that want to eat them. Normally it would be everyone for themselves as graduation approaches, but desperate times mean you have to deviate from the norm.

As much as the premise of this book is reminiscent of Harry Potter, this series is so much more and is almost in the horror genre. It is also a bit of a mix between Hunger Games and Gideon the Ninth. The sass and determination of El and her hatred of being the helpless victim is the driving force behind this story. Aside from fighting mals and near death experiences, there doesn’t seem to be a deep relationship between Orion and El at first and despite what happens in the end, it still feels flimsy which I think is fine because the growing relationship between her and their other two friends Aadhya and Liu make up for it.

The premise of a ‘fake relationship’ between El and Orion started out being funny because it seemed like El was not remotely interested in Orion, but it turns out she was, sort of? Anyway, what magic user thought it was a good idea to put a bunch of teenagers together in a box? Anyway, the very real relationships with friends that she begins to form really showcase her character growth.

While I enjoyed this book, it took me a long time to get through it. The pacing was a little stagnant in the middle, but the end was fast paced, compelling, and had me on the edge of my seat. While I would probably not reread it, I still want to know what happens next because of the cliffhanger ending. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoyed The Magicians by Lev Grossman or the Harry Potter series.

Thank you Netgalley for the arc!

I enjoyed The Last Graduate even more than A Deadly Education! We get to learn more about Orion and El's friends in this book. The Scholomance world is even more fleshed out. The middle of the book drags a little bit, but the ending... the ending is pain! I can't wait to see where the third book takes us. Highly recommend for people who like a unique spin on dark academia.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Last Graduate follows book one seamlessly as it picks up exactly where the first ended. I enjoyed this book as much as the first. Galadriel's story is bigger this time, with some real growth and maturity. The author takes us on a real ride. It was not apparent from the start how the story was going to end, and that added to the enjoyment of the getting to a huge ending cliffhanger. Because the world of the Scholomance is so big, I would recommend reading book one, A Deadly Education, before this one.

The author's style of writing is very distictive with large sections of exposition in the middle of conversations sometimes. Her world building is topnotch, however, and the reader experiences a large world filled with action. There are many secondary characters and groups that are well formed and distinctive. I had no problem following along with who a character was as well as how they fit into the story. I was also happy that in addition to Galandriel (El), other characters in the story had personal growth and arcs as well. The author discusses the advantages of privilege and El works to remove that unfair advantage in the school.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine for the arc copy. This is my honest review.

First, a big thank you to the publisher and Net Galley for the opportunity to read the ARC. I had to go back and reread the first book as I wanted to refresh my memory on the story and the characters.

"The Last Graduate" is an amazing sequel to "A Deadly Education," and it does resolve most of the issues left by the first book. I don't want to give too much away, but if you enjoyed the first book, you will love the second... until the end...WHY?!

I really enjoyed this follow up in the Scholomance series. El remains a delightfully prickly character, and her thought processes talking about what the "easy way out would be" and how conflicted she is were such a great way to build her character. I did miss the heavy focus on her friends that I think the first book had, as this book had a massive supporting cast, even if the reasons for that shift were obvious.
I think this book did a good job of fleshing out Orion. In the first book, he's seems more like a puppy than a person, which again, it was from El's perspective and made sense. But this book did such a good job of making him more of tragic figure.
By paring up the Golden Boy and the Girl Who Will Ruin the World, Novik does a great job of contrasting how intention versus action works. El spends so much time trying to figure out how her actions will affect people while Orion has always just acted on his impulses for better or worse. There's a part of me that thinks that Orion Lake could be the most perfect villain if small things had changed.
Regardless, the plot unveiled slowly, but powerfully, and while I saw some of the twists happening, they still caused me to yell out loud!

Basically just high pitched screaming the _entire_ book. But like, in the best possible way.
I swear to everything, if El doesn't get a happily ever after by the end of this ding dang series, I'm going to have to throw hands.

The Last Graduate is a frustrating read for me, but if I'm honest, it's simply because Novik's writing style is frustrating for me. If it weren't for the fact that I have enjoyed the atmosphere of the Scholomance so much, I don't think I'd keep picking it up.

The Last Graduate continues to focus on the school itself and less on the characters. I noticed that a lot of times, Novik tells you what a character has said instead of using dialogue to let the character say it themselves. Normally, I'd hate this, (honestly, I kind of hate it here too) but so much time is spent on the atmosphere of the school that it manages to work. I do wish we got a deeper dive into the characters and their mannerisms, but any reader of Novik probably isn't expecting that anyway.

All that said, I'd love to read this story with more focus on El and Orion and less focus on the daily happenings of the school, but that's the story we're getting.

WOW. Hard to start a review after that ending!! First, I enjoyed this book twice as much as the first in the series. It had so much more depth and action. I enjoyed seeing the characters grow and battle complex issues. El goes from total survival mode and constant resentment to having the chance to enjoy her life. The deepening friendships as El began to understand her peers on a different level was heartwarming and clearly frustrating at many times for her. She even began to care for the wellbeing younger students in the school, and would've punched herself in the face for it if she could've. Her relationship with Orion?! *Chefs Kiss* I loved the description of how he felt about her and how he looked at her so differently than everything else in his world as he too discovered what deep friendships could feel like. I enjoyed that romantic scenes between them were included too! The swell of camaraderie seen in the senior class was amazing. Seeing them problem solve as a unit was SO GOOD! And fighting to keep that when plans changed kept me on the edge of my seat. The fighting action in this book was real and vivid. We got to see our main characters grow in the capable strong wizards that dealt with much more adult themes. My heart is still racing over the ending. Im sad and confused and cannot wait to start the next book in the series.

Emotional trauma at the hands of a novel, but in the best possible way.

Where to start?
This novel picks up where the last left off. There's no summer vacation for students of the Scholomance and El gets thrown right back into the most miserable senior schedule the school could possibly muster up. Still, El is grateful for her newfound friends and is determined to see every last one of them graduate safely, a feat not easily accomplished.

While there were one or two spots that I thought the story dragged a little and I am going to need a re-read to understand how the whole "El and Orion" relationship developed, on the whole, I absolutely adored this book.

That ending, tho. It was brilliantly done, but I don't think I've read a cliffhanger that frustrating in my life.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishers for the Advance Reading Copy.

A fully-realized world of magic and a wholly original (yet familiar) setting!

El’s magical journey continues as she battles dark powers from without and within. Her demons self-actualized and crippling. Will she triumph?

While I enjoyed this latest in the series, I was a bit bummed to find our MC less an outsider. I felt it have her added dimension in the first installment.

That aside, this was a great book and I recommend it to fans of magical fantasy and dark tales.

The Last Graduate follows El in her final year at the horribly dangerous Scholomance.

I really enjoyed the first book in this series and was beyond excited to receive the second book. El really has grown as a character, I think, and she isn’t so one dimensional. She now has friends and isn’t quite as prickly. However, a school that continuously tries to kill you would probably cause a person to be lots of things.

I enjoy El’s friendships and like how her love story isn’t the traditional one.

However, I felt like the beginning of this story was slow. There was a lot of explanation - there was enough of that in the first story.
But the last 100 or so pages - woah boy. Just get ready.

Thank you so much for this ARC. Now, I need the next one after that ending!

I’ll be posting this to my Goodreads account today.

Goodreads.com/jenarnold24

4/5

NAOMI NOVIK. WHAT WHAT WHAT ARE YOU DOING?? I thought this was a duology, and then I heard rumors that more novels might be forthcoming. I'm guessing this is the case because there are things left incomplete and I will be very mad if they're not taken care of. Now, I love Naomi Novik BUT I haven't loved these scholomance books as much as Uprooted and Spinning Silver. I find them extremely complicated and confusing. I think they would be really good as a show or movie because there is so much imagery that is hard to picture. I enjoyed it, but less than the first one.

Picking up directly from the cliffhanger ending of A Deadly Education, El faces her senior year full of confusing feelings about Orion Lake and facing off against the Scholomance itself as it seems to have it out for her. New alliances are made, friendships are forged in steel, and there's no end to the challenges that El faces as she prepares to graduate from the place that constantly tries to kill her. Novik manages to expand the magic of El's world without ever leaving the school, and her character work here is nothing short of breathtaking. Be prepared for another agonizing ending and to beg and plead for the next book; I cannot wait to see where Novik goes next.

A really fun sequel for the Scholomance series! When first reading, I was under the impression that it was just a duology but Novik has blessed us with a third book! This sequel gave us everything a second book in a series usually provides: large character development, especially between El and Orion, clear motivations, and tense and stressful situations that can only be solved in the next book in the series.
I would say this book reads more YA than adult, but I can see why it would be categorized in the adult section. Can't wait for the next book! 2022, where you at?

I loved <i>Spinning Silver</i> and <i>Uprooted</i> so it bums me out how much I dislike Novik's The Scholomance series. I tried to get into book one and could appreciate the really unique world that she builds by creating a school that seems to want to destroy its students. However, I just could not get into the second book at all. I think part of my issue is the running idea that no one likes El and she's miserable...but that's established at not entirely true in the first book and then really not true for the entire second book.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

Naimi Novik is really amazing at world building in a way that's so effortless you don't feel like you are learning, or perhaps that you are but along with her characters, which are some of the best mix of teenagers I've ever read about. El is not your typical protagonist and not because she isn't like other girl, she never really gives that vibe, but she's too busy staying alive and not becoming evil to get attached to anyone or anything and yet... her friend are amazing and diverse and they all developed so well in this book, and Orion... He's just the best!
This second installment was even better than the first, it was exciting and intriguing, everyone had an amazing growth arc and the book managed to make my heart race in anticipation and I laughed so much!
"no, no, nooooo" was my reaction upon finishing this book, because I want so much more and there's not even a release date for book 3 yet!