Member Reviews

A Deadly Education was such a thrilling ride, I was eager to continue this series. I appreciate the world Novik has crafted, where magic truly comes at a cost: the children. Also those craving magical school series will delight in the first story.

Unfortunately this one fell apart for me early on. Over half the book is main character inner angst. The slow pace and lack of plot made this feel more like filled than second in a series. I'm not sure I'll continue this series, but will read more of Novik's work geared towards adults.

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I so wanted to like this book. I love the whole magic school concept. I Just found the world very confusing. The prose is very wordy and I felt like not much was happening. The best part was the last paragraph. I am going to have to force myself to read the next book to find out how it ends.

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I initially gave this four stars, and I have no idea why. I've read it twice now and thought it was fantastic. It's joyful, surprisingly, given the content.

This story picks up exactly where the last installment left off, and I liked that it jumped right in rather than needing to recap what’s happened since we last saw these characters. El has just come back from successfully helping the seniors graduate, and she has one more year at Scholomance to go. But now that she’s let people in, she has to consider what her responsibility is to protect those she cares about.

I love stories with found families sticking it out against all odds, and i love a grouchy protagonist with a heart of gold.

I also thought Novik didn’t make the same missteps she did with the first book in this series regarding her non-white characters.

I’m eagerly anticipating the last book in this series.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine!

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This knock-out second installment in The Scholomance Series follows El, Orion, and their group of friends as they enter their senior year. However, with the increasing mal attacks on El, will she make it to graduation? Or will the school find a way to kill her beforehand? This second book started a little slow, but man did it pick up the pace towards the end. Readers will enjoy meeting the entire senior class and learn a bit more about the enclaves that rule the outside world. But with a threat looming outside, destroying entire enclaves, is it safer in the school?

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This was great! I must say that I liked this book even more than I liked the first book in the series. El is no longer a loner and has a group of friends that she seems to work well with. I really enjoyed seeing El and the rest of the students work together to solve a major problem, which just happens to how to survive graduation. I love the way that El has become a leader in the school and the way that everyone seems to look to her for answers.

I was thrilled to see the progress in the relationship between El and Orion. I think that these two are really good together and I love the connection that they share. They are both very good at magic and have taken on a lot of the responsibility for getting everyone out safely. Anisha Dadia continues to do an excellent job with the narration of this series. I thought that she added a lot of action and excitement to her reading. This book ended on a bit of a cliffhanger which left me eager to jump into the next book in the series.

I received a digital review copy of this book from Random House Publishing Group and borrowed a copy of the audiobook from my local library.

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GOD this book was everything.
The mere fact that this simply EXISTS in our world is getting me thrilled <3
It's darker than the first book. It's even more fun.
EXCEPT, that ending.
what was that?
I need the 3rd book immediately.

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Thoroughly enjoyed this second installment and eagerly await the third book in the series! This kept me reading late into the night; I finished the book in one sitting.

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This was such a fun book. I love the misanthropy of the main character. The world building is excellent. All around great book that's honestly such a better twist on magic schools than HP. It's so much more dangerous, with real stakes and consequences for the characters. This is the second in the trilogy, and it does a lot of building on the previous book without retconning anything.

Really enjoyed this.

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*Chefs Kiss* I absolutely fell in love with Naomi Novik with her Deadly Education and was ecstatic to receive The Last Graduate! I LOVE Dark Academia, ugh this was the perfect sequel book!!!!!!! I am lost for words ugh, I honestly cannot get over how fabulous this read was. More to come on my IG and TT!

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This was a great follow up to A Deadly Education and I'm very much looking forward to The Golden Enclaves. This does end with a bit of a cliffhanger, but the 3rd book just came out so I'm not too mad about it. This does not work well as a standalone, you need to read the first book to understand what the heck is going on. It is dark academia, so you can expect some darker moments.

This book is told in a bit of a stream of consciousness style which takes a bit of getting used to especially if you are listening to the audiobook. I'm not normally a fan of that type of writing, but Novik does a great job sucking you in with her worldbuilding and characters. The magic system is kind of complex with each of the kids having their own affinities and the various creatures being unique. Normally I want to know details about the magic system, but I feel like the author did a good job explaining it in enough detail that you kind of understand it, and what you don't understand you just accept.

This follows El, Orion and the rest of their friends as their graduation approaches. El has received a cryptic note from her mother warning her to stay away from Orion, but El has only just started to tolerate him. She has also started to make friends, and she realizes that she likes having people around. As she and the other seniors work to finish up their classes and prepare for the fight of their lives to exit the Scholomance, El figures out that the school is trying tell her something with all of the weird things that have been happening to her. Weird is normal at school, but extra strange things have been happening to El all year and she can't figure out why. As she and her friends begin their graduation practice, she realizes that the school has been preparing her for something big. Writing up a review for this is tough because I don't want to give spoilers.

This was action packed, had lots of humorous moments and characters you love! I really enjoyed the series to date and can't wait to get my hands on the next book. I have to know what happens next.

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Phew🥲 that was a wild ride.
I really enjoyed book 1 in this series and the voice in this is the same, really distinctive and different from Noviks’s other books. Huge long sentences without taking a breath and lots of diversions mid-point. It takes a bit to get used to, but if you’ve read book 1 (and you do need to start from the beginning with this series) then you get it.
Plot wise I was sort of unsure what was going on till about 60% and then I really got hooked. I can’t give a spoiler free version of why I’m happy but needless to say I love the direction this book took. And I’m equally thrilled to not have to wait for book 3! This took me a long time to get to but my timing is pretty lucky.
Thank you to NetGalley for the digital ARC 😍
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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The school of magic is back, picking up right off from a major cliffhanger. It's not just another YA book about teens in a magic school.

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I really enjoyed this book. I hope the author continues to write more books in the future. I can't wait to see what the author releases in the future.

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This was easily one of my most anticipated books of the year last year. As soon as I finished "A Deadly Education," I was clamouring for "The Last Graduate."

I just wanted to be back with El, Orion, Aadhya, Liu, and all the rest so badly. I've rarely been as drawn in by a character as I have Galadriel. The fact that we're following *her* story, El, the one that is prophesied to destroy all the beautiful enclaves in the world, the one with an affinity for mass destruction, for becoming a dark sorceress, instead of the easier-to-believe hero of Orion is incredibly refreshing.

El is all of those things, but she's also kind and generous and caring. And angry, aggravated and formidable. Also, incredibly funny in a self-deprecating way with loads of dark humor. Easy to see why I love her. So, it's easy to see how she eventually begins to bring everyone else in the school into her circle - though some of them aren't entirely enthusiastic about it.

I gasped and nearly cried when I got to the end of this book. It ends on a hell of a cliff-hanger, with what seemed like forever a wait for the third, and final, book in the series: The Golden Enclaves. Now it's just a day away. Tomorrow I will have the last book in my hands. Tomorrow I'll be able to rejoin my favorite characters - I hope.

Naomi Novik was already a favorite author of mine before this series. I have been determined to read all her books since I floated through Uprooted on a cloud of absolutely contentedness at the story. This is a very different type of story, but just as amazingly good.

Sometimes it takes a lot to get on my auto-buy list. Others it takes one blindingly good book. Naomi Novik has earned the place on that list over and over, and I cannot wait to see what she does next.

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Thank you to netgalley for providing an e-galley for review. The Last Graduate did not hold up to the same quality as Deadly Education for me. The same thing happened over and over in this book and I found myself bored with the gym run after gym run. While I still appreciate the anti-Hogwarts aspect of this series, this particular installment wasn't my favorite.

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I thought I had read the first book in this trilogy but I hadn’t, which lead to me being very tardy with reading this book (a 2 book commitment is definitely more than double a single book commitment). So as much as I could apologise, I’m not going to. Reason being that I loved the first book. And I loved this book too. If anything I wish that I’d started reading a day later because finishing the day before the third book is published is too long of a wait. Honestly I am so annoyed that I can’t dive into the third book. The wait is electric. And it leaves me with a dreadful dilemma because I’ve been desperately waiting all week of the next episode of House of the Dragon, which airs tomorrow. So I don’t know which I.m more excited for. All I know is that tomorrow is going to be an entertaining day!

If it’s. It obvious, this book is awesome. The main character is just loveably unloveable. A chosen one who knows they are the chosen one and refuses to let on. A hapless romantic who also hates romance. Someone who hates everyone she’s ever met but is also drawn to protecting them. She’s delicious! A bit of fruity language and romance make this more suited to an older teen audience. I’d go as far as to say that it’s an adult book that would appeal to a teen audience (and the characters are teen but the story isn’t childish).

A wild ride and I.m waiting patiently until the next book is released (2 hours by my watch but who’s counting? Me, I’m counting. Work is going to be tough tomorrow 😂). I kinda wish I could read it again for the first time. It’s that good.

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A great sequel to an amazing series. The Last Graduate follows El and her classmates into their final year in the Scholomance. Not only do they have to continue to survive, but they have to prepare to fight for their lives as graduation looms.

This series is an absolute delight. The writing is exquisite. Novik continues to build on a wonderfully unique plot and an interesting and diverse cast of characters. El might not be the most likeable person in the book but I truly love her character.

I am a hardcore Fantasy Romance lover. Normally, if there is little to no romance, I am disappointed and oftentimes bored. The first book was heavily plot driven, and had essentially no romance, just a little banter. I was more than okay with that because I was so sucked into the plot. I really did not need any romance at all. In this book, however, I feel as though you get less interaction overall with Orion, but you get more romance as a trade-off. I appreciated that there was a build to the romantic plotline but I think deep down I would have preferred more of just Orion overall. It felt like he was there but he was constantly off doing his own thing and I missed him. I missed the banter and the relationship that he and El have.

This time around we got to see El in new classes and interacting with a ton of new characters, first years and seniors alike. There was also a lot more interaction with the Scholomance itself. When it came to preparing for graduation, we got a ton of great scenes describing their practice battles. I continue to be amazed with Novik's creativity. She does a wonderful job at coming up with new ideas for spells and the various things that these kids can do.

Now the ending. Spoiler-free but....it's a bigger cliffhanger than the last book. I am so glad that The Golden Enclaves releases this week because I NEED to find out what happens next.

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So, I had originally read the first book in the first edition, and was admittedly dismayed by some of the things that were in that edition. I recently got a copy of this and decided to see how the second book turned out, because I was still intrigued by what had been set up in the first book. This book was a lot more conscious about what might've previously been unconscious bias, and also explained some things that were apparently unpacked more in the next edition, but reiterated on the off chance the reader (like me) had read that first version and not any later revisions. We also get the theme of saving each other from the last book made more explicit, and in case there was any doubt, the school gets a bit more of a personality towards the back half of the book to drive it home. There's also a ton of nuance that Novik has added to what previously seemed very vague and hand wavy, and I have a feeling that because of that, the final book is going to be that much more interesting. And props to her for upping her cliffhanger game from the last book! I'm in for the final book and can't wait to see what happens.

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Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Del Rey and to NetGalley for an ARC of this book.

I read the first book in this series because of a recommendation and I really liked it. I was super excited to get my hands on this one too. From start to finish I enjoyed this book and it certainly didn't disappoint. This book ends on a cliff hanger as well, so just know that going in. I can't wait to read the final book in this trilogy.

For fans of the Harry potter books !

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Patience and Fortitude are lions in front of NYPL in midtown for me. Don't turn my beloved lions into monsters! :)

Okay, now that is out there; back to the story... I didn't read the first book until I received this copy for the second book. I liked how it is bit more gory version of Harry Potter where little wizards and witches were held prisoners and their endurance was tested instead of treated like princes and princesses. Reading the first book right before the second helped me make all the connections and i didn't have think who was this, what was that.

This book is about Galadriel's graduation year. Her being her stubborn self as always, she continued to reject the idea of being a part of enclave; however, as the hurdles became unmanageable issues, she realized that she needed alliances and maybe dash of an enclave support behind her.

Again story ended with a ginormous cliffhanger, so well done Naomi Novik, well done! Let's see what third book is going to bring to the table.

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