A Deadly Education: A Novel (The Scholomance)

A Deadly Education (The Scholomance Book 1) was just way too much fun. It was one of those books you just don’t want to put down because the world is just so engaging. Yes, there were elements that seemed derivative, except some ideas are universal and Novik adds her own unique twists, for example: moving staircases became so much more deadly and purposeful than some other famous moving staircases, as the school ratchets itself down, moving the students over the course of four years down to the graduation hall. There was great inner monologue that really added to the story, just fantastically well-done, believable, and relatable (if you’re an evil sorceress in the making or other potential evil human). So many relatable and likable characters. Enough information that you become invested in the characters and hope that they survive their deadly education. And there are some astonishingly well-incorporated life lessons. Trust me, I’ve just finished a couple of books where the themes were bludgeoned into the hapless reader over and over with no hint of subtlety or finesse. Novik does it right. The story is the lesson, with no bludgeons required. Just realistic situations and reactions. Kudos! I’d recently come off a semi-binge on Novik’s Temeraire series and have really been enjoying it, so I had to grab A Deadly Education when it came up recommended. (Wish I’d noticed it when it first came out.) If I were to meet you in an isle at the local bookstore, I’d steer you over to this book as a must-read. The only downside to A Deadly Education is that I hit the end full-stop, almost shattered. I’d assumed, for some reason, that the next book was already out and popped over to buy it, only to discover it was a preorder. (Instantly preordered.) Now, I shall have to practice waiting patiently for the next installment. Just to be clear; this is not a cliffhanger or a serial. This is a true series where minor and many major plot lines are wrapped up, but some are left to be answered in the next story. Highly recommended to fantasy lovers and those who love a good story.

Usually, the idea of mixing together the “magic school” trope with the “strong female protagonist” trope sees me respectfully moving onto another book. Not quite my cup of tea. But this book hooked me with a solid take and a hard attitude, combined with deep veins of creativity and imagination. This book is rich. A tad over-wrought in places, but primarily fun, edgy, rewarding, and well worth the time and attention. I especially enjoyed the idea of a self-running self-aware school, without staff or faculty whatsoever, full of students only, and absolutely over-run with beasties and baddies, and built halfway between the real world and “the void”. Look, it’s hard to explain this book’s appeal without spoiling it. If you like fantasy stories, strong on premise and peopled with great characters and great moments, this one is firing on all cylinders. Excellent writing from a rock-solid author. I think I’ll track down the next book in the series.

Naomi Novik has done it again! I loved it! I was very skeptical about this book. I'm not totally into the magical school thing, and the early reviews seemed to be pretty polarizing, but I decided to give it a chance. Boy, I'm glad I did. It is now my favorite read of 2020! Actually, maybe tied with the Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. Anyway, I haven't read a book in 2 days this entire year, not counting novella, not to mention I was also working 12 hr days, so I'm definitely suffering from lack of sleep now. Anyway, our protagonist, Galadriel, or "El" (ugh, I dislike both names, but at least the book is first person POV so I didn't have to deal with that as much), is in a school where monsters roam that like to eat kids with mana, magic. However, the school is still safer than the outside world, where magical kids are twice as likely to die during their teenage years when their mana is growing but they haven't learned a lot of spells to protect themselves yet. El is in such a school, but she doesn't come from a fancy background, so she has to work hard to make alliances, which is made harder by the fact that apparently people think she's evil (she gives off this aura). I loved El's snarky and sarcastic voice immediately, but the first 20 pages was a struggle for sure because there was a lot of info-dump on her background and her growing up. However, once that was over, and we get to the actual info-dump about the world-building part, I was all in. Naomi Novik has built an amazing school and setting for the story. A place where the staircases can stretch and libraries can prevent you from finding books and monsters hide in your food just waiting for you to let you guard down. I definitely wouldn't have survived, but El's got spunk and she's smart. So of course it kills her and makes her infinitely angry when Orion Lake, the darling of their class, has no sense of self-preservation and disregards all her precautions and still somehow survive because he has strong combat magic and has an endless supply of mana to use it. While I soaked up and loved every tiny detail of the magical school, I also liked El and how she felt real. If this was a contemporary YA book, she's no different from a shy and socially awkward girl that doesn't quite fit in. She wants so desperately to fit in, not because she loves the popular kids, but it was a matter of life or death. Still, even when given the choice, she chose to sacrifice her life for the well-being of others. She's a do-gooder even if no one is there to witness it, and I loved that about her. Her tentative reach for friendship with Aadhya and Liu also touched me, the uncertainty and fear she felt, the knowledge that maybe it's not as hard as she's making it out to me. I loved watching her grow her self-imposed loneliness to having a circle of close and trusted friends that she would never abandon. I agree with some other reviewers in that some of the other characters are not as fleshed out, and that could've been better, but the story's main focus is on El and her growth and that was done really well. Also, I can see how the random info-dumping can turn some people off if the world doesn't grab you immediately. From the moment it was mentioned that there was a void in her bedroom that throws her magical spellbooks at her request, I knew I was in! And it was overall just such a fun book. El's sarcasm and snark kept a smile on my face, even as I read through her internal monologues. I hope that doesn't change in the second book. I can't wait to read the second book!

A story with a 'chosen one', a magic school, absurd levels of danger, and good character development. The story builds on itself with backstory revealed in a natural fashion. Characters (and more than just the protagonist) grow emotionally over the course of the story in believable ways. The best bit? The world justifies the situation - no parents sending kids to a school with obvious danger when keeping them home would be safer. In general the world building is consistent and character decisions make sense within context. Definitely looking forward to the sequel.

Quite a disappointing read, especially from Naomi novik:(

I read this book twice in two days, staying up till 3 just to finish. It is truly amazing, immersive and fun. There is a lot of qorld building, but anytime it starts dragging just a bit, the action picks up again, and really, it wouldn't be the same without the descriptions of the school, the people and the monsters. My only criticism might be that it is a little bit hard to "get into" the story, but once you do, it's truly wonderful!

The packaging was just as shown truly incredible .

The world-building isn't too complex yet but it definitely has potential to be and it's still very interesting by being familiar but new at the same time. While some might think that she is using the worldwide popularity of the Harry Potter franchise, I'd say yes and no. The idea of a school of witchcraft in fantasy has been there for a quite a while and Novik's new novel isn't original nor it pretends to be. But where the book really shines is the characters and their relations with one another. The protagonist is strong enough on her own and I found myself loving her and her sarcasm which never felt forced or overdone because the author knows that sarcasm isn't a personality. Therefore, the heroine has other very meaningful traits which creates a delightful and relatable personality (and this is where the majority of YA authors often fail with their heroine). And that also what happens for all the other characters in the book : nobody is downright evil or angelic and the author was successful in showing the depth in each one of them. I also wasn't very surprised of liking this book, Naomi Novik has proved herself before even though this entry feels very different from her previous "Uprooted" and "Spinning Silver", which were more fairy/folk-tale like, it stands strongly on its own. It has a much lighter tone thant I expected, so don't expect a very dark story like the summary suggests but a relatively light tone that doesn't shy away from more serious themes. Anyhow, A Deadly Education is a very enjoyable book that I read in a handful of hours and if the future two entries are as strong as this one, it might become one of my favorite YA/light fantasy series.