A Deadly Education (Scholomance Series #1) by Naomi Novik
Product details
Web ID: 12620486Dark academia
Unfortunately, I did wait a little too long to write my review and I also read this series in quick succession, so the entirety of the story does run together a bit. What I do know is I really loved these books. I thought A Deadly Education was one of the more unique magical school books I’ve read since the school is basically there to cull the magical herd of children, and that’s pretty dark! Then there’s El, who is a no-fs given girl, which is a pretty uncommon FMC characteristic. She is caustic, stubborn, and dark, and while that might not make her likable or relatable, I loved her! Watching her be unapologetically herself and find people who accept her the way she is was actually quite charming! Orion was also such a mystery to me in book one, he was quiet, mildly oblivious, and super sweet, but clearly had something going on! He and El’s relationship was one of the more fun YA relationships that I’ve seen because they weren’t quite friends or enemies, but reluctant allies. Four stars!
Recommends this product
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
disappointing
im not going to lie to you--this book made absolutely no sense to me. the plot is all over, and even as it has interesting potential, the author failed to execute it. i love reading and the cover and reviews were promising, but i didnt like it. this proved to be disappointing and i didnt finish it because of how scattered and repetitive it was. i highly do not recommend.
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
repetitive
This book had an interesting concept but was poorly executed. It was very repetitive and consisted of them just almost dying by monsters (mals), and killing them with spells. The romance was strange. And the El was soo aggressive for a person who wanted friends / an alliance so badly. It was hard to watch how she interacted with people. Something good about this book were the details. Everything was described so well that it was like a movie in my head. For example: the building was described and at the end of the book it shows a photo of what it looks like and it was very similar to how I seen it in my head. The monsters were lowkey really creepy, but also very detailed. There were some very good things about the book, but the storyline itself fell flat. Which is really sad because it had such potential to be great. I do plan on trying to continue the series to see if it gets any better. Thank you netgalley and random house publishing group for this book. My review is 100% honest.
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Dark and funny fantasy tale
The world-building is incredibly detailed and unique. Galadriel’s sarcasm is hilarious and the more I learned about her backstory and current life, the more I empathized with her. Orion was the steadfast hero, but El opened his eyes to the reality others faced in the Scholomance and I enjoyed their interesting friendship, mostly based on rudeness. Seeing El develop friendships and come into her power was a delight and I look forward to the next book in series.
Recommends this product
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
dark funny magic at the worst school ever
Why did I wait so long to read this?! I've seen this all over the place for ages and while I expected to like it I really really liked this story and the style in which it's written. El is so sarcastic and snarky and the dark humor of the story remind me of Gideon the Ninth, which I also loved. I love that we see this world and school through El's eyes with all of her judgement and understanding of life. I'm looking forward to seeing the world (hopefully) open up in a bit in future books but this very insular start at the Scholarmance really builds a foundation of El's world and the high stakes she's trapped battling. Orion is also a fun, albeit oblivious, foil to El's dark perspective on life and I' hoping to see more of the two of them together. A really fun read and kudos of Novak for keeping this to a reasonable length.
Recommends this product
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
DNF
I tried to give this book a go. The idea of it was great but the way it’s written is not good to me. The main character is annoying and not in a good way. The objects in school becoming animated just because makes so sense. I found myself rolling my eyes during some sentences. Maybe it’s explained towards the end of the book but life is too short to read books you’re not enjoying.
Recommends this product
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
A darker and more interesting HP series
This book was so incredibly fun, which was pretty impressive for a book with a dark/depressing setting. I haven't read any other books with this kind of magic system and world, it felt very fresh and unique to me and I loved it! Our main character El is so amazing. I love her grumpiness, but ultimately heart of gold. She deserves the world (and she has the power to take it). Her in combination with Orion, who is such a golden retriever energy person, was very fun to read. I also really loved Aadhya and Liu. I was in a reading slump before reading this book and it got me out of it so fast, I can't wait to read the sequel now as ADE set us up for what I'm sure will be a very good story in book 2.
Recommends this product
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
A Deadly School of Magic
A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik is a very different school of magic from Hogwarts. Children from magical families enter the school with a limited amount of belongings and do not leave until graduation. There are no letters from home or care packages. The school is filled with monsters, and students must learn quickly how to protect themselves or die. This engaging fantasy book is told for the perspective of a girl who is completely on her own and avoided by her fellow students due to an expectation that she will level mountains and become dark queen of the world. However, Orion Lake, a popular boy from the New York Enclave wants very much to be close to her. This was a very original tale about a dark school of magic called the Scholomance, and the lengths that students had to go to survive. This book has had some negative feedback due to descriptions which were perceived as racist, but I don’t think that this was intentional. If one read the passages fully with an open mind, the reference was an unfortunate choice of illustration, but there weren’t any other red flags in the book. I absolutely loved this story which was very unique and included the camaraderie of teens developing friendships, the first blush of young love, and teens working together to solve a problem. This was exceptionally well written and fascinating. Readers who enjoy YA Fantasy shouldn’t miss this book! I am voluntarily submitting this review after reading a complementary copy of this book thanks to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Del Rey.
Recommends this product
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com