I LOVED this book! It has magic, monsters and a surprisingly relatable protagonist - not to mention one of the best opening lines I've ever come across. I am so excited for the next book in the series!

I am truly thankful, for the opportunity of reading this book, I have never read Novik before, and to be honest her books never really felt like my type of read, I have perched on the cusp of reading a few, then at the last moment decided not to, so this was an opportunity put into my hand.

This book is the first in a new series called Scholomance, which first off as a World of Warcraft player, reminds me instantly of a dungeon, where you go and fight beasties and ghouls, which I think is a perfect explanation of this book, apert from , this Scholomance, is not a dungeon but a school.

Before i go any futher, this is not a Hogwarts, there are no teachers and you have to fend for yourselves, otherwise, things, not nice things could happen to you.

I fell headlong into the Young Adult genre, years ago and I think that I wore myself out of these types of book, reading this, gave me an indication, that perhaps I was still full of YA
Having said that, i feel awful for not really enjoying it as much as i should, or as much as it deserves.
I shall await to see if this comes out on audio format and I shall definatly partake again.
Thank you so much for the experience Netgalley and the Publishers.

I thought school was tough without monsters. Imagine having to go to the bathroom in pairs in case a monster slimes up through the grate, grabs your ankle and poisons you. Or a hanging monster suffocates you on the way to English class. Terrifying. It turns out in the Scholomance (inspired by the fabled school of black magic in Transylvania?), the compulsory school for all magical children to improve their odds of survival from 1 in 20 to 1 in 4, there are frightening things actually hiding under your bed. A deadly school where if you don’t graduate, you die. And not every student graduates.

Let me start by saying that the entire first two chapters are exposition. It’s a very information-heavy story in terms of narrative. That's because there's a tonne of worldbuilding, and as a result, a world that feels fleshed out. I really immersed myself in this crazy monster-school, but, I’ll be honest, I was ready to put the book down in chapter 2 - because, ugh, info-dumping - but I am so glad I continued. A Deadly Education is a frighteningly fun adventure.

Told in first-person, our protagonist Galadriel aka El narrates her school life with a mix of information and flashbacks. She knows a lot of general history of the world, and she’s a bit of an overthinker. I identified with the snarky, sixteen year old with an against-the-world attitude (although I was unfortunately never an all powerful magic-caster) but I can see how the writing style wouldn't be for everyone.

El is part-Indian, part-Welsh and there’s real diversity in the school (which makes sense given it’s the only magical school of its kind in the entire world). It’s Hogwarts only if out of every crevice, a monster tried to eat you. Oh, and instead of teachers, there’s a magical void to pluck spellbooks out of.

Did I mention the monsters?

Found friendships, feuds, alliances and reluctant-allies-to-lovers feature in this well-built story that's rich with lore and history. The ending was deliciously tantalising. This is one that I am dying to get the next book for, which is going to be a long time considering A Deadly Education is just being released!

If you like your main characters' snarky, your friendships genuine and your monsters under your bed: you’re going to want to bite into this.

4-4.5* for this booK!

This is my first Novik book and whilst the plot summary looked really interesting I went into it with no expectations.

Firstly..... El....
I freakin’ love her! She is strong, snarky and does not take crap from anyone. Reading her thoughts on how much she’d like to just destroy everyone around her and insulting everyone filled my heart with joy. I completely agree with the comparison between her and Meg from Hercules. Her power always tempts her to the “dark side” where she’d be an absolute powerhouse If she gave but she never once gives in, even in the face of death. I also loved her awkward connections she started to make with people. She is fiercely loyal to her fledgling friendships and there is only a mild hint at romance which was refreshing. Too often now fantasy and YA plots are so heavily focused on romance. This book is proof you don’t need to rely on that to write a wonderful book.

The school and the setting is dark and dangerous. It’s the sanctuary and worst nightmares for all the pupils there. The world is fully formed from page one. There is no introducing it slowly or long explanations of how the magic works. You’re thrown straight in much as the pupils are when they arrive at the school. Some of it was a little confusing at first but as you read you just accept the tidbits of knowledge and anecdotes as they come and it doesn’t get in the way of the storytelling.

Going in to this I though it was a going to be a standalone novel. I am absolutely thrilled there is going to be more. Apart from the last sentence this could have been a standalone but by the end of the book El has grown and developed so much, built up a group and a plan and I cant wait to see what comes next.

I absolutely loved this book!

The dark humour, sass and danger had me hooked! Though I had this book through Netgalley first (thank you!), my pre-order arrived and I got to see the beautiful map of The Scholomance which is found at the front of the book. It adds some gravity to the story when you have this reference.

Galadriel lived with her mum near Cardigan in Wales (big up my home country! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿) before being dropped into the Scholomance. The Scholomance is a school for Wizards where they have to survive until their graduation and then survive the graduation itself. There are creatures lurking in all the nooks and crannies within the school, all waiting for an unsuspecting student to fall into their midst and be eaten. It really is a tough place to be.

Each room has a void which gives you things you ask for such as spellbooks and Galadriel has a particularlly destructive affinity which often gives her spells to wipe out the world rather than one to clean her floor! The school often works against you and punishes you for not doing work or assignments.

Galadriel wants to keep to herself but keeps being ‘saved’ by the hero of the school Orion Lake. He infuriates her and I think deep down, she loves it!

Galadriel has to fight her way through everything as everyone seems to hate her, the best way to survive school is through an Enclave and they aren’t exactly fighting over El to give her a spot.

She has one year left before graduation and has to store as much Mana (magic) as she can to help her survive graduation.

Wizards can use Malia or Mana. Mana is stored up and earned, so using it doesn’t take anything other than what you already have. Malia on the other hand, takes from wherever it can. You can cast a spell and kill someone around you through the action. Everything with Malia has a cost. The more Malia you use, the shorter your life and you die in a horrible way.

With a school that technically shouldn’t exist, a void in her room, creatures trying to kill her and an Orion Lake following her everywhere, El has her hands full.

As with any magic, balance must exist and with Orion saving everyone, the balance is thrown off to El is put in a tricky position to fix it.

El doesn’t really have anything to lose but a lot to gain and she must battle her way through and hopefully, make it out alive.

I love the sass that El has and while it is a defence mechanism on her part, you know that if you give her the chance, she’ll surprise you. The other characters in the book such as Aadhya and Liu are wonderful additions and they gel well with El. I can’t help but love how dorky Orion is and given the ending, I need to know more.

This is a witty, sharp and delightfully dark magical fantasy. Naomi Novik has nailed it with this brilliant tale and I can’t wait to see what Galadriel gets up to next.

If this is lesson one of the Scholomance, I cannot wait for lesson 2.

I've read most of Naomi Novik's books before and enjoyed most but not all. She has really pulled it out the bag with this one. I absolutely loved A Deadly Education. A perfect autumn read and despite being set in a magical school it was totally original and dark.

Set in the Scholomance, a school that literally tries to kill it's students and consume their mana, El is learning to master her magic. We discover how the school works, no teachers, no friendships just necessary alliances and pupils trying to survive. I enjoyed the writing style and the references to Wales (Cymru am byth!) which was done really well. The relationships between characters was slow to start but definitely built up carefully and deliberately with some interesting twists and turns. Orion, the hero, definitely has an interesting story with some depth and darkness waiting to be discovered. And the ending was just perfect. There better be a sequal!!

Rating 4.5/5

What I hate the most about a book that I love is that I feel like I don’t always have enough words to write a decent review, I absolutely loved this book so it feels extra difficult.

This was so different to any fantasy book I’ve read in a while, the story takes a well known concept and completely flips it, giving it an original edge and making it really interesting to get stuck into. A magic school where there is danger lurking around every corner, yes please, it adds a tension throughout the story and I actually found it funny at points to see what the mals (monsters in the school) ended up disguising themselves as.

I love that the school was a character in itself, the fact that it reacts to the students and usually not in good ways makes it all the more interesting. The magic system was so clever and I liked that the school tailored the education to suit each student, especially because in El’s case it provided a lot of amusement for me.

El was a great main character, her magic is powerful and tends towards the dark end of the spectrum much to her annoyance. Due to this most of the rest of her class try to avoid her and in a school that relies on connections to get ahead El has to be creative about navigating and creating advantages for herself. I love that she is unapologetically herself, she doesn’t suck up to the popular people, she actively avoids them and is usually a bit rude and sarcastic, but in a way that I very much enjoyed reading.

Her relationship with Orion Lake was great, his hero complex and shy personality worked perfectly against El’s outspoken nature, add to that the fact that El is the only one who actively criticises him. It’s the most unusual and interesting friendship and of course El can’t help but use it to her advantage and pays that forward for those who have shown her some form of kindness. I did like how things developed between Orion and El, it’s hard to describe how well it works the kind of almost friendship that teeters into the territory of something more but in an awkward way.

I also loved the relationships that she has with Aadhya and Liu, that they are tolerable acquaintances that become unlikely allies and that it progresses to a deeper friendship as they get to know each other better and see past their first impressions.

I cannot believe that it was left on that ending though, I actually cannot wait to see what happens in the next book, I feel like it can’t come soon enough.

3.5 stars

Galadriel 'El' Higgins attends a school for magic where there are no teachers, but there is an infestation of creatures that try to eat the students.
El doesn't have any friends, partly due to her prickly attitude, which is a problem if she wants to survive graduation. Which she does. El needs to make an alliance with some of the other students in order to make it through the infested graduation hall, something many students die attempting to do each year.
El is a powerful - evil sorceress powerful according to a prophecy - but can she control that power and use it to survive?

I nearly DNF'd this book after the very first chapter as it was pretty much a huge info-dump. However, I continued reading and I'm glad that I did.
El was a good protagonist and I liked her most of the time, but there were a couple of occasions when her prickly demeanour did grate on my nerves a little bit. However, I thought the way she acted was understandable given what she'd been through. I enjoyed reading El's interactions with other characters, especially Orion.
Orion Lake was treated as the school hero because he kept saving people from the student-killing monsters and it was interesting to find out more about him.
The setting of the school was interesting, especially the idea of there being no teachers and the students essentially being left to fend for themselves. I really liked the idea of some books disappearing for years at a time and having to tell them how special etc they are to make sure they stay with you.
The magic was intriguing, especially needing to have energy - mana (light) or malia (dark) - to be able to do spells. I liked that to get mana you had to do things like push ups and crochet.
The info-dumps were definitely my least favourite thing about the book - there were some in odd places and some that felt overly long (see the first chapter). There also wasn't really that much that actually happened plot-wise. This book definitely focuses on the relationships between the students, which was probably due to it being the first book in the series, and while I did enjoy getting to know the intricacies of school-life, I would have liked a bit more plot.
I liked the diversity at the school. El herself was half-Indian, half-British.
There was a hint of romance, which was just the right amount for me. I think any more wouldn't have worked.
The writing style was easy enough to follow, but most of the time it did feel like I was being told things rather than shown them.
I am planning to continue with the series, mainly because of the cliffhanger at the end of the book which has me very intrigued to see what happens next.
This may not have been a gripping, on-the-edge-of-my-seat read for me, but it was instead a book that slowly lured me in and kept me entertained.

This may not be a perfect book, but it was an enjoyable read overall.

The Scholomance is a school created to help protect teenagers with magical powers from being killed by deadly magical creatures. Unfortunately the school is still a deadly place to be. El Higgins is one year away from graduation and must try to make alliances to help get out of the school alive while also trying to control her strong magical powers.

This is a brilliant, exciting book. I loved the world building and magic system which had costs and risks involved. There is constant drama, high-stake scenarios and near-death experiences. There is some light relief in El’s narration and the insults she deals out to her fellow students.

I really like El and her comrades. I felt for El as she tried to navigate her way through complicated relationships with the other students. Questions of morality arise as El has to decide the path she is willing to take to survive.

I am really looking forward to the next book in the series and recommend this book to anyone who enjoys rich fantasy worlds and compelling characters.

Thank you to NetGalley and Del Rey for the opportunity to read and review this title.

R E V I E W. Happy Publication Day to @naominovik and A Deadly Education, the first book in what is shaping up to be her BRILLIANT new Scholomance series. Thank you so much to @delreyuk & @netgalley for my ARC. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Okay so this book. It’s creative, vivid, and more than slightly mental with a magic system that will suck you in and in El a lead character you’ll love. Oh, and a final chapter that has you screaming out for more (you know, because you’re excited, not because a Maleficaria has got you!)

The Scholomance is a school like no other. There are no teachers, no normal classes, and everyone in attendance is a wizard. Oh, and there is an excellent chance that you won’t live enough to make it to graduation. And then there is the matter of getting through that alive too. Like some sort of dark, sinister Hogwarts castle with the Maleficaria - strange, deadly and often disgusting monsters that make what you’d find in the Forbidden Forest look tame in comparison - roaming the halls looking for students to eat so they can consume their magic, the school has a mind of its own, teaching students what it thinks they need to survive. There are no friendships at The Scholomance, only alliances necessary for survival. And El is not exactly popular. But you need allies to make it through graduation, but most of the time she’s too busy trying to prevent her own unique set of powers killing all of her fellow students, quite by accident. You know, a typical school year.

This is one of those books you can easily beast through in just a couple of sittings - I think I did it in three, including four hours of just not being able to put it down right up until the end last night. It’s so complex I think I’ll be thinking about this new world Novik has created right through to the weekend, and it is easily up there with The Bone Shard Daughter as best new series of the year. Go grab a copy if you - like me - prefer your magic to exist in the real world rather than an entirely new fantasy realm, you love your books to be very darkly funny, and if you did not think Harry Potter was quite deadly enough!

Loved it. Can't wait for the next installment!

I've previously read and thoroughly enjoyed both Uprooted and Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik and gave them both 4 stars. But with A Deadly Education she's finally done it and pushed me to a rare 5-star review!

The Scholomance - the setting for A Deadly Education and arguably its biggest character - is a magic school/school of magic that does its best to kill the students trapped inside. Staying alive is their incentive to learn. There are no teachers, no adults at all in fact, just a load of kids getting along in a life and death struggle until the survivors "graduate", which involves running a final gauntlet to the school exit through a tunnel of horrific monsters.

At this point, you may be thinking you've seen this all before: stories about schools of magic aren't exactly thin on the ground. But what marks A Deadly Education out as truly different is the first-person narration. El's voice is clear and marvellous. She's strong, grumpy, powerful, furious, hurt, scared, loyal... basically a mixed-up teenager living in a pressure-cooker that's trying to kill her. She's incredibly prickly and can be very blunt and rude, but you understand why she's this way and seeing her lower her defenses a little as the story progresses is one of the great joys of the narrative.

Because, for all the monster battles, what the story is really about is being a teenager: making friends, navigating school politics, figuring out who you are and who you want to be. The female friendships in particular made me smile and provided a few really good laughs by the end (remembering one of the final exchanges still makes me chuckle now).

The character of Orion is also brilliant and his unstoppable shining heroics are such a perfect (and often amusing) foil to El's wall of grumpy defensiveness.

If I have to be critical, I'd say there are a few long infodumps near the start of the story as the author is setting up the world. But do not be deterred if you feel these bits are a little slow. They're all essential background and allow the story to really take off about a third in and it doesn't slow down after that.

In case it matters to anyone, I think this is YA. I don't think that should matter, because whoever it's being marketed to, ultimately it's a great book. However, just in case it helps you adjust your expectations before going in, I thought it worth mentioning.

Overall: absolutely brilliant. The only downer is that this is book one in a series and ends on a tantalising cliffhanger... argh! The next book can't come quickly enough!

Set at the Scholomance, a school for magically gifted individuals. A Deadly Education follows Galadriel or El as she's better known, literally struggling for survival through school. The Scholomance is an unusual school, there are no teachers, no holidays and no escape until graduation. If you make it. That's because the school is literally alive with monsters that lurk in the corners, under desks, in the school canteen and literally eat the students. On graduation, students need to have allied up in order to find a route to the real world. Death is a very real threat.

This dark and spooky vibe is definitely delivered in time for October and Halloween. Having said that, I felt at times the novel did lack the intensity or scare factor I kind of expected with a school full of monsters and wish Novik had really ramped up the tension.

The premise is great and Novik puts a lot into the world-building. She details the history and structure of the school, the way magic works in the world and El's own history. On that, I cannot fault her for delivering on the world-building. Although at times the heavy focus on the world-building does come at detriment to the speed and development of the plot.

I really liked El as a character and although she was a little bit prickly she actually had a lot more to her character than first appears. The relationships she develops across the novel with Liu, Aadhya and Orion were slow but more believable. I particularly liked the moments between El and Orion as their friendship blossomed despite them seemingly initial polar opposites and El's initial complete rebuttal of his presence.

This book is definitely not for everyone as it's not a faced-paced fantasy but that's very much a Novik's style. I would also say the book had a very different vibe to Uprooted and Spinning Silver although the writing style is very similar. However, the build up in this first instalment leaves me excited for what hopefully is set to be an even better sequel. Thanks to @delreybooks and @netgalley for the arc.

A Deadly Education is the story of an unwilling dark sorceress who is destined to rewrite the rules of magic, set at Scholomance, a school for the magically gifted where failure means certain death (for real) — until one girl, El, begins to unlock its many secrets. There are no teachers, no holidays, and no friendships, save strategic ones. Survival is more important than any letter grade, for the school won’t allow its students to leave until they graduate… or die! The rules are deceptively simple: Don’t walk the halls alone. And beware of the monsters who lurk everywhere. El is uniquely prepared for the school’s dangers. She may be without allies, but she possesses a dark power strong enough to level mountains and wipe out millions. It would be easy enough for El to defeat the monsters that prowl the school. The problem? Her powerful dark magic might also kill all the other students. Learning has never been this deadly.

The first instalment in the brand new Scholomance series, or Lesson One of the Scholomance as it's being referred to, introduces us to an exquisitely built world complete with intricate detail and a dark magic academy for prodigious youngsters. Add to this monsters and pupils willing to claw themselves to success, trampling on other students as they go and you have got a frightening and utterly riveting fantasy. The magic school is a seriously overdone concept in this genre, however, Novik has crafted a refreshingly original tale made unique by the true darkness of the school itself. With danger lurking around every corner it pays to keep your eyes open. The diverse cast was a joy to behold and El is an engaging heroine for the ages - a character so sharply realized and so richly nuanced that she will live on in hearts and minds for generations to come. Many thanks to Del Rey for an ARC.

This story is pure magic from the start. El Higgins has never been liked by anyone but her mum. People just seem to take a dislike to her as soon as they see her and keep a wide berth. In her defence, El has learned to keep out of other peoples way, for their own good. El is the narrator of the story and it comes across as pure dry humour that made me giggle. The further into the story I got and the more I liked this girl.

El has been sent to a very special school, a school of magic and mayhem where only fifty percent of students will graduate due to the other half being killed by the horrendous creatures that roam the dormitories throughout the year tasting the goods until the final day when the only way out is through them.

This is a cracking story, though, like everyone else that she knew, I didn’t like El, to begin with, it is very clever writing by this author. I had fallen hook line and sinker to be like everyone else and see what El wanted them to see. The entrance of a fellow male student made me smile but had the opposite effect of El. I was intrigued.

There are some wicked creatures in the story, brilliant head to heads and unthinkable alliances. The story is entertaining, funny and sure to be a hit with many generations. I really didn’t want it all to come to an end but there is going to be more. A brilliant start to a new series with the select few been chosen to take centre stage already.

I wish to thank NetGalley and the publisher for an e-copy of this book which I have reviewed honestly.

Filled with monsters, murders and blacker-than-black magic, this is about as dark as a boarding school story can get! I really loved the inventive storytelling here, in El's dry, witty voice, but at times, I did find the world-building hard to follow. It's such a full, vivid world, but it's also incredibly complex, and so at times it veers almost text-book like in terms of setting up the rules, the stakes and the monsters. That being said, I still very much enjoyed the read - and now that all the world is in place, I'm looking forward to jumping into the heart of the story in the sequel!

The minute I heard that this book was coming out I knew I had to read it. Whilst I have not read any of Naomi Novik’s books (I’m sorry! I have Uprooted on my TBR!), the concept of this book just drew me in and lets be fair dark academia is definitely something I love reading about.

I devoured 57% in one sitting and grudgingly had to put it down as I needed to get some sleep. This book is absolutely brilliant and I loved the world building and the characters.

Galadriel, or El as she prefers to go by was such a great protagonist. Sarcastic, smart, rude and incredibly angry El was brilliant and I loved watching her journey and her development throughout this story. Although she should be unlikeable, I never found myself frustrated or annoyed by her behaviour or attitude, instead I liked reading about a abrasive main character because in all honesty it was a breath of fresh air! She’s been shunned by people most of her life due to her affinity for dark magic and because of that she doesn’t know how to let people in, with her mother being the only person she cares about.

Orion was in my opinion quite hilarious with his clueless yet brave personality that makes him the hero of the school. He is everything you’d imagine in a hero and is loved by everyone but El who honestly hates the fact that he’s managed to save her life countless times. I also found myself growing to love Orion and all the side characters and what they brought to the book.

I’ve already mentioned the world building but seriously guys, it’s amazing. Everything was just so captivating and intriguing that I couldn’t help but want more. You can tell that Novik has put so much thought into this book with how detailed everything is.

Overall, this was a brilliant book and is now one of my all time favourites. From the sarcasm, to the plot and it’s characters this book ticked all the boxes for me. I cannot wait to read the next book in the series!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House UK - Del Rey for providing me with a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

I received an E-ARC of A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik for free on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you so much to Naomi Novik, Del Rey UK, Random House UK and NetGalley for this opportunity! This review is also available on my blog - Book, Blog & Candle!

A Deadly Education focuses on a magical school - The Scholomance - which is far from your usual run of the mill school. Here the students must have their wits about them and be aware twenty-four seven because there are only two options for the students who attend here - either they graduate or they die!

Our protagonist is Galadriel, but she prefers to go by El. She is tough, headstrong and learnt from an early age that she has to rely on herself. She has a close relationship with her mother but they don't have an enclave to protect them and her power tends to turn most people away from her the moment they meet, even her fathers' side of the family in Mumbai aren't immune to her destructive potential.

I really enjoyed El as a character and loved her personality. I mean she's named after a character from the Lord of the Rings, how can I not love her?! She can come across as a bit rude and jarring at first but ultimately she is a scared kid who has been ostracised and pushed away her whole life. Her main focus is trying to survive through the day. Throughout the book you get to experience her great sense of humour and biting sarcasm, you come to realise that deep down she wants to be liked but she is scared of rejection which has followed her her whole life. I found her character development really endearing and it was great to see the length she would go to so she could protect those that she has come to care about.

El forms an uneasy truce with Orion after he happens to save her life one day - not that she actually needed the help of course. He is popular, powerful and has a massive hero complex. He wants so badly to be able to save everyone in the school even at a complete detriment to himself. The dynamic between Orion & El was so fun to read, I'm excited to see where their peculiar relationship leads to next.

The worldbuilding was amazing, especially considering that the story is mostly set in The Scholomance which was really interesting and unique. Plus, I really liked the magic system, it was intriguing without being complicated and definitely very brutal! The students definitely had to on be on their guard all the time to make sure that they'd survive. I don't know why but reading this definitely reminded me of being back in law school - however the fearsome monster trying to destroy me was called Equity & Trusts law!

This was the first book that I've read by Naomi Novik and I'm definitely going to be reading more! I loved her writing style and the pace of the book was perfect for me, I'm so excited to see what happens next in the series.

A Deadly Education is a story of friendship with daring escapades and incredible twists, it is one that you don't want to miss!

A Deadly Education is slightly different to this author’s usual fairytale fantasies and not quite what I was expecting, needless to say I really enjoyed it and it is such a fun read. The premise of the story is fascinating, in that the students of this Scholomance school will either graduate or die trying to graduate. The school is not run by teachers but by magic and infested with all manner of creatures called Maleficaria or ‘Mals’ who lurk in every corner and crevice waiting to pounce. The story is dark, but written with an edge of humour and there are some really entertaining and amusing moments. The book is well written with some wonderful attention to detail, the world building is complex and the magic system is very interesting.

The characters are all portrayed really well and I liked all of them. In particular Galadriel (El) who is a perfect lead heroine, she is a bit tetchy and prickly, but completely driven to succeed in graduating. I particularly liked the bond she had with Orion and their interactions with one another were hilarious at times, they bounced off each other so well. They have a very begrudging friendship and El resents the fact he always seems to come to her rescue like a knight in shining armour, but maybe there is also the tiniest hint of a brewing romance?

My main problem is there is no riveting main storyline, pulling the reader through the book and at times my attention wandered with all the information to take in. The author spends a lot of time on the school’s history and the back history of El’s life and the main focus of the book is El’s escapades in school and her interactions with other students.

That cliffhanger last sentence really got me….and I definitely need to read the next book! All in all a great read packed with magic and world building, which I’m sure will interest Harry Potter and younger YA fantasy fans alike.

Thank you to the publisher via Netgalley for my advanced copy of this book.

I was very excited to receive the quirky approval email from Random House U.K. Cornerstone to read and review ‘A Deadly Education’ by Naomi Novik in advance. It was one of my most anticipated autumn titles and is the opening book in her Scholomance trilogy. It came accompanied by glowing comments from a list of well known authors and a great deal of prepublication buzz.

However, despite this, I found myself struggling from its early chapters. I read on to 67% before deciding it was just not for me. I skimmed the balance but despite an intriguing final line have decided that I am among the very few not singing its praises.

As to what wasn’t working for me - I didn’t feel much connection to its narrator, Galadriel (El), or engagement with the plot, what of it there was among so much exposition. In terms of setting maybe I have been spoiled by Hogwarts and Brakebills, but the world building just fell flat.

I felt that Novik was trying too hard to be edgy and dark, with Scholomance students only concerned about themselves, even willing to push another student into a void for the opportunity to occupy their assigned room. It was cynical and bleak. Orion Lake, the not-boyfriend of El, was heroic and altruistic but was portrayed as something of a fool for this, at least in El’s eyes.

Certainly El’s snark did have its moments but it wasn’t enough given how little overall engagement I felt with the narrative. I had the impression that ‘A Deadly Education’ was supposed to be ironic and something of a dark comedy. I have noted before that comic fantasy is a very tricky sub genre. Was Novik attempting to subvert the magical school setting with this cold automated setting? If so, again it just didn’t resonate with me.

This was my first experience of Naomi Novik‘s writing though I have her retold fairy tales waiting on my Kindle TBR.

Clearly, I am in the minority among the many positive reviews for this novel but ultimately I need to be true to my reading experience.

This book was AMAZING!

Set in a magical school called The Scholamance, which is a monster-infested school for witches and wizards, with no teachers. In this school, failure can equal death. Graduation is a literal fight to the death if you do not make it out, and once you have your induction at this school, you are there until graduation - if you don't die along the way.

The main character Galadriel, or El, is a student at this school who does not have many friends, she is an outsider, which can be very dangerous for students at this school. She does not really try to get many friends, she mostly just wants to be left alone and is sometimes just outright rude to anybody who speaks to her (it was definitely well deserved sometimes, but other times I feel like she took it a bit too far), however, alliances are also crucial for surviving at this school, with monsters lurking on every corner. Orion Blake suddenly appears in her life and things start changing for El, not only does she seem to find herself in a few more dangerous situations, but she also gets to form some 'friendships' and alliances that may just help her graduate.

I don't really know what to say with this book as I did really enjoy it and I always worry about saying too much in case I spoil it for anyone, but it was a really great read! It did take me a while to get into it as although the world-building was amazing, it did seem a bit much and I sometimes felt like I was getting way too much information in one go & not much adding to the actual plotline. However, I am dying to read the sequel already and cannot wait to see where this story goes!