As with A Deadly Education, book 1 the Scholomance, I liked the characters, especially El, who you get to know a lot better in this book. The world building and setting is good. But I still cannot get on with the writing style used. It’s really slow going and long winded. I think if you enjoyed A Deadly Education then you’ll enjoy this book also.

I adored A Deadly Education, which reminded me of one of my favourite books of all time - Robin McKinley's Sunshine - so I was very keen to re-enter the world of the Scholomance. A Deadly Education introduced us to El, a deeply traumatised teenage girl who can barely keep her penchant for destructive magic under control, is certain that everybody hates her, and tries to hide all of this from her peers and from the reader by keeping up an ironic running commentary about everything she knows about the Scholomance and how to survive there. By the end of the novel, El finally has friends and allies, as well as a sort-of-boyfriend in Orion Lake, the 'hero' of her school year because of his ability to hunt and kill 'mals', the monsters that threaten all the students. The Last Graduate picks up right where A Deadly Education left off, when El receives a warning note from her mother telling her to stay away from Orion. But what will this mean for her as she enters her senior year at the Scholomance and prepares for the biggest ordeal of all - graduation?

The Last Graduate wasn't, for me, as good as A Deadly Education, but it's a strong middle novel that takes some unexpected and thoughtful turns, even if it ended on exactly the cliffhanger I'd been anticipating. Partly because of the logic of the plot, it is oddly paced; for the first half of the book, we don't really find out anything more than we already knew from A Deadly Education, although Novik does expand the worldbuilding in interesting ways (I particularly liked the enchanted gym). A lot of our protagonists' chief concerns are also rendered unimportant by various turns of events, which works very well on a character level, as we understand how El comes to the conclusions she does, but is a little frustrating in terms of narrative momentum. Having said that, the last quarter of the novel is completely gripping, and satisfying in the sense that a lot of stuff happens that I'd normally expect to play out in the final book of a trilogy, so Novik's left herself a lot of space for surprises in the last installment.

My other slight hesitation about The Last Graduate is the way that El's character develops. A Deadly Education worked so well for me because El couldn't accept her inner goodness; in The Last Graduate, I had had a bit too much of her inner goodness by the end. Again, this is partly dictated by plot and partly by her developing relationship with Orion, and there's clearly more to come on this in the final novel, so I'll reserve judgement for now. Having said that, I suspect that my final opinion on The Last Graduate will be very much shaped by what happens in the third book in the trilogy (unlike A Deadly Education, which I can still read happily as a stand-alone), and so, although I enjoyed this very much, the jury is still out.

After reading the first book, I knew I'd have to read the second and however many come after because that was a wild ride of a book and this one does not disappoint in the slightest as we are given moment after incredible moment until the very end of the book.

I still love these characters, which develop and grow a great deal throughout the whole of this story. The development of El as the outsider to being the person that she becomes in this book is a real arc and I really appreciate her so much, with every sassy moment and sarcastic tongue-lashing that she brings in this book - she's an anti-hero to an extent and I like her for it.

Plot-wise this book has some incredible moments and a finale that leaves you reeling, the last chapter of this book is just brilliant and you can't leave me like this, Naomi, it's just rude. The school as a setting really throws everything it's got at the students and it really shows throughout this book but also this book is very much dependent on its characters and their own needs as they move towards graduation and Novik's way of expressing that frustration and urgency to get out adds to the tension of the story.

I do love these books, I am not gonna lie, they are dark, they are brutal and they come at you with moments that hit you like a train, but I'd be hit by that train any day.

Just so good, go read it.

What a sequal! I really enjoyed this one. It was fast paced and exciting. I really enjoyed the writing style of this and the previous book, it reads to me how people actually would think in that situation. I also loved the little nods to Wales, a bit bias there. El and Co are preparing for graduation ahead of the new school year and developing their magic. But after clearing a lot of the mals at the end of the previous book, the school seems to be just setting them on El. They begin to practice their graduation runs and building alliances, it was interesting to see relationships developing and alliances being struck that fit their plans. The school has other things in mind however, it seems to be sending a message to El. She decides that on graduation she will try to save absolutely everyone. They hatch a plan to get everyone out and begin to work together. This was so exciting I really enjoyed it. That ending though! I need the next one please!

I really enjoyed “A deadly education”, the first in the Scholomance trilogy, so I was really looking forward to “The last graduate”. With one slight reservation, it did not disappoint.

As graduation nears, the level of threat posed by the Scholomance grows ever stronger. We discover that it is not a mechanical place, but is sentient. The students have to be very clever to avoid the maleficaria (magical monsters) which increasingly haunt the school.

As with “A deadly education” the book’s strength is in it’s characters. El is clearly the focus of the book, and we see everything through her lens, but this time round her friends Aadhya and Liu get their moment in the sun, and hero protagonist Orion starts to come into his own, as a fully-fledged character, rather than as a template or foil for El. Other, previously minor characters like Chloe are far more rounded, and the whole cast of characters is much fuller than in “A deadly education”.

I’ve talked about the characters, but the plot drives forward at a hectic pace, no sooner has school started than graduation looms.

All in all, this was a fabulous read. My slight reservation? I have to wait another twelve months to find out what happens at the end!
Thanks to Penguin Random House/Del Rey and Netgalley for the proof.

I quite enjoyed this book. It was easy to understand, nothing was over complicated and DAMN that cliffhanger whaaaaa——

I really enjoyed this, but at the same time it was really frustrating. It felt very much like a second book, lots of filling in of detail and smoothing the way for what promises to be a killer third book.
I adore the characters, and just love the whole vibe of this series. Getting people working together and overcoming decades of prejudice, hierarchy and antiquated systems. There's some really magical moments.
Now starts the countdown to the next book!

Ok, so this book broke me and if you thought the cliff hanger ending to book one was bad then this book will destroy you! With her help of her allies El managed to fix the equipment in the graduating hall, meaning for the first time in years a good portion of the class would have survived, but now the school seems to be punishing her for it. Sick of using up her hard earned Mana fighting off all the Mals the school has been sending her way, El decides to do the one thing she hates... asking for help. But what El doesn't realise is that the school has been sending the Mal's her way for a reason, one that when it comes to light, will shake up the Scholomance and the world of magic forever.

I really enjoyed seeing El's character growth in this book. She's still the grumpy, standoffish person I fell in love with from the first book, but Novik did a wonderful job of showing her lowering her defences, while still ensuring she stayed the unapologetic, take no prisoners, kick ass female we all know and love. She forms some long lasting bonds in this book, and though she was always prepared for the worst, that her friends would abandon her, realise she wasn't worth the risk, seeing her come to realise that they trusted her, valued her insight (crazy as it can be), that they wanted to be her friend made El (as well as me) a little emotional in parts.

Similar to the first book this is told completely from El's POV and contains a whole hell of a lot of introspection, which would make you assume that there would be little to no secondary character growth... well you would be wrong. Noviks unique writing style manages to bring to life a whole host of secondary characters, some you love and some you strongly dislike, and even though they are solely seen through El's eyes they each have their own personality, styles and they all leap off the page. As well as our 'human' side characters, the Scholomance itself became one in this book, we see it's mood changing, showing it has it's own personality, and we learn that although the school may do it's absolute best to kill the students, that's not it's goal.

Fans of the first book will no doubt fall in love with The Last Graduate, but similarly, if you weren't a fan it might be worth giving this one a pass. The writing style is the same as the first book, incredibly detailed and descriptive, and though we don't see much action until further on in the book, I still found myself engrossed in the day to day life in the Scholomance. We get daily dangers in the form of Mals, almost political intrigue with the kids from different families/enclaves constantly at each others throats, as well as a smattering of romance, and all told from El's POV give's it a witty, if not sometimes overly morose hue that had me cackling in parts. The action does significantly pick up in the second half ( though not a lot I can mention without spoilers) but suffice to say there are plenty of - on the edge of your seat - moments, and a cliffhanger ending that had me screaming at 2 o'clock in the morning.

We get an even greater deep dive into the magic system in this book, and one thing I love about this series is how Novik lets us know that to use Mana (magic) there is a cost. It's not something that can be grabbed out of fresh air, but instead something the students have to put effort into making whether through physical exercise or in El's case knitting. As well as this she gives us a deep dive into the different types of magic, as well as how the school decides who takes which classes, how they assign languages etc. Again from El's perspective this all takes on a rather humorous light, especially when she accidentally reads something in a different language and then gets set an essay on it. The specifics of it are well thought out, and though there is a lot to take in, Novik uses her words and time wisely, never really info dumping, but spreading the information out throughout the books.

I'm going to mention the ending again because holy hell I was shocked. There are cliff hanger endings, and then there are the ones where you want to scream at the author for making you wait a whole year to find out what happens, and this is most certainly the latter. Suffice to say I will eagerly be anticipating the last instalment.

Galadriel is back and she means business! The second lesson of the Scholomance kicks off exactly from where it left off, tossing the reader back into the world of dangers, disasters and magic. Hopefully you remember everyone's names otherwise (like me) you might spend a chapter or two casting your mind back to try and work out what's happening.

Now preparing to graduate, El and her group of friends - including part time beau and full-time nuisance, Orion Lake - must find a way to stay alive long enough to get them out of the school and fight past the mals that stand in their way. And although El might be a prophesised evil wizard waiting to happen, her character growth has taken her in a new direction; one that means she wants to get every pupil out alive with herself the remaining the last graduate.

For a second book in (what appears to a be) a trilogy, there's a huge amount of information dumped on you in this novel. Whether it be the way to understand spells in Welsh; how the cafeteria food system magically brings in nutrition that isn't grisly slop; or why a certain glow might mean you'll be eaten alive for submitting your essay - there was a lot. And much of it tucked in between exposition which doesn't exactly keep you on track mid chapter. I will admit that a few times I caught myself skipping over lines, simply to remember the direction of the conversation. Perhaps this indicates a bit too much of an info dump?

However, where this novel really succeeds is in its characters and its moments of action. El is such a wonderful, snarky MC and I love being inside her head as a reader. Her choices always subvert expectation and her ways of communicating so vicious they become funny. But what I particularly like is how British she sounds on the page; you know exactly where she's from based on the sentence construction. It's the first time I've ever really felt this way when reading and I like that I get that sense of identity from the writing.

In terms of action, the trial runs and graduation itself were fantastic and I was totally hooked in these moments. I found they really amped up the tension, showed off their talents as wizards well, and my heart was in my mouth for the final chapter. So for Novik to leave us on that cliffhanger - so cruel! I turned to the end pages and then immediately flicked back as if to say, "Wait, that's it?!".

Overall, while I think there are some stylistic choices in there that might be slightly distracting to readers, this second instalment has me eagerly awaiting what will happen next in this series. If you were a fan of the first novel, you won't be disappointed.

This book was brilliant! It seemed to take everything I enjoyed in the first one and amplify it, while a lot of the minor issues I had with the first one also mostly resolved. Outside of the core cast of characters, it felt like the school was alive with other characters with their own motivations and the plot progressed at just the right pace for me - zipping along pretty quickly, but it was definitely slow enough to understand the stakes and everything that every character was fighting for.

Honestly, a great book to binge read and now I'm desperate for the next one!

I received an e-ARC (Advanced Reader’s Copy) of this book from NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

When I received the notification that I had been approved for an advanced copy of this book, I almost fainted. I read the first in the series, A Deadly Education, earlier this year and absolutely adored it, making this book one of my most anticipated releases of the year. And, as with the first one, I thoroughly enjoyed it!

The Last Graduate follows immediately on from the events of A Deadly Education, picking up the story of our main character, El Higgins, a young magic user, as she works through her final year at the Scholomance. In this world, adolescents with magic attract monsters (maleficaria) and are sent to the Scholomance to both keep them safe from attacks and to learn how to hone their skills. The problem with the school, though, is that maleficaria do still find their way in, and the students spend their four years in residence having to be alert to the possibilities of imminent death.

This book spans the whole of El’s last year at the Scholomance, preparing for Graduation. However, as a part of some of the school’s faulty mechanisms, the graduation hall is teeming with maleficaria, which the class have to fight off to escape – of which, historically, only 50% survive. The students have a better chance if they team up with others, in an alliance.

In the first book, El struggles to make friends, let alone consider the possibility that someone would want an alliance with her. Yet, The Last Graduate opens with her firm in her alliance with Aadyah, and Liu, and in a developing relationship with Orion Lake. She has become her worst nightmare: popular. However, I found it really wonderful to watch El soften, to truly work hard for her relationships and become more selfless. Even by the middle of Book 2, her character is so far away from what it was at the start of the series.

On the subject of characters, I was also intrigued as to how the Scholomance began to function as a character of itself. It had its own moods and personalities, and the way it cared for its students was so heartwarming. However, in direct contrast, I was a bit sad about the usage of Orion this time around, as for a large part of the book he was a whingeing brat. He is redeemed though, as the combination of him and El warm my cold, dead heart.

One particular aspect of this magic system that I continue to enjoy is how well it works on a logic level. To use magic, you need mana – stored energy of your own or an access to a shared pool. This idea of a finite energy pool is very relatable to me, as I have a chronic illness, and we often talk about the pacing of tasks and the distribution of energy – mana felt like the magical version of that to me. The alternative, malia, is much darker and involves absorbing the mana from other living creatures. This can go from killing rats to killing humans, to full mass murder. Safe to say, if you have a conscience, you want to avoid becoming a malia user. Also, one of my favourite parts, you can build up mana from doing small fiddly tasks like crochet, and I love a good textile reference wherever I find them.

This review can’t speak much to the plot, mainly as it is a sequel but also to avoid spoilers. I will say though that I devoured it within the course of three days, completely enthralled and didn’t want to put it down. As with the first one too, it ended with quite the cliffhanger, which definitely left me disorientated and screaming in exasperation that I will have to wait another year for the next one!

It is important to note, though, that the first book came under fire for issues of racism and insensitivity. Having read this second book, I would say there was improvement, but I picked up on a couple of cases that didn’t sit quite right with me.

First, there is a section in the book where students have activities that are run via languages. This makes sense in theory, as the Scholomance is meant to be the only school in the world for these students, so naturally the population would be inherently international. The problem I had was that the four languages they chose were English, Spanish, Hindi, and “Chinese”. First, I have an issue here because none of those languages are primary languages in the African continent. Second, Chinese isn’t a language – it’s either Mandarin or Cantonese, and they are as different as trying to speak Italian and calling it French.

The second case that makes me wary is that nearly all of the geographical references we hear about are from the Northern Hemisphere. Argentina and Australia are mentioned briefly in the last couple of pages of the book, and I think there was a brief mention about Chile somewhere in the middle, but otherwise the book feels limited. This again goes hand-in-hand with the concern that there was no mention of the continent of Africa.

Overall, I still gave this book 5 stars, as I thoroughly enjoyed my time reading it. Naomi Novak is an expert in crafting devastating cliffhangers, and I await the final instalment eagerly.

As a huge fan of A Deadly Education I was delighted to get my hands on an advance copy of Naomi Novik's much anticipated follow up, The Last Graduate. First a word of warning for fellow fans, this book ends on a cliff hanger that will have you begging for the next instalment, so be prepared. This is definitely a book where I would recommend reading the first book in the series before picking this one up, otherwise the reader may be at something of a loss as to what is going on , and this book deserves to be enjoyed to its full potential. It picks up right from the moment A Deadly Education left off and hits the ground running.
We are back in the Scholomance, and El is in her final year and facing a graduation even more deadly than usual. To make matters worse it even seems like the school itself is conspiring against her. Her only hope may be to pull off a plan more audacious and crazier than anything the school has ever seen before.
El is still the spiky sarcastic character I loved from the first book, and since this book is definitely driven more by character that plot, having a main character that you are really rooting for is critical. This definitely felt a little slower paced that A Deadly Education which had me completely hooked from the beginning, but it is definitely worth persevering with as it picks up pace as Graduation approaches. I really enjoyed seeing the Scholomance becoming almost a character in its own right, and I spent an unexpected amount of time wondering about its motivations and what it would get up to next. The stage has certainly been set for a dramatic conclusion and I can hardly wait.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

Not my usual style of book choice but something about this one intrigued me! I actually enjoyed reading it. Quite funny in places with good plot and characters. I was pleasantly surprised.

A fantastic read with some great characters and story. El is a fun main character with her rough edges and heart of gold. I could not stop reading it. But how could you do this? That ending!

This was another of my most anticipated books of the year.

I absolutely loved reading A Deadly Education last year and meeting El, Orion, and the gang. I loved the action, the snark and the danger, and following the cliffhanger ending, I was really looking forward to delving back into the story and finding out what other surprises were in store.

Similarly to the previous book, The Last Graduate is mostly character, instead of plot, driven. It continues in the same vein, as El and her classmates are busy studying, building alliances and generally trying to survive and work out how to make it through graduation.

El is her same fabulous, sarcastic self and her relationships really flourish in this book, both with her friends and with Orion.

What I love about this book is how, amidst such a crazy, fantasy, out-to-kill setting, the characters are very real and vivid, and are realistic teens. Novik also gives more diversity through secondary characters in this book, and it's surprisingly sex-positive.

I spent the entire book trying to guess where the cliffhanger, and the title of the book, would come into play and was rewarded with ANOTHER CLIFFHANGER that was just pure evil, if a smidge predictable.

I am a tad frustrated by the ending, but mostly because I don't want to have to wait another year to find out what happens next!!

Overall, this was a solid second book in a trilogy, providing a lot of character and relationship growth, with a cliffhanger that I have everything crossed WILL deliver in book three!

First off it's worth noting if you haven't read A Deadly Education then there is absolutely no point in picking up The Last Graduate, go back and start at the beginning.
If you have read Deadly Education then be warned there's no quick summary or reminders to be found in Lesson Two of the Scholomance. We go straight in and continue the story where Book One left Galadriel, as if I'd left a movie on pause for an entire year. It took me a moment to refamiliarise myself with the language, characters and world Novik created.

If you're still reading this I'm going to take it that you've read A Deadly Education and I don't need to cover the basic concepts of this story. Alternatively you can jump back to my review of Book One HERE.

El is an odd character, she's selfless and generous, yet rude and constantly belligerent too. Somehow Novik makes it work and I find El surprisingly endearing. Usually I'd be annoyed at such an emotionally stunted character but instead I was entertained by El's total lack of manners and disinterest in the enclavers whom I liken to high-school stereotype clics; the cheerleaders and jocks of the Scholomance world.

As is often the case with the school 'outcast', El has developed a few friendships over the first book and we see a lot more of Liu and Aadyha in The Last Graduate.
There are quite a few other names bandied about and at times i found it hard to keep track, as I mentioned previously there is no recap or much of any reference to Book One, so I often felt I'd forgotten relevant information about minor characters in the year since I'd read it.

Perhaps it's because there is less world building this time around, or maybe it all seems a little to easy for El now but The Last Graduate seemed to meander through a long beginning. Not a lot was going on and the action had become second place to El's constant internal monologue.
Annoyingly, having ended A Deadly Education on such a meaty cliffhanger, El almost entirely disregards her mothers ominous note in the opening of The Last Graduate and Orion is rarely mentioned to start.

Whilst I enjoyed the turn of events in The Last Graduate and still adore the world Novak has built, it did turn out out be quite a slog.
I can best describe it as one long tactical planning session. The action in the last chapter was fantastic and held all the emotion I wanted to see throughout the earlier chapters.

I'm not sure whether this was a duology as the ending could easily be another cliffhanger, but for me I'll be quite content with the Story of The Scholomance ending there.

The Last Graduate is another great book that shows the dangers of the magical world.

El has grown in The Last Graduate physical, emotional and magically. But she hasn't lost her snark which is one of my favourite aspects of her personality. Also, I like that she never knows what she was going to do next.

I like that The Graduate has a different feel to A Deadly Education as El and the gang deal with serving graduation and Schoolmance every changing magical mind.

At the end of the book, there is an epic battle and a moment at the ned that left me gasping.

The Last Graduate has a great cast of characters, an interesting magic structure and an entertaining story.

My Rating for The Last Graduate is 4.8 out of 5.

I received a free copy of this book in return for an honest review. Many thanks to Random House UK and NetGalley for the opportunity.

The first thing you need to know is that The Last Graduate is book 2 in this series and you will need to read book 1, A Deadly Education, before you tackle it. A Deadly Education contains quite detailed explanation of the Scholomance universe. This is covered in book 2 but in less detail.

Basically the Scholomance is a lousy school; the food is terrible, there are no holidays and the pupils are regularly attacked with terminal consequences. Survival rates in the Scholomance are abysmal, but survival rates for magical kids in the outside world are much much worse.

El and her fellow pupils are now in their final year and gearing up for graduation day. Far from being a celebratory event, this involves being dumped en masse into the Graduation Hall and having to fight their way out of the school through hoards of mals (magic-eating monsters). Almost their entire school career has been building up to this moment. The mortality rate is so high that each person must eventually put their own survival first. Friendships have to be jettisoned in favour of strategic alliances. Mistakes can cost your life.

The Scholomance is an exceptionally introspective series. It is written entirely from El’s perspective, who after 3 years of guarding her own life, is paranoid and hyper-vigilant. Tie this in with her affinity for world domination and you have quite a dangerous character. El’s saving grace is her mother, who has raised her with love and selfness that gives her a good solid grounding in right and wrong. I’m rather fond of El despite her grouchy exterior. Like her namesake, Galadriel, she is offered power but turns it down because she knows it’s not right. I loved seeing her slowly develop from self-protecting survivor to saviour, without ever giving up the surly personality that makes her El.

While much of the focus is on El, we do get some insight into those around her this time around. Aadhya, Lui and even Chloe each get their moment with individual emotionally revealing scenes. It is hard to become attached to other characters, though, because El herself continues to hold them mostly at a distance. I felt that love interest, Orion, should have become a much more solid character by now. Both books begin and end with commentary on him and I so wanted more insight into his character, but as with El’s friends, we got a spotlight moment and everything else is viewed through the narrow scope of El’s own thoughts. The frisson between Orion and El felt criminally underplayed.

One character that developed unexpectedly in this book was the Scholomance itself, which is revealed to have sentience. Previously the school appeared to be quite mechanical in nature, with programmed responses but in this book the Scholomance is clearly shown to have self-awareness and a sense of purpose. By the end of this book, the idea of everyone leaving begins to feel like abandonment.

The mals or maleficaria are an interesting factor in these books. There really needs to be some kind of bestiary. A new mal is mentioned every few pages, often with no description or explanation. Some of the real monsters in the book, though, are the maleficers or evil wizards. There are two types of magical energy in the book, mana or good energy gained from hard work, and malia or bad energy sucked from other people or things around them. The quickest way to gain malia is to kill your fellow pupils. Those who use malia have outward signs such as black hair and nails, and they feel cursed. I like to see a magical universe with consequences and balance, which the Scholomance world very much has.

You would do well to have some comfort food handy as you progress through this book. This book will chew you into pieces and spit you out. The first thing I did on finishing it, was to reassure myself that there was, in fact, a third book in the series. Get out your chocolate and your comfort blankie because the new school year begins on 28th September 2021 with the publication of The Last Graduate.

I decided the best course of action for reading this sequel would be to first do a quick reread and refresher of A Deadly Education and then to leap straight into The Last Graduate. For me personally I think this was the best course of action mostly because I am notoriously bad at remembering the names of characters but also since book two begins seconds after the events of book one it definitely feels like you're reading one big narrative.
I was as pleasantly surprised as I was by book one, I found the story in this book incredibly compelling to the point where I was putting off more important things I needed to get done in the interest of finding out what was going to happen. That doesn't happen often so I always make a note of when a book has me utterly hooked.
El's voice continues to be the shining beacon of this series, her snark is truly delightful and I absolutely love her take on events in the book. As Orion continues to be...Orion her responses were just the perfect tone.
This book does address some of the concerns I had had with A Deadly Education - though I'm speaking only to a couple of those and I'll be very interested to hear the thoughts of reviewers of colour - in that there is in fact queer representation in this book.
SOUND THE ALARMS. (but happy alarms).
I am at the point where the barest mention of potential LGBTQIA+ identity in a book that I thought would *never* have any is just thrilling to me. But it is there, confirmed you can be gay in the scholomance.
I also appreciated getting to know even more about how the school functioned, since book one begins with El being established in the school you have to pick up a lot by inference whereas the presence of freshmen in this book means some more aspects of the worldbuilding are spelled out.
Will I be reading book three? I'm already tapping my foot waiting...

BOOK REVIEW: The Last Graduate by @naominovik

4 Stars

I was VERY excited for this book after loving A Deadly Education!
I won't go too much into this storyline as I don't want to spoil anything but we do get all the wonderful and interesting Scholomance magic, magical creatures and danger and excitement!

The characters were brilliant in the first book and continue to be an absolute joy!
El, our lead female is a sarcastic fierce female. Her bravery knows no bounds and I am forever in awe of her! I love her humour and personality but we also see a new more vulnerable side of El in this book as she finds herself with actual friends!
Orion, the love interest was sadly missing for a lot of this book but what there is made me love his brave self even more! He is so uncaring about what others think of him and is completely selfless.
There are some new characters in this sequel who were great but we also learned more about Liu, Aadhya and Chloe which was wonderful. I also loved El having a little mouse familiar called Precious - so adorable!
The storyline for me was overall very good. It had me hooked and I was desperate to know what would happen next. I thought the cliffhanger ending was really well done and I can't wait for the next book.

The writing was fantastic, although in this book Novik had the tendency to go off on a tangent in the middle of some scenes which was a little disruptive to the flow. I didn't mind the blocks of dense information as I love this series, but felt it could have been better placed. The pace was rather slow for the first 60% of the book but I quite like a slow burn and it was still very interesting.

Overall, a wonderful sequel packed full of information and action. I am going to struggle waiting so long for the next book! I highly recommend this series for any lovers of dark acadamia and fantasy.

Please note that I was #gifted this ebook in exchange for an honest review.