A Deadly Education: Lesson One of the Scholomance
Author: Naomi Novik
Published by: Del Rey Books
Pages: 320
Format: Hardback
My Rating ★★★★★
Published by: Del Rey Books
Pages: 320
Format: Hardback
My Rating ★★★★★
From the New York Times bestselling author of Uprooted and Spinning Silver comes the story of an unwilling dark sorceress who is destined to rewrite the rules of magic.
Enter a school of magic unlike any you have ever encountered. There are no teachers, no holidays, no teachers, friendships are purely strategic, and the odds of survival and never equal. Once you’re inside, there are only two ways out: you graduate or die.
El Higgins is uniquely prepared for the school’s many dangers. She may be without allies, but she possesses a dark power strong enough to level mountains and wipe out untold millions – never mind destroy the countless monsters that prowl the school.
Except, she might accidentally kill all the other students, too. So El is trying her hardest not to use it… that is, unless she has no other choice.
Enter a school of magic unlike any you have ever encountered. There are no teachers, no holidays, no teachers, friendships are purely strategic, and the odds of survival and never equal. Once you’re inside, there are only two ways out: you graduate or die.
El Higgins is uniquely prepared for the school’s many dangers. She may be without allies, but she possesses a dark power strong enough to level mountains and wipe out untold millions – never mind destroy the countless monsters that prowl the school.
Except, she might accidentally kill all the other students, too. So El is trying her hardest not to use it… that is, unless she has no other choice.
My thoughts:
“We’re not meant to all survive, anyway. The school has to be fed somehow.”
A Deadly Education is a nightmare from which I never wished to wake. Savage, inventive, and soulful, A Deadly Education is part one of the latest fantasy series from Naomi Novik.
First of all, the world building is so original and incredibly detailed. It’s clear Novik put an insane amount of thought into this series, and it really shows. The setting itself is fascinating. The school is a self-regulating living organism which provides the students with a strange experience of education. It is a cross between a prison and a deadly boarding school. If you attend, your life is literally on the line.
“Most of the time less than a quarter of the class makes it all the way through graduation.”
The Scholomance is an isolated magical boarding school in the Void that you enter at fourteen and - maybe, possibly, if you are one of the very lucky ones - get to leave four years later.
There are no teachers, but the students still study hard - it’s the only thing to do when your choices are learn enough useful skills and maybe live or fall prey to the multitude of monsters living there (and occasionally to your own classmates).
It’s undoubtedly a pretty dark concept: every person inside is basically just a child trying to survive. It’s excellent at showing very plausible struggles and anxieties of a young person in a strange fictional world full of gruesome situations. It’s a magic school story with sharp menacing teeth, and I loved that. I was so fascinated by this whole concept that I absorbed all of it greedily.
In this book, Novik has created a heroin for the ages – a character so sharply realised and so richly nuanced that reading her narration is glorious. As you follow her story and hear her points of view throughout the book, you see the various ways she has to defend herself in a (most-likely) un-survivable situation.
She’s ostracised for the weird vibes people get off her, and her abrasive personality, but she manages to keep a tight lid on her self-control to not use her powers. Her personality is her armour to help her survive. She’s prickly and snarky, because she’s been hurt so much, but she’s also loyal, smart, and incredibly relatable. Her development over the course of the book - from furious loner to someone who lets Orion in, and realises that maybe she’s garnering real friends too - is so wonderful. Oh, and also, she’s genuinely very funny.
It starts very much as a YA read but throughout the story moves into more adult territory so organically that you notice it more after thinking back on the whole story. I honestly think all ages can enjoy a dark fantasy like this. It’s a beautiful blend of dark academia, magic, action and monsters. What’s not to love? I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I did!
Overall reaction:
“We’re not meant to all survive, anyway. The school has to be fed somehow.”
A Deadly Education is a nightmare from which I never wished to wake. Savage, inventive, and soulful, A Deadly Education is part one of the latest fantasy series from Naomi Novik.
First of all, the world building is so original and incredibly detailed. It’s clear Novik put an insane amount of thought into this series, and it really shows. The setting itself is fascinating. The school is a self-regulating living organism which provides the students with a strange experience of education. It is a cross between a prison and a deadly boarding school. If you attend, your life is literally on the line.
“Most of the time less than a quarter of the class makes it all the way through graduation.”
The Scholomance is an isolated magical boarding school in the Void that you enter at fourteen and - maybe, possibly, if you are one of the very lucky ones - get to leave four years later.
There are no teachers, but the students still study hard - it’s the only thing to do when your choices are learn enough useful skills and maybe live or fall prey to the multitude of monsters living there (and occasionally to your own classmates).
It’s undoubtedly a pretty dark concept: every person inside is basically just a child trying to survive. It’s excellent at showing very plausible struggles and anxieties of a young person in a strange fictional world full of gruesome situations. It’s a magic school story with sharp menacing teeth, and I loved that. I was so fascinated by this whole concept that I absorbed all of it greedily.
In this book, Novik has created a heroin for the ages – a character so sharply realised and so richly nuanced that reading her narration is glorious. As you follow her story and hear her points of view throughout the book, you see the various ways she has to defend herself in a (most-likely) un-survivable situation.
She’s ostracised for the weird vibes people get off her, and her abrasive personality, but she manages to keep a tight lid on her self-control to not use her powers. Her personality is her armour to help her survive. She’s prickly and snarky, because she’s been hurt so much, but she’s also loyal, smart, and incredibly relatable. Her development over the course of the book - from furious loner to someone who lets Orion in, and realises that maybe she’s garnering real friends too - is so wonderful. Oh, and also, she’s genuinely very funny.
It starts very much as a YA read but throughout the story moves into more adult territory so organically that you notice it more after thinking back on the whole story. I honestly think all ages can enjoy a dark fantasy like this. It’s a beautiful blend of dark academia, magic, action and monsters. What’s not to love? I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I did!
Overall reaction:
