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bookswithbethx's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Violence, Sexual content, Death of parent, Child abuse, Death, Grief, and Child death
raila_h's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death and Child abuse
bookshelfmystic's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
The third book in an original trilogy has a hard task: it has to take the world that’s been established in the first book, the stakes that have been raised in the second, and all of the characters we’ve come to care about and give it all a satisfying conclusion. The Golden Enclaves gives it a pretty good shot, and mostly succeeds.
The pacing is the main thing dragging the book down. El saves multiple enclaves from collapse, with similar tactics each time, which drags just a bit. We even go to a couple of the locations twice. It’s a way to see the broader world outside of the Scholomance, which is neat, but I would have appreciated more variety. It felt like Novik was starting to run out of plot ideas. That being said, each sequence sets up El learning new information, and each of the big reveals hit with appropriate horror. Especially that enclaves are built on crushing a child to eternal deathlessness as a maw-mouth - the adrenaline in this chapter was already racing, and the revelation feels like a punch in the gut.
It’s evident that Novik knew where this trilogy was going when she started it. Each of the plot threads was sufficiently wrapped up, even El’s relationship with her family. I didn’t even know I needed the scenes with El’s grandparents in India, but the depth of her grandfather’s love made me cry . We get to spend time with many of the characters we met in the Scholomance and a few fun new ones (though I definitely thought Yancy would be coming back later in the book – they spend a lot of time on her for a one-off character). I even started to like Liesel. My last minor complaint, though, is that I still just don’t really buy El’s feelings for Orion. Especially given what we come to find out, he doesn’t really have much of a personality. I fully buy the tragedy of his story, but the romantic part feels a little thin. But I guess the heart wants what it wants. And it did set up a great, emotional conclusion to the trilogy.
Miscellaneous thoughts:
- I started to suspect that El was behind the destruction of the enclaves towards the beginning, especially given the prophecy we’ve heard so much about, but I thought it was related to her using mana at all . I definitely didn’t call the maw-mouths .
- I continue to love El’s mom’s Wiccan-esque approach to magic and how different it is from what we see from every other wizard in the world.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Body horror, and Torture
Moderate: Child death, Violence, and Classism
sophia_t_m's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief and Torture
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Child death and Death of parent
bchallis's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Violence, Body horror, Child death, Death of parent, Physical abuse, and Sexual content
lanid's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror, Gore, Grief, Child death, and Death
gattolinos_nerdy_nook's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
I am surprised with where this book ended up going and how it concluded the series as a whole. It subverted all expectations I had, but not in bad way. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
I loved how different the world and rules were once we were outside the Scholomance. It was interesting to see how characters changed or did not change once they were in a different environment form the first two books.
There were some new characters introduced and the plot twists that happened in this book were so shocking that I had to put it down for a bit to digest what I had read and then had to go back to reading so I could get answers.
I think this book is a lot more character driven than the first two books. The book overall is still a mix of character and plot but I think how people are feeling and what they are doing because of that drives the book forward more. I feel like this book ended the series well and enjoyed reading each and everyone one of these books.
I loved how different the world and rules were once we were outside the Scholomance. It was interesting to see how characters changed or did not change once they were in a different environment form the first two books.
There were some new characters introduced and the plot twists that happened in this book were so shocking that I had to put it down for a bit to digest what I had read and then had to go back to reading so I could get answers.
I think this book is a lot more character driven than the first two books. The book overall is still a mix of character and plot but I think how people are feeling and what they are doing because of that drives the book forward more. I feel like this book ended the series well and enjoyed reading each and everyone one of these books.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Classism, Violence, Grief, Body horror, Death, Torture, and Murder
Moderate: Child death, War, Kidnapping, Blood, and Child abuse
Minor: Sexual content
crimsonreader's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
It's been a few hours since I finished the book and I am still almost speechless. It was SUCH a good ride and, as always, Novik literally makes me feel all the things; sadness, happiness; fear; annoyance; helplessness; hope; love etc etc. I couldn't stand having to put it down and I truly do not want to leave this world. I know this is the last book but if we ever get The Adventures of El - Maw Mouth Hunter in any form I will be first in line.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Death, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Grief, Confinement, and Child abuse
takarakei's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Minus 1/4 star for the very slow start, I honestly think they could have seriously condensed down the first ~150 pages to half of that. I literally read the first 25-30% and it was so slow that I put it down and didn't pick it back up for over another month.
But then I read the rest in like 2 days - and honestly as the rest of this story unfolds I was in awe at the intricacy of the storytelling. This third and final book is definitely the one where all the little pieces of the puzzle come together so masterfully to tie everything together. You know when you get to that point in a series where everything just starts clicking, and things are being revealed that are just blowing your mind? I was screaming and squealing and just having such a good time. I also just absolutely adore El - I think she is honestly one of my favorite main characters ever. I love this series so much!
I am kinda mad Ophelia is just like... still there??? but otherwise, I loved the ending.
3/5 🌶️
But then I read the rest in like 2 days - and honestly as the rest of this story unfolds I was in awe at the intricacy of the storytelling. This third and final book is definitely the one where all the little pieces of the puzzle come together so masterfully to tie everything together. You know when you get to that point in a series where everything just starts clicking, and things are being revealed that are just blowing your mind? I was screaming and squealing and just having such a good time. I also just absolutely adore El - I think she is honestly one of my favorite main characters ever. I love this series so much!
3/5 🌶️
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Torture, Death, and Gore
Moderate: Classism, Child abuse, War, and Violence
Minor: Death of parent, Sexual content, and Child death
Torture in the sense of how Maw Mouths *work* IYKYK Child abuse - Orion's parents are literally the worst!directorpurry's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Child death, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Infidelity and War