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4.14 AVERAGE
4.14 AVERAGE
A deeply disturbing and yet somehow hopeful conclusion to a wonderful trilogy.
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Again, this book picks up where the last one left off with El landing back in the commune in front of her and her mom's yurt, only much more devastated than the beginning of the last book. An aspect I loved about this final installment of The Scholomance series is that we got to see outside of the school and inside the enclaves from all around the world, from Beijing, to Dubai, to Mumbai, to New York, to London. And most importantly, we got to see how very grey this world of wizards is with no real good/bad division.
Sure, there are maleficers (bad wizards), but we don't come with a big speech or a neat solution leading to their erasure and that's what I loved about this world. I feel that especially in many young adult fantasies we are faced with that division that someone is all good or all bad and this book really avoids that narrative and offers a more realistic version where people do bad or wrong things for the right reasons or because they don't have other options. It's one of the reasons, along with the writing style, that I feel this book is for adults, just with younger characters.
One thing I'd like to acknowledge about this series is that it is not a romance, and thank goodness for that. While Orion and El care for each other and we see small moments of them giving into it and developing a relationship, they have more serious issues facing them and there isn't any time for longing glances or stolen moments.
The idea of maw-mouths are crazy and the revelations we received about them and the enclaves in this book were fully surprising but not unbelievable. Upon reflection, it made total sense and the previous books have totally been setting up for this eventual ending.
This book was far more fast paced than the other two, but that doesn't mean it was better than them. I do think the second one was my favorite, but the writing and story in this conclusion are worthy of all the stars for me.
Sure, there are maleficers (bad wizards), but we don't come with a big speech or a neat solution leading to their erasure and that's what I loved about this world. I feel that especially in many young adult fantasies we are faced with that division that someone is all good or all bad and this book really avoids that narrative and offers a more realistic version where people do bad or wrong things for the right reasons or because they don't have other options. It's one of the reasons, along with the writing style, that I feel this book is for adults, just with younger characters.
One thing I'd like to acknowledge about this series is that it is not a romance, and thank goodness for that. While Orion and El care for each other and we see small moments of them giving into it and developing a relationship, they have more serious issues facing them and there isn't any time for longing glances or stolen moments.
The idea of maw-mouths are crazy and the revelations we received about them and the enclaves in this book were fully surprising but not unbelievable. Upon reflection, it made total sense and the previous books have totally been setting up for this eventual ending.
This book was far more fast paced than the other two, but that doesn't mean it was better than them. I do think the second one was my favorite, but the writing and story in this conclusion are worthy of all the stars for me.
adventurous
dark
hopeful
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Absolutely incredible. So so clever. I did not see it coming and I totally loved the way we had the only other person to kill a maw mouth appear at the end. Absolutely wonderful book
adventurous
emotional
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
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
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:
Complicated
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
A perfect conclusion to the trilogy. In fact, if Novik decided she wanted to write more( a 4th book, a spin-off series, etc) I would consume it within seconds of release. Kovik is one of the most talented fantasy writers of modern times.