Reviews tagging 'Vomit'

A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik

63 reviews

the_quickening_tree's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Fantastic book, Naomi Novik truly is a master wordsmith. Fast paced and engaging- I've never read a book before that actually triggered and adrenaline response! Very witty, you will be drawn in from the first page.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

Moderate: Murder, Blood, Body horror, and Vomit

lily_marigold's review

adventurous dark 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: Violence, Death, and Child death

Moderate: Murder and Death of parent

Minor: Animal death and Vomit

amylynnknitsreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny 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

I read this entire book in one sitting and now have to see if the physical copies are available at any of the libraries because there's a months long list for the next on in Libby.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent and Classism

Minor: Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Murder

finesilkflower's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense 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

4.0

A gritty magic school story that is inevitably easiest to describe as "dark Harry Potter" (though it draws more from the Harry Potter fanfic tradition than from HP itself.) I found the first half hard to get through because it is so grim - the main character is a loner in a school that's so dangerous that student death is commonplace and you can't get too attached to anybody, which makes it relentlessly bleak - but the second half really drew me in as our protagonist El developed real friendships and caught a few breaks in amongst the trauma, and the adventure plotline kicked into gear. 

The world details felt novel, clever, and well thought-through. Novik gives enough detail to the worldbuilding and the magic system to make it seem grounded, complex, and rules-based, but handwaves enough to give plenty of room for future plot hooks (and/or leave plot hooks for fanfic). 

Tonally, I would say it is pretty similar to "Hunger Games," though where HG is dystopian commentary on inequality and exploitation in the real world, this book is more of a dystopian commentary on inequality and exploitation in Harry Potter. Deadly Education says the quiet part out loud, and fully commits to things that are true-but-disavowed in Harry Potter: that the school is actually super fucking dangerous; wealth and connections are crucial to survival; it's lovely that everyone has their own special talent but some of them are straight up evil; the status of hero-celebrity is lonely and unenviable; the monster-killing jock is somewhat boring and the smart friend who can see the writing on the wall is the real protagonist. 

Also thematic shades of vampire or werewolf fic, as the main character is one of those "dark magic creature too powerful for their own good who has to constantly be alert against being evil" types. Typically these characters show up a lot in fanfic because they are reformed versions of antagonists in canon, and it was fun to see such a character as the main POV protagonist here. El's dynamic with Orion reminds me a lot of Draco/Harry, Baz/Simon from Carry On (also derived from Draco/Harry), or other (typically m/m) ex-villain/hero fanfic pairs. It was a nice touch to have El call Orion by his last name.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, and Gore

Moderate: Child death, Murder, and Death of parent

Minor: Body horror, Vomit, and Animal death

phoebemurtagh's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Death of parent, Death, Bullying, Child death, Classism, Forced institutionalization, Violence, Vomit, Murder, Gore, and Body horror

Moderate: Abandonment and Racism

kadtide's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Gore, Blood, Body horror, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Murder and Classism

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, and Vomit

cdt96's review against another edition

adventurous funny 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: Gore

Moderate: Body horror

Minor: Animal cruelty, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Violence, Abandonment, Animal death, Bullying, Classism, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Child death, and Murder

kingcrookback's review

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

I went into this without knowing more than the back cover blurb. I'll admit, within the first few chapters, I was tempted to put it down. The heavy exposition threw me off, and I'm no longer in a place where I really care about stories about characters in high school--or, you know, Novik's fantasy equivalent of. Even now, I'm more of a mind to class this as YA. But I grew used to the exposition, and I grew to really like El as it became clear that her anger and her abrasiveness actually stems from a deep love of humanity--a love that El feels but never receives from anyone but her mother. I appreciated the theme of doing and being good being an active and ongoing choice, not a default. And I appreciated the fact that Novik constructed El as understanding the motivations behind the selfish choices that other characters make, even though they endanger her and despite the fact that she doesn't agree with them.

I did notice things that others have criticized, namely Novik's dodgy handling of race, which I felt was more ignorant than anything else. I have also heard that she's listened to that criticism and readjusted in the next book, so there's that. Interesting, given that the enclaves and the apportionment of enrollments in the Scholomance work as a very good metaphor for classism and neo-imperialism.

Anyway, yes, I will be checking out The Last Graduate once it's available at my library and once I've taken a long enough break to ensure that I don't burn myself out on the series.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, Body horror, Classism, and Gore

Moderate: Bullying, Death of parent, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

Minor: Racism

deezy's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny hopeful mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit

Moderate: Death of parent and Murder

Minor: Child death and Death

rinku's review against another edition

dark funny 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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Gore, and Murder

Moderate: Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Vomit

Minor: Animal death and Suicide