Reviews with content warning for Animal death - A Deadly Education

This is the third book I've read by Novik and I still can't tell if I really enjoy her writing. Clearly, I do enough to keep trying her books! I have definitely seen her improve especially with character relationships and development that I'm happy to see after Uprooted. I do intend to read the rest of this series but I still struggle with her writing style as it just doesn't feel polished.

I enjoyed this book, but it lacks exposition or a coherent explanation of the world-building. What you learn is fascinating, I find the school's structure interesting. I found myself stumbling around trying to remember all of the names thrown at me, not just the characters but also of the various monsters because there are so many different types thrown in. Usually, an introduction includes a description of it but it's rushed in while the main character is fighting it. Maybe it's intended for the audience to think on their feet as much as the characters have to, but instead, I found myself just flailing and making all the monsters just blobs because I couldn't distinguish them from one another. I wish there had been an index in the back of the book with descriptions of the "mals" (the monsters) so I could keep track, let alone an index with the names of the characters thrown around with their rushed description.

It seemed like Novik was trying to create a diverse cast of characters except she threw them all to the side most of the time because most of the book was about El, the MC, and sometimes Orion Lake. A lot of the cast of characters could have been trimmed to give other important ones more time but Novik really tried to sell how diverse the school was and ended up just creating a massive hole in character development. Maybe that happens in the sequel!

Overall, I did enjoy the book though. I wouldn't compare it to Harry Potter at all but I realize people will always compare a magical school to HP despite the fact that magical schools in fantasy existed before HP and continue to after but I digress. It has a darker sense where Novik tries to pick apart the class differences between students but ignores the racial differences that could've been a major influence but the attempts she did make at critical thinking about race were not well received so maybe it's good she didn't try.

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beccaand's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious 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

4.0

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jaedia's review

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-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

4.75

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sapphicsoilscientist's review against another edition

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dark slow-paced

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

2.5

This book is Harry Potter meets Hunger Games meets My Immortal (probably).
The main character is terribly annoying for the first half of the book and not at all lovable, but the side characters are decent. The magic system could use a few more details, and the book overall could have used another round of editing. (Seriously, are YA authors not given editors or enough time to edit? But at the same time, this was published by Temeraire Ltd, which is Novak's own company so there shouldn't have been a rush.) If you can get through the first 60% of the book it picks up significantly. ~~The sequel audiobook doesn't have any wait time, so I'm going to listen to it, but I probably wouldn't bother if there was, if that helps at all.~~ EDIT: Lol absolutely not. She's annoying annoying me again and all that hard earned character development just went down the drain.

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readingelli's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

5.0

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ryyyaaan's review against another edition

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adventurous dark fast-paced

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

4.5

Overall this was a fantastic read. I really had fun with it and it was a great choice for getting back into the habit of reading.

Positives:

El is a well rounded character who is easy for the reader to like despite her being disliked by other characters.
The premise and plot is enjoyable and easy to get hooked into.
The worldbuilding is fantastic. It’s woven into the text so well it never feels like slogging through pages and pages of lore.
It’s funny at times without taking away from the atmosphere.
A great stepping point between YA and adult fantasy

Negatives (nit-picking here, the book was great)

I dislike El’s relationship with Orion towards the end.
It feels forced to me that she’s starting to have feelings for him already. Or, at all for that matter. They just don’t seem compatible to me. Also, small point, but El mentions wanting kids badly at one point, which feels so out of character for her. Maybe later depending on how she’s developed, but it just didn’t seem right to me.<\spoiler>
I desperately wish there was any queer rep at all

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malley's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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