Reviews - A Deadly Education

20.9k reviews for:

A Deadly Education

Naomi Novik

3.94 AVERAGE

authorshelleycass's review against another edition

5.0

dark 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: N/A

shincql_'s review against another edition

2.0

I honestly had such high hopes for this book cuz I really enjoyed her prev book (Uprooted) and the whole premise for this book IS SO INTERESTING and right up my alley. But my gawd was it so hard to read. I blame the chunks and chunks and CHUNKS AND HUGE CHUNKS of info dump THROUGHOUT the entire book omfg. While I'm always all for detailed world-building and lore, man was this tough to waddle through. It's like not only were there paragraphs after paragraphs of SO MUCH INFO dumped on the reader, but its done so consistently throughout the book. Its like while I expected this at the beginning cuz that's normal and necessary, IT NEVER STOP omfg. Not to mention how jarring it is, when I'm immersed in the plot, following Galadriel's journey right, then out of nowhere, here's two pages worth of history into the New York enclave, or how about this random wannabe valedictorian's (who was never mentioned before) entire struggle and life journey, HERE YOU GO! Like fk me I SERIOUSLY DO NOT CARE! By the time I got to the 80% mark, I was so done with this book and skimmed through the rest of the way. (Although I think I was pretty damn persistent already ok, I made it thru 80%, but I did skip most of the boring stuff)

It felt like 50% info dump, 50% plot (what plot?). The only saving grace for 2 stars is the characters lol. Really enjoyed reading the growing friendship between Orion and Galadriel, it was cute and wholesome as heck. I also like how secretly overpowered Galadriel is LOL, she easily wipes out enemies without anyone else knowing. But ya everything else kinda sucked, even the whole shenanigans with the school being in a void and shit shifting all the time according to the students' beliefs? Maleficiers and malia and mals and idek what the fk is going. Way too many names, too much shit going on. Like to build mana, she can use her clothes?? But then it also requires doing something with effort?? Huuuuh??? Just nope. Not going to bother with the sequel either

side note: HURRAY its my 80th book of the year!! What a way to end off...

charliethebookworm's review against another edition

5.0

5 Deadly Stars!

This is one of my favourite books of the year, it's just incredible!

The premise for this was absolutely excellent, a magic school where everything is constantly trying to eat you. It's like a malevolent Hogwarts and I love it.

The world building was top notch, I really felt like I was there and a part of the school, it was so vivid.

I loved El so much, she's just a fantastic character.

This was such a wild ride and I can't wait for book 2!