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3.94 AVERAGE
3.94 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-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
I don't even know what to write here: this was just really good and fun. Like, a bit dark and a bit cavalier, but in a really refreshing way.
adventurous
challenging
inspiring
fast-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
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange of a review. All opinions my own.
This is going to be a long review, mainly because I also want to address the racist complains about the book. First of all, English is my third language, so I am not as native and fluent on it as I would like to. Even though I try to be as educated as I can, I am a white person, so I will try my best researching the matter from various point of view and quoting all relevant information.
Novik’s magical system relies heavily on languages. While reading the book, it came to my attention how she referred to groups of students as “the Mandarin students”. Since everyone can pick up languages that are not their own to expand the number of spells they can read, and therefore perform, I understand that an easy way to refer to those students, but while you are doing that you are also de-personalizing the language itself. There are also languages who get written on the text while other are just described. Some characters are called upon action, when they have not appeared previously on the story, just because of their language was needed.
There is a paragraph, which I won’t quote because my book was an ARC and not the definitive version of it, about dreadlocks. Several people have criticised this paragraph as racist and Novik has issued the following apology:
Original link in Novik's website
I would also like to quote this review by a Chinese reviewer that I think can be much more insightful on this matter and comes from a culture heavily involved in the book.
And now, to the book!
The first thing that caught my attention was the Scholomance itself. A magic school where the students had very little contact whit the exterior, and only once a year, there were no teachers but monsters pretty much everywhere trying to get at you if you were not cautious or skilled enough. And as a form of graduation, you have to cross the hall of the school towards the exit in a path full of starved monsters due to the fact they get a meal once a year: on graduation day.
Galadriel “El” Higgins -she/her- is the main character and yes, I do have to confess that I cringed a bit with the name at the beginning, but it kinda makes sense in the story and they mostly refer to her as El. She is not the best student, nor the worst but she is terrible at socialising which means she has no friends and this is something that plays against her odds of actually making it out alive. I did like El’s character, mostly due her sense of humour and personality, and her growth in the book. It is one of those few times where it doesn’t look like we are going to follow the path of the hero of the story because that is Orion’s path. There is more to this but I want to stay away of spoilery paths. Due to Orion personal crusade to save everybody and try to prevent as much deaths as possible, this makes the monsters of the school specially vicious and hungry as they don’t get as many food as before.
For me it was a bit difficult to get into the story at the very beginning due to the huge amount of information of world building. It felt like they wanted to get it out of the way as quickly as possible to then get to the action. And in a way, it kinda did, because from my point of view, the pace picked up and I found myself immersed in the story, the task of surviving and gaining alliances. Firsts books in series are usually very heavy in world building and that isn’t something that bothers me or made it boring to read as I enjoyed the idea of the school. However, I do understand it may put some people off.
Novik’s writing is gorgeous. I have read some of her other books and she always impresses me with her style. She tends to be very descriptive and detailed on her prose but, in this book with the teen characters, she has added some suitable witty dialogues and a very personal way of thinking. This is more noticeable in the main characters, giving us a very unreliable version of the events at times, but also very enjoyable due to their prespective.
I can also feel Novik’s effort in order to make a diverse book, which again, leaves room for improvement but it is undeniably there. I would like to take it in a positive way thinking that she has made the effort, seen a diverse feedback and set her path to improve in the future. Just because something is not as perfect as we would wish for it doesn’t mean that is bad. The book tackles on how the most socially privileged students have higher odds of surviving due to the fact that they belong to enclaves, big groups of magicians, and those less wealthy and underprivileged have to try their hardest to find a way to survive. It also applies to magic users who are born in families of wizards and those who haven’t as they will be summoned at the school with no preparation or knowledge. This is something that really has a main focus on the book and you can see their very deadly consequences.
Nonetheless, I do have to say for me this book has a very big YA vibe. More similar to the latest HP books or The Maze Runner due to the fact that takes place in a version of a high school where a lot of people die in a very horrible way. It isn’t something that bothers me, as I have enjoyed the story, but if you go into it thinking is going to be a grimdark or high fantasy setting, it is not.
So I’m actually excited to see where the story is going and what are we going to find in the next books. I think there are a lot of engaging seeds planted for further development that would be very interesting to read about. And if the publisher maintains the work and details of the editions, with illustrations and designs of the Scholomance, well, it only adds on to it.
This is going to be a long review, mainly because I also want to address the racist complains about the book. First of all, English is my third language, so I am not as native and fluent on it as I would like to. Even though I try to be as educated as I can, I am a white person, so I will try my best researching the matter from various point of view and quoting all relevant information.
Novik’s magical system relies heavily on languages. While reading the book, it came to my attention how she referred to groups of students as “the Mandarin students”. Since everyone can pick up languages that are not their own to expand the number of spells they can read, and therefore perform, I understand that an easy way to refer to those students, but while you are doing that you are also de-personalizing the language itself. There are also languages who get written on the text while other are just described. Some characters are called upon action, when they have not appeared previously on the story, just because of their language was needed.
There is a paragraph, which I won’t quote because my book was an ARC and not the definitive version of it, about dreadlocks. Several people have criticised this paragraph as racist and Novik has issued the following apology:
Original link in Novik's website
I would also like to quote this review by a Chinese reviewer that I think can be much more insightful on this matter and comes from a culture heavily involved in the book.
And now, to the book!
The first thing that caught my attention was the Scholomance itself. A magic school where the students had very little contact whit the exterior, and only once a year, there were no teachers but monsters pretty much everywhere trying to get at you if you were not cautious or skilled enough. And as a form of graduation, you have to cross the hall of the school towards the exit in a path full of starved monsters due to the fact they get a meal once a year: on graduation day.
Galadriel “El” Higgins -she/her- is the main character and yes, I do have to confess that I cringed a bit with the name at the beginning, but it kinda makes sense in the story and they mostly refer to her as El. She is not the best student, nor the worst but she is terrible at socialising which means she has no friends and this is something that plays against her odds of actually making it out alive. I did like El’s character, mostly due her sense of humour and personality, and her growth in the book. It is one of those few times where it doesn’t look like we are going to follow the path of the hero of the story because that is Orion’s path. There is more to this but I want to stay away of spoilery paths. Due to Orion personal crusade to save everybody and try to prevent as much deaths as possible, this makes the monsters of the school specially vicious and hungry as they don’t get as many food as before.
For me it was a bit difficult to get into the story at the very beginning due to the huge amount of information of world building. It felt like they wanted to get it out of the way as quickly as possible to then get to the action. And in a way, it kinda did, because from my point of view, the pace picked up and I found myself immersed in the story, the task of surviving and gaining alliances. Firsts books in series are usually very heavy in world building and that isn’t something that bothers me or made it boring to read as I enjoyed the idea of the school. However, I do understand it may put some people off.
Novik’s writing is gorgeous. I have read some of her other books and she always impresses me with her style. She tends to be very descriptive and detailed on her prose but, in this book with the teen characters, she has added some suitable witty dialogues and a very personal way of thinking. This is more noticeable in the main characters, giving us a very unreliable version of the events at times, but also very enjoyable due to their prespective.
I can also feel Novik’s effort in order to make a diverse book, which again, leaves room for improvement but it is undeniably there. I would like to take it in a positive way thinking that she has made the effort, seen a diverse feedback and set her path to improve in the future. Just because something is not as perfect as we would wish for it doesn’t mean that is bad. The book tackles on how the most socially privileged students have higher odds of surviving due to the fact that they belong to enclaves, big groups of magicians, and those less wealthy and underprivileged have to try their hardest to find a way to survive. It also applies to magic users who are born in families of wizards and those who haven’t as they will be summoned at the school with no preparation or knowledge. This is something that really has a main focus on the book and you can see their very deadly consequences.
Nonetheless, I do have to say for me this book has a very big YA vibe. More similar to the latest HP books or The Maze Runner due to the fact that takes place in a version of a high school where a lot of people die in a very horrible way. It isn’t something that bothers me, as I have enjoyed the story, but if you go into it thinking is going to be a grimdark or high fantasy setting, it is not.
So I’m actually excited to see where the story is going and what are we going to find in the next books. I think there are a lot of engaging seeds planted for further development that would be very interesting to read about. And if the publisher maintains the work and details of the editions, with illustrations and designs of the Scholomance, well, it only adds on to it.
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book was a surprisingly enjoyable, funny and emotional read. El is a bit of an unreliable narrator but only in the way where she doesn’t allow herself to hope that others might care for her.
I liked how the archetypes for the hero and villain are skin deep and as I read more, the real characters were shown.
I liked how the archetypes for the hero and villain are skin deep and as I read more, the real characters were shown.
I LOVED IT.
First of all, I love the tone of the book. It written from the perspective of a spiteful, bitchy, unapologetic girl, and I love it. The sarcasm was beautiful. The active emotional distancing was tooooo real. I really enjoyed El's personal struggle of fighting her inclination to be evil. I liked how her mother was a relevant foil. (also El and Orions mirroring characterization was also really cool)
The setting is amazing. On the surface, it's your typical sentient witch school. All magic and mystery. But its so much darker. The Scholomance makes you pay for any good it offers you. Also just the idea of a pit of monster waiting for you on graduation day is terrifying.
There are some parts of this book that are going the be permentally engraved in my mind. The suspense of El trying to get across the library while library is fighting? beautiful. El crying and sobbing while defeating an undefeatable monster? amazing. I loved it.
OH and Orion is a COMPLETE HIMBO. I LOVE IT
but I think he's going to get more smart energy in the next book :(
I also loved how the different enclaves and students interacted like a magical UN conference. Making alliances, making deals, trading, selling. I think the world building to show the power dynamic was done really well.
The writing style is a bit odd. There are a lot of interrupting clause, but I think it was done that way to give us a sense of El's thought. I also think there are a LOT of information dumps and thought monologues. If you don't like that kind of thing, don't read this.
I want to address that some people have said this book is racist. I didn't see any racism or racist ideas in the book. I think some people were concerned about how different ethnicities grouped together, but I thought that made sense. If you go to an international school, wouldn't you be more likely to stick with the people who share the same culture as you? I also thought that El was righteously against the New York enclave, knowing that they were exploiting their privileges. In the end, El worked with people of multiple ethnicities and it wasn't like the characters were token minorities. I also like how El is half Indian (It did not feel like Naomi Novik was only making her diverse for clout.)
___________
10/17
I read it all the way through for the second time and i still love it. The first read was not a fluke. This is a great book.
I think the friendships in this book were done well. Galadriel is a tough person to be friends with so the way the relationships were built was so much more interesting.
I REALLY WANT EL AND CHLOE TO BE A THING. I DONT KNOW WHY,BUT I JUST WANT IT.
-----
2/3/21
Did I really just reread this for the third time?? Yes, yes i did. I still love it and I may have annotated the book :D.
Also I don't know why I said 4.5 stars when I first read this, it deserves all the stars.
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
What is this: A magical school story that examines why a group of spoiled rich kids from old magical families may act the way they do.
Why I picked it up: Funnily enough, I was looking for another book with a similar title. I realized my mistake after I got home, but figured this book looked like it was worth the read.
Why I kept reading: The worldbuilding was really interesting, and I wanted to learn more about how the main characters would resolve the problems they encountered.
Will I continue the series: Yes, some interesting items were set up and I want to see how they unfold.
Why I picked it up: Funnily enough, I was looking for another book with a similar title. I realized my mistake after I got home, but figured this book looked like it was worth the read.
Why I kept reading: The worldbuilding was really interesting, and I wanted to learn more about how the main characters would resolve the problems they encountered.
Will I continue the series: Yes, some interesting items were set up and I want to see how they unfold.
Like:
- The protagonist was a really refreshing twist on the typical YA chosen one troupe. I enjoyed her whole thing and found that she was a fun point of view character.
- I'm a sucker for magical school stories, and the setting of this book was unique and well thought through. The school itself was very dangerous, but it felt like the danger was justified by the worldbuilding. It made sense why adult wizards would send their children to such a dangeous place.
- The book was an interesting conversation with other books about wizarding schools. I really liked the fact that it explored why the rich spoiled legacy kids might be allowed to be horrible.
- I also thought that it was interesting that the book explored the racial impacts about bringing together a bunch of kids from different backgrounds from the POV of a mixed race heroine. The race of the characters felt like it had more weight.
- The action scenes were tense and well written. I found the description easy to follow.
- The hook at the end made me interested in reading the other books in the series.
Disliked:
- While I enjoyed Galadriel as a heroine and the close point of view, some of the chapters felt a bit floaty heady -- she'd be doing something, but would ramble on in her head for several pages. The ramblings were interesting, but felt a bit disconnected from what was going on.
- I felt like the pace slowed down a little bit around the middle once the initial hook wore off.
- The chapters were on the longer side, which didn't help with the feeling of rambling from some of the sections.
Your Milage May Vary:
- The story uses modern, YAish language and tropes. I find that when I read YA, I often crave a slightly more mature viewpoint.
- I think that this book is really interesting to compare to Lev Grossman's "The Magicians" -- as they both have a similar premise (commentary about other magical school books from the point of view of a "gray" protagonist) with very different themes and styles. For what it's worth, Galadriel is leagues better than Q.