Reviews

Der letzte Absolvent by Naomi Novik

saffronolivia's review against another edition

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2.0

not good until the very end, El is insufferable, there’s too much exposition, I just wanted to know what was going to happen next. So for the next book I just read a spoiler summary online because I don’t want to waste my life with the rubbish bits of these books any longer

jennkei's review against another edition

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4.0

It was not bad, but the shine has worn off a bit and it became a bit samey. The danger level is also lower. I liked the cute interactions with Orion but we need to discuss that cliffhanger.

Some people say the first one had one. I didn't think it was that bad. But this one! I screamed when I finished the book. Now the wait for the next one begins...

nemegarcia's review against another edition

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Okay cuteee, literally read in 2 days ishh. Did skim some of the more logistical planning things. Already got the third book so should be done with the series soon! 

quentins_consequences's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

elisa22eve's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

4.25

loubeez's review against another edition

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5.0

8hours40 reading

alexmg_'s review against another edition

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dark funny 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? It's complicated

4.25

eamcmahon3's review against another edition

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4.0

Not quite as good as the first one but still great! It's the perfect book to zone out for awhile and enjoy a world of fantasy

whitmc33's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful tense 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

5.0

A couple warnings for this book - it ends on a cliffhanger and there is one spicy scene, though it isn't explicit.
That being said, book 2 managed to suck me in more than book 1 did, and now I'm off to start book 3. Make sure you have book 3 before you finish this one, or you'll be very frustrated. 

kistireads's review against another edition

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4.0

Thank you Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group for a gifted copy to read and review, all thoughts and opinions are my own and given voluntarily.

This is the second book in the Scholomance series, the sequel to A Deadly Education, where we follow El, Orion and their friends through their senior year of the Scholomance. This is expected to be their most deadly year.

An overall 3.75 stars from me!

We start off basically right where we left off in the first book, with El and Orion and friends. Since we got most of the Scholomance world building (with pictures and graphs!) in the first book, we don’t need much more here. We do get a bit of scheduling explanations (which do become important) and we do learn more about the enclave regions outside of the school along with the politics that go with those. Those politics are often reflected in school behavior and so do become important throughout the story. Overall, for me, this was woven in really nicely.

Since we do start off where we left off, the atmosphere is similar to the first book, a very dangerous survivalist type school. Things are high stakes and life threatening for the students but with a touch of humor at times. Since El has made friends in the first book, there are some found family and wholesome elements to the sequel more than I found there to be in the first book. I was pretty surprised at this, and didn’t expect it to take that route! I enjoyed where it went even though I was not expecting it, and look forward to more of that in the third book.

The main premise of the plot is not so different from the first book: survive in school both literally and metaphorically. Do you schoolwork, find useful spells and create useful objects etc to take out with you into the world. However, since the atmosphere and plot blend in this bool, I found that the atmosphere took on some of the found family trope, the plot did the same. As the atmosphere became more wholesome, so did elements of the plot. There were points towards the 60-70% mark that were anticlimactic for me. There was a lot of build up, and no culmination to that build up felt disappointing though it is part of the story. There are times where I find the writing to be too detailed from the MC’s perspective. Those paragraphs of details are interesting and make the MC more unique and thoughtful, however they can feel like a lot to slog through when reading the book.

Overall, I had fun reading this book. It’s a different type that I typically read and it’s a quick read. I found certain parts of the plot to be anticlimactic, so I don't know that this would ever be a re-read for me, but I do plan to find out what happens and how the story ends.