Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - The Last Graduate

I liked this book so much more than the first in the series (A Deadly Education) because it felt like all of the info-dumped world-building finally paid off. The character development was fun to see, and I think with the smaller emphasis on explaining the magic system in this book, the characters were able to shine a lot more. I loved seeing the relationships between characters evolve and the El develop as the main character and the “hero” of the book. Overall, I think it was a solid book, although it got a little slow at times. I think the same issue of info-dumping was present in this book, but was significantly less evident, and felt worth it to get to the meat of the book, unlike in the first one.

Hated the cliffhanger, however; I don’t like the use of cliffhangers and it was SO frustrating right after things started going right for El and Orion (her last minute realization that she wasn’t the only thing he wanted OMG).

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phoebemurtagh's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful 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

4.75

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kingcrookback's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional 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

After reading the first book, I was prepared for the lengthy bits of exposition. However, I still found myself in a bit of a slog for the first handful of chapters and occasionally in the middle. Most of that is due to the way Novik portrays the passage of time. It's...weird. Weeks and months pass by without much mention, and suddenly, it's the day before graduation. I mean, it's understandable, to an extent. While reading the last book, I did wonder how an international, multi-cultural student body would mean for summer and holiday break and how semesters in the Scholomance were broken up. And I suppose it would be tedious to read about the minutiae of daily events when everyone's really only working on their big project of getting everyone out unscathed. Still, time passes so quickly that it's a bit bewildering and creates sort of a sense of dead space. And it's not like Novik has a problem with maintaining tension; the last chapter in particular had me on the edge of my seat.

I still really like El, though. She has so much heart, however begrudging and reluctant. All the love she has for her mom and all that love that leads her to doing everything in her power to get everyone out of the Scholomance alive. Chapter 8 especially is very good at illustrating this, with the way she logics through how saving yourself is a reasonable, understandable, safe choice, how she can't quite fault anyone for not wanting to sacrifice the entire rest of their life right at their fingertips to save people who wouldn't do the same for them. And then she takes that a step further and comes to the conclusion that just because you can't ask someone else to make that choice, doesn't mean you can't make that choice yourself.

If there isn't a scene of El hugging her mom in the next book, I will riot.

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ailsaod's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny hopeful 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

Certainly didn't disappoint but I liked the first book a bit more. I think the way the cliffhanger ending of book 1 came into play was good as it made Orion an unknown quantity once again and I liked how Novik uses the characters lack of knowledge about the situation outside the school. However the romance between El and Orion made me want to reach for the eye-bleach. It was just so awkward and they both had a terrible case of the stupids but I'm definitely not saying it was badly written - they are both weird teenagers locked in a building together, if anything it is too accurate. I did like the resulting disapproval from El's mouse familiar though!

While the romance was painful I really enjoyed the platonic relationships and rivalries. After seeing the isolation El experiences at the beginning of book one it is very satisfying to see her with such a great group of friends! El very much grows into herself not just socially but also with regards to her powers and what she wants her life after the Scholomance to look like and that is also really nice to watch. Which makes that ending a real kick in the gut!

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starstruk99's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-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

3.5

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colie923's review against another edition

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adventurous 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? It's complicated

4.0

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rinku's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional 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? No

4.0

The Scholomance series is such a weird series, but it has something about it that makes me come back to it. I liked The Last Graduate more than its predecessor because the characters have grown to me, and I was hence for invested in the plot.

El and our other characters are in their final year at Scholomance and must plan how they will make it out on graduation day. They realize that they have to work together to accomplish this and that El will play a special role in this process. The plot is so hard to put into words, but it’s so interesting and intriguing, like how the school as a living(?) entity is targeting and manipulating El. Furthermore, this series has just such a special atmosphere that can’t be compared to anything I’ve read before. There are other elements that make the story so good, like the realistic portrayal of how it’s like to be a teenage girl or the even geopolitical dimension around the different wizard enclaves.

Some things still make not much sense to me about the story and the world, but I’ve arranged myself with it. For example, I just don’t see any positive thing about being a wizard. I don’t understand as well why they don’t give the students at least real food or why there are no grown-ups protecting the kids.

I still love the characters, even though I partly forgot some of their names since of the side characters are rather flat. El’s character development was amazing in this novel and it’s so wholesome how she teaches the freshmen the best ways to survive Scholomance. In general, it’s great to the how the students started to protect each other. Next to El, Orion is also such a great and funny character. They have such a great energy and are so cute. Another thing I also like is the fact that most of the more important side characters are female.

Novik apparently loves cliff-hangers since The Last Graduate ends again on such a mean one that I can’t wait to see how the series will be wrapped up.

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