Reviews with content warning for Blood - The Last Graduate

Reviews tagging 'Blood'

The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik

60 reviews

erkietheturkey'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? Yes

4.5

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takarakei's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny 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

5.0

From the start this was so much better than the first book. Being already immersed in the world from the first book allows for a lot of character development and growth (which is a fav of mine to read). I really enjoy El as a reluctant hero. Personally I think Orion reads as neurodivergent. Their relationship is chefs kiss.

I screamed at the ending though and am so glad I read it now and the 3rd book is already out so I don’t have to wait on that cliff.
Spice 3/5 🌶

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berglindsh's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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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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aseel_reads's review against another edition

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adventurous dark 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

4.25

i love el so much, i think she is the most relatable fantasy heroine i have ever read!! loved the turn of events for their senior year, yelled at the ending ofc.

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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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