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keen's review against another edition
adventurous
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? Yes
3.5
So I came into this story excited... then less excited after hearing a lot of warnings about poor handling of races. I try to avoid most information about a book before I read it, only focusing on the plot and overall like/dislike ratio of a book. Learning about the controversy, unfortunately, made me focus more on it as I read, unable to focus on the book for what I thought about it.
But first, let's focus on my general feelings of the book, I found it enjoyable. It was slow at first, and for a bit I went to read some other books before speeding through it. I enjoyed the main characters, Galadriel, for being this snarky "I'm not like other girls" teenager. Surprisingly. Usually I hate those types of characters. The real fun of it came from how it contrasted the world she's in: a school that wants to kill her and she's responding to it nonchalantly. Thankfully, that doesn't stick throughout the story. It is made clear that her snark isn't healthy. It's also made clear that her school life is giving her some serious trauma that she has gotten "comfortable" with.
I'm not a fan of teenage romances. I'm not a fan of misunderstandings either. Surprisingly, I didn't have an issue with either here. The romance isn't really a romance, just a misunderstanding everyone outside of it. It's not focused on more than it needs to be either. It has a purpose in the plot and character development, which I appreciate.
Now, to get to my comments on the controversies. Honestly, I didn't have any issues with the book. I can only speak as a black person, so take my opinion with a grain of salt, because there's A LOT of cultures mixing in this book. Children from all over the world are sent to this school, and the author makes sure you remember that.
My Kindle version was updated, so there's no mentions of the dreadlocks passage that many were unhappy about. I found a passage of the book on Google, which I can both see and can't see the issue with. The safety of how you style your hair is a cause for concern in the setting. If your hair is long, it's easier for the monsters to grab onto it as an advantage. As such, hair of all kinds is cut short, and materials to do so are valued. Hygiene problems are an issue every character in this book faces, because the school is not set up well for that. HOWEVER, if that wasn't expanded on, it is weird to focus on dreadlocks as being an issue instead of long hair in general.
I also heard of criticism over the main character not being in touch with her Indian heritage. Which is... weird? There's a whole backstory to why that's the case, but even so, plenty of people aren't in touch with their heritage for all sorts of reasons. It honestly offends me to hear a complaint that boils down to "She's not X enough," which is something I've struggled with in my life. I'm a black person, but I've been told I don't "act black," as if there's a defining way to act black. Additionally, I avoid my Jamaican heritage because that's from my dad's side and it has negative memories for me, similar to Galadriel's trouble with the Indian side of her family.
Aside from that, I can't actually comment on how well other races are described in the book. Truly, the worst part was a black girl with beaded braids. It reminded me of the kind I had when I was a kid, and how I got a concussion every time I moved my head even an inch. Shame on you, Naomi Novik, for resurfacing such a painful memory. (This is all a joke.)
For a better explanation on how I viewed the book, this post from Reddit was lovely: https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/j8o7om/so_naomi_noviks_a_deadly_education_is_accused_of/
But first, let's focus on my general feelings of the book, I found it enjoyable. It was slow at first, and for a bit I went to read some other books before speeding through it. I enjoyed the main characters, Galadriel, for being this snarky "I'm not like other girls" teenager. Surprisingly. Usually I hate those types of characters. The real fun of it came from how it contrasted the world she's in: a school that wants to kill her and she's responding to it nonchalantly. Thankfully, that doesn't stick throughout the story. It is made clear that her snark isn't healthy. It's also made clear that her school life is giving her some serious trauma that she has gotten "comfortable" with.
I'm not a fan of teenage romances. I'm not a fan of misunderstandings either. Surprisingly, I didn't have an issue with either here. The romance isn't really a romance, just a misunderstanding everyone outside of it. It's not focused on more than it needs to be either. It has a purpose in the plot and character development, which I appreciate.
Now, to get to my comments on the controversies. Honestly, I didn't have any issues with the book. I can only speak as a black person, so take my opinion with a grain of salt, because there's A LOT of cultures mixing in this book. Children from all over the world are sent to this school, and the author makes sure you remember that.
My Kindle version was updated, so there's no mentions of the dreadlocks passage that many were unhappy about. I found a passage of the book on Google, which I can both see and can't see the issue with. The safety of how you style your hair is a cause for concern in the setting. If your hair is long, it's easier for the monsters to grab onto it as an advantage. As such, hair of all kinds is cut short, and materials to do so are valued. Hygiene problems are an issue every character in this book faces, because the school is not set up well for that. HOWEVER, if that wasn't expanded on, it is weird to focus on dreadlocks as being an issue instead of long hair in general.
I also heard of criticism over the main character not being in touch with her Indian heritage. Which is... weird? There's a whole backstory to why that's the case, but even so, plenty of people aren't in touch with their heritage for all sorts of reasons. It honestly offends me to hear a complaint that boils down to "She's not X enough," which is something I've struggled with in my life. I'm a black person, but I've been told I don't "act black," as if there's a defining way to act black. Additionally, I avoid my Jamaican heritage because that's from my dad's side and it has negative memories for me, similar to Galadriel's trouble with the Indian side of her family.
Aside from that, I can't actually comment on how well other races are described in the book. Truly, the worst part was a black girl with beaded braids. It reminded me of the kind I had when I was a kid, and how I got a concussion every time I moved my head even an inch. Shame on you, Naomi Novik, for resurfacing such a painful memory. (This is all a joke.)
For a better explanation on how I viewed the book, this post from Reddit was lovely: https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/j8o7om/so_naomi_noviks_a_deadly_education_is_accused_of/
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death of parent, Violence, Death, Murder, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Bullying, and Body horror
Moderate: Vomit and Racism
Minor: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Xenophobia, Toxic relationship, and Cursing
dana_kuku's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
hopeful
mysterious
sad
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
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Child death, Death, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Grief, Murder, and Physical abuse
Minor: Death of parent, Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Grief, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Sexual violence, Slavery, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Violence
sarah_d's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Murder, and Violence
francestea's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Not like her standalone books at all so it really wasn't what I expected. I found the first few pages a little clunky but was so curious I kept going and then I couldn't put it down for wanting to know what happened next. I really enjoyed this interpretation of a magic school and was fully swept up in the adventure.
There's a diverse cast of characters (yay) but I've seen some readers point out the representation could be improved upon as it was problematic (for reasons specific to each character or culture). Perhaps the most glaring example of this is a paragraph singling out the disadvantages of having hair in locks in this world which was just plain unnecessary to the story regardless of intent. I hope the author and her editors will take these criticisms to heart for future publications.
There's a diverse cast of characters (yay) but I've seen some readers point out the representation could be improved upon as it was problematic (for reasons specific to each character or culture). Perhaps the most glaring example of this is a paragraph singling out the disadvantages of having hair in locks in this world which was just plain unnecessary to the story regardless of intent. I hope the author and her editors will take these criticisms to heart for future publications.
Content Warnings
Minor: Death and Forced institutionalization
lennie_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Thanks to NetGalley and Del Ray for my Arc in exchange for an honest review.
Ok so first off let me just say that this school is utterly horrible. I know that's the point but it cannot be said enough.
Monsters that want to eat teens, a school with no teachers or safety, no proper friends, potentially tainted food, no contact with the outside world, only being able to bring what's on your person to the school when you're 13 and then of you want more stuff you have to try and make or trade items.
Not being able to go to bathroom alone so just not washing often. Having one wall of your room be the Void.
In one instance, Galadriel (El) vomits into the void and from then on all I could think was - Do they poop in the void as well? Like, if you need to go to the bathroom in packs and a lot of people, El included, are often alone, when would you be able to go to the toilet?
Anyway...
We follow Galadriel (El) as she's in her penultimate year of The Scholomance; she has no friends, 2 t-shirts, world ending powers and a knack for languages. She's a sarcastic cow and I genuinely found her very funny; she's pragmatic, clever, stubborn, ruthless and only cares about survival.
One night, Orion, the resident 'hero' of the school, saves her from a Mal (monster) and she is furious as she believes it'll make her look weak. Everyone in the school has an affinity for different types of magic and his is killing mals, so he kind of can't help himself. They eventually form a prickly alliance after El is attacked by another student and because of her connection to the beloved Orion, things start to look up for her.
In their world, one of the main ways to survive is to become part of an enclave (a group of magicians who live together for protection) and lots of large cities around the world have them - this kind of reminded me of Shadow Hunters because two of the main ones are London and New York but there are a lot more, even in the UK so it's not your typical Western Centric fantasy academy. Orion comes from the New York enclave but as we learn more about him, it's clear that his only true friend is El.
I loved the relationship between El and Orion, that coupled with her humour were definitely some of my favourite parts of this book. I also really enjoyed El trying to make friends.
In this world there are two main way to create energy for magic (Malia and Mana) Malia is kind of evil as you take others life force for magic whereas Mana is more honest like doing things that create energy (and you can sometimes store) e.g. exercise, crocheting, welding etc.
I also really like the fact that at this school you have to be able to build things in the workshop and are assigned objects to make on a regular basis, based on your powers. This aspect especially really reminded me of The University in The Name of The Wind too.
Now, the first two chapters of this book are HUGE info dumps and this school is very complicatedly horrible so there are a lot of world building facts often dumped by the MC when something relevant happens but I think if you can get through the first few chapters you'll be fine!
However, I do have some critiques.
I know Naomi has already issued an apology and is planning on removing this passage about Loc Leeches but because I had an arc it was still there. Now, there's a Lot of horrible things on this school - it's truly awful. And there were a lot of random tidbits of information thrown in but this felt so off kilter, especially for a school that's meant to be international, if theses mals (monsters) were going to burrow into hair, why would it specifically be locs (dreadlocks) that they chose? It doesn't make any sense and was clearly not thought through at all.
I also feel that this book suffers a bit from the fact that the author is white and is trying to write a mixed indian MC. And because the MC only mentions it a couple of times, mainly in relation to her backstory I genuinely kept forgetting.
And I knowww in this horror show of a school you've got other things on your mind but I think that certain perspectives can come from being mixed race and these weren't highlighted nearly enough. There is one part where she mentions that she feels out of place in Wales but not in India and that's pretty much it. But also because she's magic and prophecised to lay waste and sorrow to the world and has an aura that makes people miserable, that could also be why she has no friends. However, I'm not mixed race and I know there is a lot of diaspora for mixed race people so it's not my place to say whether this is 'authentic' or not.
And lastly, I don't necessarily think it was intentional but this book suffers massively from ableism. As I've mentioned (REPEATEDLY) this school is awful, there are monsters everywhere and you're constantly trying to not be killed - because of this you cannot be ill or you'll die. In one instance El gets stabbed and still goes to classes because otherwise the mals will get her. And yes, obviously in a school where survival is low anyway, the strong are more likely to survive but it just annoyed me. I don't suffer from any chronic illnesses but I'm often poorly (migraines, stomach issues, low blood pressure etc etc) and it just felt like a bit of an 'eff you' - if you're going to be poorly, you're going to die.
Also the fact that there are no teachers and it's never really explained why so there's no one to help when things go wrong.
I genuinely did enjoy this book and the characters however I hate the Scholomance with a passion. And also the (kind of) cliffhanger ending!!
I'm going to choose to believe that there's been a miscommunication but we'll see!
Ok so first off let me just say that this school is utterly horrible. I know that's the point but it cannot be said enough.
Monsters that want to eat teens, a school with no teachers or safety, no proper friends, potentially tainted food, no contact with the outside world, only being able to bring what's on your person to the school when you're 13 and then of you want more stuff you have to try and make or trade items.
Not being able to go to bathroom alone so just not washing often. Having one wall of your room be the Void.
In one instance, Galadriel (El) vomits into the void and from then on all I could think was - Do they poop in the void as well? Like, if you need to go to the bathroom in packs and a lot of people, El included, are often alone, when would you be able to go to the toilet?
Anyway...
We follow Galadriel (El) as she's in her penultimate year of The Scholomance; she has no friends, 2 t-shirts, world ending powers and a knack for languages. She's a sarcastic cow and I genuinely found her very funny; she's pragmatic, clever, stubborn, ruthless and only cares about survival.
One night, Orion, the resident 'hero' of the school, saves her from a Mal (monster) and she is furious as she believes it'll make her look weak. Everyone in the school has an affinity for different types of magic and his is killing mals, so he kind of can't help himself. They eventually form a prickly alliance after El is attacked by another student and because of her connection to the beloved Orion, things start to look up for her.
In their world, one of the main ways to survive is to become part of an enclave (a group of magicians who live together for protection) and lots of large cities around the world have them - this kind of reminded me of Shadow Hunters because two of the main ones are London and New York but there are a lot more, even in the UK so it's not your typical Western Centric fantasy academy. Orion comes from the New York enclave but as we learn more about him, it's clear that his only true friend is El.
I loved the relationship between El and Orion, that coupled with her humour were definitely some of my favourite parts of this book. I also really enjoyed El trying to make friends.
In this world there are two main way to create energy for magic (Malia and Mana) Malia is kind of evil as you take others life force for magic whereas Mana is more honest like doing things that create energy (and you can sometimes store) e.g. exercise, crocheting, welding etc.
I also really like the fact that at this school you have to be able to build things in the workshop and are assigned objects to make on a regular basis, based on your powers. This aspect especially really reminded me of The University in The Name of The Wind too.
Now, the first two chapters of this book are HUGE info dumps and this school is very complicatedly horrible so there are a lot of world building facts often dumped by the MC when something relevant happens but I think if you can get through the first few chapters you'll be fine!
However, I do have some critiques.
I know Naomi has already issued an apology and is planning on removing this passage about Loc Leeches but because I had an arc it was still there. Now, there's a Lot of horrible things on this school - it's truly awful. And there were a lot of random tidbits of information thrown in but this felt so off kilter, especially for a school that's meant to be international, if theses mals (monsters) were going to burrow into hair, why would it specifically be locs (dreadlocks) that they chose? It doesn't make any sense and was clearly not thought through at all.
I also feel that this book suffers a bit from the fact that the author is white and is trying to write a mixed indian MC. And because the MC only mentions it a couple of times, mainly in relation to her backstory I genuinely kept forgetting.
And I knowww in this horror show of a school you've got other things on your mind but I think that certain perspectives can come from being mixed race and these weren't highlighted nearly enough. There is one part where she mentions that she feels out of place in Wales but not in India and that's pretty much it. But also because she's magic and prophecised to lay waste and sorrow to the world and has an aura that makes people miserable, that could also be why she has no friends. However, I'm not mixed race and I know there is a lot of diaspora for mixed race people so it's not my place to say whether this is 'authentic' or not.
And lastly, I don't necessarily think it was intentional but this book suffers massively from ableism. As I've mentioned (REPEATEDLY) this school is awful, there are monsters everywhere and you're constantly trying to not be killed - because of this you cannot be ill or you'll die. In one instance El gets stabbed and still goes to classes because otherwise the mals will get her. And yes, obviously in a school where survival is low anyway, the strong are more likely to survive but it just annoyed me. I don't suffer from any chronic illnesses but I'm often poorly (migraines, stomach issues, low blood pressure etc etc) and it just felt like a bit of an 'eff you' - if you're going to be poorly, you're going to die.
Also the fact that there are no teachers and it's never really explained why so there's no one to help when things go wrong.
I genuinely did enjoy this book and the characters however I hate the Scholomance with a passion. And also the (kind of) cliffhanger ending!!
I'm going to choose to believe that there's been a miscommunication but we'll see!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Ableism, Violence, Gore, Forced institutionalization, and Blood
Moderate: Addiction
Minor: Racism
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