Reviews

The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik

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pandaamomma's review

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adventurous emotional 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

4.25

Why is the Scholomance in Portugal of all places! The Scholomance is supposed to be in Transylvania.

mllejoyeuxnoel's review against another edition

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4.0

I once started a different Novik series and quit about three chapters in because I just couldn’t take the incessant world-building a second longer. I enjoy a complex world, but the characters’ inner worlds are far more interesting to me. This series was recommended by my best friend, but I was still hesitant to jump into it because of my experience with the author’s other work.

This one was different. The first two books are also realllllllly heavy on world-building and exposition (seriously - the action is constantly interrupted for five or more paragraphs explaining the lore behind a single moment), but I liked El enough that I wanted to keep going. Of all the fantasy children-fighting-to-the-death kind of scenarios, this one stands out. I also loved the diverse cast and loads of LGBT rep. Overall, not my favorite, but definitely a good use of my time and something I’d recommend to fantasy fans.

shscochrane's review

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

gerdursif's review

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adventurous dark emotional 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? No

4.75

kstewart_ray's review

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful 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

4.0

morgob's review against another edition

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4.0

What a good end to the trilogy! That being said, this was not my favorite book in the series at all. I had some issues with this one. Of course, the first book will still be my favorite, and on the whole, I loved the trilogy. This book just had a few things I found irksome and a bit inconsistent.
First of all, and more importantly, was the information that was revealed towards the end about the way things really worked (I'm being vague on purpose to avoid spoilers). It seems like, in the second book and this one, Novik threw some things in the book that supposedly made sense but seemed like they came out of left field. Her world building at times seems a bit rushed, like some things don't quite belong to this world but they are there anyway. Maybe that's just me, but I had that issue in the last book too.
The other thing I didn't like was the added "romance" in this book. This is a minor spoiler, but I seriously do not see the purpose in having the El and Liesel relationship. Maybe if this were the first book, I could let it slide, since I really didn't know El that well, but now that it's added in the last book, I feel like it was just completely out of character for her. And for Liesel, honestly. I mean, I know she used sex as a tool in the previous book, but this just seems off for both. And I know Novik was trying to spin it as a "El was just so distraught over losing Orion that she doesn't know how to handle her grief and uses it as a way to get over it and get her mind off of losing him," but even that doesn't really make a whole lot of sense to me, especially with El's character. I know there's not a whole lot of feeling involved between them, so really it's just sex for the purpose of having sex. Maybe that's why it's unsavory to me, because that is not the type of person I am, but, again, normally it doesn't really bother me when characters act differently than how I would. The whole thing just rubbed me the wrong way. I hated Liesel already, but this book really solidified that.
Okay, now on to the actual things I liked about it. I loved how this book, since they are out of the Scholomance, shows us how magic actually works in the real world. It shows us actual adults using magic and how the politics of enclaves work, and people who don't live in enclaves. It does feel a lot more grown-up of a book. I absolutely loved seeing all the enclaves. And I love love love El's mom. She is seriously the best. The plot twists of information she gives us at the beginning are amazing and make so much sense. The whole big plot twist about why things are happening makes so much sense, too. Oh I loved the end bit. Not the actual ending, although that was sweet too, but the part when El kills that maw mouth outside her family's home and she meets her grandparents again and stuff. When she realizes her true power. I loved that. Chef's kiss, really.
Surprisingly, all my favorite parts of this book had nothing at all to do with El and Orion together. I guess I was just kind of done with that, maybe after the El and Liesel thing. But to me the best part of this book was El realizing her power, conversations with Orion's parents (because wow!! His mom!!), getting to see El's friends and sort of where they live/their families (although poor Liu), and El's mom because she is just the best. I was very satisfied with this ending, though it wasn't really expected. The bit with how Orion survived the ending in the first place, though, is confusing. I guess there's just true power in the mind and convincing. Wish I could reread the series again immediately!