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rainbowrachel's review against another edition
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? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Death, and Violence
jkneebone's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
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
The Scholomance: a school for magic with no teachers, set outside of normal space. Students are inducted as freshmen, and - if they survive the next four years - they fight their way through a hall of monsters, or “mals,” on graduation day. Surviving, of course, is easier for some than others. Our narrator El is one for whom it’s more difficult. El has a natural talent for big, dark magic - the kind of magic you power by draining something or someone’s life force, which she refuses to do. She’s a loner at the Scholomance until a chance encounter with resident school hero Orion Lake sets her on the path of developing unlikely friendships and alliances.
I don’t have much to say about this book except: IT IS AMAZING. GO READ IT NOW. If I hadn’t come down with a bug the day after finishing it, I would have already gone out and gotten book 2. Naomi Novik’s world building is always killer, and she outdid herself creating the Scholomance. I was agog at all the new details that kept coming to light, even in the final chapters of the book. Everything made perfect sense, and made the Scholomance as a setting so real and so horrifying. But I’d be remise if I didn’t also mention how much I loved El. As a narrator, her dry wit is hilarious, but beyond that her character - by which I mean her personality and mettle - is unlike any I’ve read recently in fantasy. I don’t want to spoil for those who haven’t read the book, but: something about the fact that she is already propositioned to be dark, that everyone distrusts her based on that fact, that she wants to see herself as a badass dark witch when she can’t bring herself to use malia even when her life is at stake?? Something about that is 100x more compelling to me than the character who is supposed to be good having to choose not to do the easier and darker thing. I feel like that’s the usual fantasy hero plot - Good Guy has to fight the urge to give in to the bad guy because it’s easier/they have something the hero wants/the hero is doubting their cause, etc. But in El we have a hero who isn’t even being tempted by evil, who is so stalwart in her desire to do what is right and good that she chooses the harder path everyday, performs impossibilities and doesn’t even take credit for them, and thinks of everyone weaker than her before herself?? I’m obsessed.
I can’t recommend this book highly enough! If you are a fan of fantasy especially you have to pick it up. I can only hope the rest of the series is just as good! So excited that I still have two whole books set in this world to read!
I don’t have much to say about this book except: IT IS AMAZING. GO READ IT NOW. If I hadn’t come down with a bug the day after finishing it, I would have already gone out and gotten book 2. Naomi Novik’s world building is always killer, and she outdid herself creating the Scholomance. I was agog at all the new details that kept coming to light, even in the final chapters of the book. Everything made perfect sense, and made the Scholomance as a setting so real and so horrifying. But I’d be remise if I didn’t also mention how much I loved El. As a narrator, her dry wit is hilarious, but beyond that her character - by which I mean her personality and mettle - is unlike any I’ve read recently in fantasy. I don’t want to spoil for those who haven’t read the book, but:
I can’t recommend this book highly enough! If you are a fan of fantasy especially you have to pick it up. I can only hope the rest of the series is just as good! So excited that I still have two whole books set in this world to read!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Violence
emilymia's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Child death, Body horror, Murder, and Violence
brianneh's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Classism, and Violence
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail
icarusandthesun's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
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
3.75
i didn't expect a lot going into this book. i thought it was just gonna be another ordinary young adult fantasy that's a little silly and a little over the top.
now, that wasn't quite the case, but i wasn't a hundred percent wrong either.
the main character, el, struck me as a little bit of a deus ex machina with insane killing powers only she has that could get her out of every dangerous situation if only she wanted.
she's also the tiniest bit unlikable, but given her circumstances, i get it. plus, the character development made up for it.
i was fairly disappointed in orion's character though. we had some chunks of interesting back story thrown at us, but the actual reasons for his behavior, singling out el, were simply boring.
i just thought the author could've given orion some more depth and more profound motives because i thought he was quite a unique and relatable person. but perhaps we'll find out more about him in the next book, which the cliffhanger hints at anyway.
the writing was catchy, some descriptions a tad too long, but that's alright. the romance was very curious and i'm totally here for the dynamic.
now, that wasn't quite the case, but i wasn't a hundred percent wrong either.
the main character, el, struck me as a little bit of a deus ex machina with insane killing powers only she has that could get her out of every dangerous situation if only she wanted.
she's also the tiniest bit unlikable, but given her circumstances, i get it. plus, the character development made up for it.
i was fairly disappointed in orion's character though. we had some chunks of interesting back story thrown at us, but the actual reasons for his behavior, singling out el, were simply boring.
i just thought the author could've given orion some more depth and more profound motives because i thought he was quite a unique and relatable person. but perhaps we'll find out more about him in the next book, which the cliffhanger hints at anyway.
the writing was catchy, some descriptions a tad too long, but that's alright. the romance was very curious and i'm totally here for the dynamic.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent
Moderate: Death, Violence, and Cursing
Minor: Fire/Fire injury and Blood
abookwormspov's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder, Violence, and Child death
Minor: Cannibalism
ireadinbed's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
reflective
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
First 5 star of 2023!
Really enjoyed this book start to finish! Great characters and a world i still want to explore with plenty of mysteries left at the center.
I am so tempted to move on immediately even though i have a book i have been looking forward to waiting for me aleady lol.
Really enjoyed this book start to finish! Great characters and a world i still want to explore with plenty of mysteries left at the center.
I am so tempted to move on immediately even though i have a book i have been looking forward to waiting for me aleady lol.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Child death
Moderate: Xenophobia
Minor: Racism
leahfoko's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I enjoyed this book, I have only read Uprooted as the other Naomi Novik book and I think I liked this one more because it moved a bit faster in my opinion and I found the relationship to be a lot less problematic and I really enjoyed their dynamic of Orion just being an oblivious himbo and Galadriel starting to kind of like him but refusing to admit it. Also the end of chapter 12 had me absolutely cracking up. When you read it you’ll know. I really thoroughly enjoyed Orion and just the dynamic between him and Galadriel throughout the book was so gosh darn entertaining to me. Big fan. Wonderful variation to the enemies to lovers idea. That was my favorite part of the book by far was those two.
That said, one line about dreadlocks really is god awful and should not have been written. Yikes. Just completely unnecessary. But the rest of the book I personally didn’t find to be as racist and problematic as some people have said. I am white however and therefore don’t feel I can speak on the topic, it’s not my place to say whether this book is harmful when I am not the affected party. I had to take off at least 0.5 stars for that problematic section though for sure.
I really appreciated the world building once again. The whole world is super elaborate and interesting and I really felt like I was placed into the school. That said, a lot of the time this book felt kind of bogged down with descriptions of things that has happened in the world. I think it was necessary to make this world as rich and interesting as it was, but it sometimes slowed down the story. I think the future books might be better pace wise because hopefully there will be less of that world building slog. Another 0.5 stars off from me for the long explanations.
The reviews that I saw that described this book/world as Hogwarts but actively trying to kill you felt veryyy accurate to me. A great description so if you are intrigued by that I say read this book. I will definitely be reading the second one when it comes from the library. 4 stars.
That said, one line about dreadlocks really is god awful and should not have been written. Yikes. Just completely unnecessary. But the rest of the book I personally didn’t find to be as racist and problematic as some people have said. I am white however and therefore don’t feel I can speak on the topic, it’s not my place to say whether this book is harmful when I am not the affected party. I had to take off at least 0.5 stars for that problematic section though for sure.
I really appreciated the world building once again. The whole world is super elaborate and interesting and I really felt like I was placed into the school. That said, a lot of the time this book felt kind of bogged down with descriptions of things that has happened in the world. I think it was necessary to make this world as rich and interesting as it was, but it sometimes slowed down the story. I think the future books might be better pace wise because hopefully there will be less of that world building slog. Another 0.5 stars off from me for the long explanations.
The reviews that I saw that described this book/world as Hogwarts but actively trying to kill you felt veryyy accurate to me. A great description so if you are intrigued by that I say read this book. I will definitely be reading the second one when it comes from the library. 4 stars.
Content Warnings
Minor: Death, Death of parent, Violence, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder
pages_with_panda's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I want to start off by saying that I did read the diversity controversy regarding this book and I don’t think it was intentionally malicious. That being said, I’m not a part of either culture that was being affected.
There was criticism from some about having a Welsh/Desi character who didn’t shower often and how that may have played into negative stereotypes for that culture. There was also a section of world-building that included bug monsters that would love in dreadlocks, feeding into a negative stereotype about locs being unclean that was harmful.
The edition of the book that I read had the entire section of dreadlocks removed.
I think it’s important to note that the entire school had monsters filled in every nook and cranny, and that this section was talking about the lack of cleanliness for ALL students, because of the monsters that lived in shower-heads, shower drains, everywhere. Not to mention that El lived in a hippie commune with her Welsh mother before moving to the school. I’m not making excuses, but think the context is important for her lack of cleanliness. I don’t think it’s fair to say that this was a negative statement against Desi people when none of the students could shower for fear of their lives.
OKAY, now to the rest of the book: I think the slow pacing for this made me feel like I keep waiting for the book to start and it never did.
It was very different from her fairy-tale stories that I really liked. The action scenes seemed to be over too quickly, contrary to the rest of the book and there was a mix of monologuing and info dumping and getting side tracked before getting back to the point or plot. There was a lot of information that I had a hard time keeping straight especially with names of monsters.
I did like the premise, and did find it interesting. However, Orion was a bit bland and boring and even though we’re introduced to him from the first page of the book, I feel like we didn’t really get to see much of him. He was loyal and dumb to our heroine's smart and cunning which was fun. El’s personality was great, I loved seeing a heroine who was mean and bitter and just cunning.
The climax and end of the book was a bit boring and despite the slow pacing for the whole book, the ending felt rushed. Felt like an interesting start to a whole series.
There was criticism from some about having a Welsh/Desi character who didn’t shower often and how that may have played into negative stereotypes for that culture. There was also a section of world-building that included bug monsters that would love in dreadlocks, feeding into a negative stereotype about locs being unclean that was harmful.
The edition of the book that I read had the entire section of dreadlocks removed.
I think it’s important to note that the entire school had monsters filled in every nook and cranny, and that this section was talking about the lack of cleanliness for ALL students, because of the monsters that lived in shower-heads, shower drains, everywhere. Not to mention that El lived in a hippie commune with her Welsh mother before moving to the school. I’m not making excuses, but think the context is important for her lack of cleanliness. I don’t think it’s fair to say that this was a negative statement against Desi people when none of the students could shower for fear of their lives.
OKAY, now to the rest of the book: I think the slow pacing for this made me feel like I keep waiting for the book to start and it never did.
It was very different from her fairy-tale stories that I really liked. The action scenes seemed to be over too quickly, contrary to the rest of the book and there was a mix of monologuing and info dumping and getting side tracked before getting back to the point or plot. There was a lot of information that I had a hard time keeping straight especially with names of monsters.
I did like the premise, and did find it interesting. However, Orion was a bit bland and boring and even though we’re introduced to him from the first page of the book, I feel like we didn’t really get to see much of him. He was loyal and dumb to our heroine's smart and cunning which was fun. El’s personality was great, I loved seeing a heroine who was mean and bitter and just cunning.
The climax and end of the book was a bit boring and despite the slow pacing for the whole book, the ending felt rushed. Felt like an interesting start to a whole series.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Gore, and Death
Moderate: Body horror, Child death, and Death of parent
lanid's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gore, Violence, Classism, Murder, Body horror, Child death, and Death