Reviews

The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik

maralaene's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot

4.0

I still think that the first book in this series was my favorite, but this one surprisingly might be my second? I like how the different elements from the first two books were woven in and things were actually explained, to a certain extent. Even though it probably wasn’t my favorite fantasy series, I would definitely recommend it to folks who love magic schools and a bit of mystery in their story. 

thepuncess's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious tense slow-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

3.5

charisking's review against another edition

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adventurous tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

dana_pair's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

haleybrown's review against another edition

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4.25

Overall great. This is the only one of the three that I read instead of audiobook, which I think brought it down a little. A lot of the characters I just could not keep straight, especially since I’m used to hearing them instead of reading them. And was a bit confusing all the bopping around  for the first half enclave wise. Often times there’d be pages and pages of explanation and thoughts, and then something bigger would happen and the chapter would abruptly end. Then I’d be scrambling hoping for an actual explanation. I think if there were more actual conversations and fewer giant paragraphs of thoughts, it would be a little more understandable right away. 

The Liesel hooking up thing seemed a bit random? I don’t know if it actually added to it or the real purpose. I guess a heavy nod to El having someone besides Orion when he’s stuck in the school? 
But overall wrapped up nicely and I didn’t see the twist/explanation coming. Maybe because I was trying to keep everything straight and didn’t have time to think about who was wrecking the enclaves, but still.
Cute, original, everyone is flushed out and makes cohesive sense, with overall great plot AND character development.  

moietmoi's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

cheriejanette's review against another edition

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adventurous dark medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

catcat15's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad 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

5.0

laurolly's review against another edition

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5.0

4.5 Stars. I thought that this final book in the trilogy tied together all of the loose ends and made meaningful connections to the previous two books (making me want to re-read the trilogy with these revelations in mind). The opening had me sobbing and there were several other points where I had to pause to take a breather. What I really loved was that all of the characters had shades of grey, it was so easy to understand their fears that lead to their actions.

huey_rambo's review against another edition

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adventurous 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

3.0