Reviews with content warning for Blood - Mroczna wiedza

I loved this book! The protagonist is from Wales (like me) so massive bonus. Her inner thoughts and dark humour had me laughing throughout, despite the challenging and often scary situations she was in. A must read for lovers of dark academia and school settings.

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sabrina22's review against another edition

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adventurous dark 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? No

3.75

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nutm3g's review against another edition

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adventurous dark 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

5.0

A quick way to describe A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik would be to say it is like Harry Potter meets The Magicians meets Deadly Class. The students are all fighting to stay alive till graduation day (and especially make it through that day) whether it be from themselves, fellow students turned dark, the mal creeping in, and even the magic they are learning. There is a great sense of wrongness with how there are enclaves, and how the world and school itself was designed with them in mind at the sacrifice of those with the unfortunate luck of being born into nothing. The friendships are developed well, considering the Scholomance is not a place where trust is taken lightly.

**POSSIBLE SPOILERS** It was very interesting how it starts off letting us know El is evil-inclined (regardless of if she wants to be) and with a foreboding prophecy about her supposed destruction, but as the story unfolds you begin to see that she is very much a hero and that her fate may be leaning more towards salvation for the disenfranchised magic-wielders.

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foreverinastory's review against another edition

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adventurous dark medium-paced

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

I'm still debating my rating because there was an overtly racist statement, which has been addressed by the author and changed for future printings, but I still don't like that it hasn't been updated in the audiobook. Plus besides that I was still so confused by the whole premise of this book, like why would anyone want to go to this school??

Rep: Indian female MC. Various students from all over the world. I wish I could be more specific but I already forgot everyone...

CWs: Blood, bullying, child death, confinement, death, fire, injury/injury detail, gore, toxic friendship (of side character), violence. Moderate: Addiction, drug use and abuse by side character, murder.

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blissofalife's review against another edition

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adventurous 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

No love triangle, no real angst, believable interactions, developed relationships, solid world building without info dumping! It was a fun read that seemed to straddle the line of Hunger Games and Hogwarts. I can’t wait to read the next one!

4.75 because some of the grammar read weird to me and was a tad distracting at times.

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oliverreeds's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

good vibes. very dark. the lore was good but not spread out enough and very thick and dense in some areas. believable characters.

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soundlysmitten's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny 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

4.0

The premise of this story is unlike any I’ve ever read and I think the author built a brilliant world for such a narrative. I was a little disappointed to find a lot of details relayed through info dumps. But for a story without a clear plotline which takes place in a confined setting, I seldom found it boring. It’s a rather tense read and though the action seems paced pretty well, the chapters are longer than I personally like. Still, any issues I took note of felt minor and didn’t negatively impact my experience much.

When I first started reading, I thought I was going to hate the book because I found the main character extremely annoying. El’s hostile narration can get repetitive fast, but the way she holds herself makes sense once you learn how her experience differs from others. So I’m glad I kept reading. Truly, I was so happy when things started to look up for El, you’d think she was a real person 😹

My favorite part of the book was the dynamic between El and her allies. The development of their relationships is heartwarming as it marks El's first experience of social acceptance and support.

El and Orion have an amusing kind of chemistry, her being really smart but somewhat of a jerk and him being totally nice but a bit of a moron. And as for Aadhya & Liu, they're probably the most genuine chicks El could’ve made friends with, so I really enjoyed how that played out too.

I also appreciated the ethnic and financial diversity of the different characters and think the author did a good job mirroring certain real world inequalities that are perpetuated by the corrupt social systems we’ve established.

All in all, I'd say give this one a shot. It won't be for everyone, but no book is!

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