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erikagibson126's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, and War
Moderate: Sexual content
themorrigan43's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
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? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Violence, and Blood
bujo_bellel's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
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? Yes
3.0
Okay so I was really expecting this book to be like fully mind-blowing and stuff but tbh it didn't really live up to that expectation. First of, the thing was Liesel was so random, like they didn't even know each other that well and boom they have a thing?? Like? I'm not sure if I missed out something between them in the last books (to be fair I took a long break in between the last book and this one) but I don't actually remember seeing much chemistry between them and just friendship of sorts? And like why was she in a sort of relationship with Liesel when she had Orion and she still had that kind of relationship after knowing Orion was alive like huhh??? The reveal that El was actually really the one bringing down the enclaves because she had the ability to kill the mawmouths which were actually the foundations for the enclaves was quite shocking but like it didn't really feel like much after reading the reveals in the past 2 books? The characters didn't really grow that much and the relationship between El and Orion was kind of weird like the reveal that Orion was literally a mawmouth and that his mother, the next Domina of New York is literally a maleficer because she made him her Mal killing machine that can also extract the mana from them was part of it but still made this book like kind of not as high stakes? Like the relationship between El and Orion made the ending of the last book so impactful and now in this book it was barely there. The previous 2 books were very high stakes and fast paced but this one is much slower and they're also out of The Scholomance which was part of the reason why the previous books were so engaging. I really loved El's character and I still like her in this book although I missed her usual snarkiness and I guess she really grew to be a bigger person but I miss her insults that are like the funniest comparisons ever but we didn't get to see much of that since El was nicer in this book. Like I really liked being in her head in the past books precisely because of the way she thinks and it wasn't as present in this book. Also I didn't like that El's friends were barely present in this book.. like they were there but for didn't add as much as they used to. I'm also kind of in a book hangover after Iron Flame and this made it worse honestly. Had really high hopes because I loved the other books :(
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Body horror and War
Minor: Sexual content and Death of parent
elfyn's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
sad
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
Wow. I hope we get more books in this world, cause I love it! I thought it was a really good ending, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Grief, and Death of parent
Moderate: Child death
Minor: Homophobia, Violence, Murder, and War
passionatereader78's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
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
What an adventure! Orion stayed in the school after everyone got out. El refuses to accept that he's dead, but is distracted by the crazy turn of events currently going on. The Enclaves are being attacked by mamouths. Liesel has made it her mission to protect El from herself. As the friends come back together to save the Enclaves they learn a deadly secret that will cost El everything.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Violence, Forced institutionalization, and War
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Suicidal thoughts
bookswithbethx's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
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
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Violence, Grief, and Death of parent
risaleel's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
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
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, War, and Classism
chezler24's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
It has been quite the journey with Galadriel "El" Higgins and I was fairly content with how Novik decided to conclude her story. I tried to predict how it would end based on my guesses with Orion's nature and being, and, while I was on the right track, Novik played with her magic system in ways I had not yet dared to consider (no spoilers of course). I appreciated getting to see Enclaves around the world and realizing that the worldly wizarding hierarchy isn't that different compared to how social hierarchy functioned within the Scholomance pre-graduation. Unfortunately, this global jumping around can sometimes come across as a bit disjointed while Novik attempts to spin out world-building at such a large scale. This along with a random sexual relationship with Liesel amidst her relationship with Orion left me wishing some threads had been edited more tightly for clarity. As a series, I really enjoyed the Scholomance trilogy, but this entry might be the least favorite of the three.
Content Warnings
Minor: Death, Sexual content, and Violence
aseel_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
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? Yes
4.0
A huge fan of El and all the other side characters, I really liked the linking of certain monsters to the world building, I am happy with how the series and ended, just wished the writing was a bit less descriptive at times
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror, Bullying, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
bookshelfmystic's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
The third book in an original trilogy has a hard task: it has to take the world that’s been established in the first book, the stakes that have been raised in the second, and all of the characters we’ve come to care about and give it all a satisfying conclusion. The Golden Enclaves gives it a pretty good shot, and mostly succeeds.
The pacing is the main thing dragging the book down. El saves multiple enclaves from collapse, with similar tactics each time, which drags just a bit. We even go to a couple of the locations twice. It’s a way to see the broader world outside of the Scholomance, which is neat, but I would have appreciated more variety. It felt like Novik was starting to run out of plot ideas. That being said, each sequence sets up El learning new information, and each of the big reveals hit with appropriate horror. Especially that enclaves are built on crushing a child to eternal deathlessness as a maw-mouth - the adrenaline in this chapter was already racing, and the revelation feels like a punch in the gut.
It’s evident that Novik knew where this trilogy was going when she started it. Each of the plot threads was sufficiently wrapped up, even El’s relationship with her family. I didn’t even know I needed the scenes with El’s grandparents in India, but the depth of her grandfather’s love made me cry . We get to spend time with many of the characters we met in the Scholomance and a few fun new ones (though I definitely thought Yancy would be coming back later in the book – they spend a lot of time on her for a one-off character). I even started to like Liesel. My last minor complaint, though, is that I still just don’t really buy El’s feelings for Orion. Especially given what we come to find out, he doesn’t really have much of a personality. I fully buy the tragedy of his story, but the romantic part feels a little thin. But I guess the heart wants what it wants. And it did set up a great, emotional conclusion to the trilogy.
Miscellaneous thoughts:
- I started to suspect that El was behind the destruction of the enclaves towards the beginning, especially given the prophecy we’ve heard so much about, but I thought it was related to her using mana at all . I definitely didn’t call the maw-mouths .
- I continue to love El’s mom’s Wiccan-esque approach to magic and how different it is from what we see from every other wizard in the world.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, and Torture
Moderate: Child death, Violence, and Classism