Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Een dodelijke opleiding by Naomi Novik

71 reviews

gowlstick's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense 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? Yes

4.5

On base level this can read as a fairly dark YA fantasy but otherwise the themes and actual events & politics say otherwise. The main character develops her own sense of morality and takes action based on that. Even in a magical world a big player in the safety of many of the characters is due to long standing racism. It does a very good job also exploring the ideas of privilege and colonialism. An idea often explored is "What gives them more of a right to live than me?".

Eventually the El does still give a shit but rises to the much higher ground of still choosing to think "What gives me more of a right to live than them?"

The romance is some of the most refreshing I've come across in YA and honestly I'd have loved to explore their dynamic even as just adults. Overall, there is some info dumping and some sections that might not be entirely accurate seeing as the Author is white. Even with that this book is a pretty cold glass of water in the new YA scene and I'm looking forwards to see how the series wraps up.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror

Minor: Death and Death of parent

rinku's review against another edition

dark funny 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Gore, and Murder

Moderate: Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Vomit

Minor: Animal death and Suicide

rosemarygrace1211's review against another edition

adventurous dark lighthearted 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

4.0

Remember how in Harry Potter, there were “serious concerns about student safety”? If you’ve ever thought “I want a book set in a magical school but I want every moment of every day to be dangerous,” then this is the book for you! 

Honestly let’s leave Joann in the past

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Violence, Child death, Classism, and Death of parent

cakeylu's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny hopeful mysterious tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Violence, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Vomit, and Body horror

Moderate: Grief, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Confinement

Minor: Alcohol and Mental illness

norwegianforestreader's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Violence, Body horror, Bullying, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Child death, Classism, Death of parent, Animal death, Blood, and Murder

eleanor_r's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Violence, Child death, and Death

nutm3g's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Violence

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cannibalism, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Vomit

blissofalife's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, and Violence

Minor: Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, and Vomit

oliverreeds's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Violence

baexlee's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective 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

5.0

A Deadly Education is truly something special. If you are at all a fan of dark academia, then you will likely devour this book the way the mals devour the wizards in the Scholomance. Novik creates a rich and vivid world that is both globally expansive and simultaneously isolating - similar to the feeling of staring into the darkness of a starry night. Outside of the delightfully dark atmosphere of the ever dangerous Scholomance, Galadriel is a uniquely crafted character that asks the audience to ponder their own behaviors and morality as she struggles with her natural affinity towards dark and dangerous magic and her loving devotion to her mother and the values she was raised with. 

I'd had that scream inside me since I was nine, knotted up with Mum's love, the only thing keeping it in, and it wasn't enough. 

My praise for this book feels horribly inadequate for the emotions, thoughts and questions that it raised for me throughout my reading experience. It is an absolute pleasure that I was unable to put down and something that I will likely return to again and again. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Body horror, and Murder

Minor: Abandonment and Animal cruelty