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ivi_reads_books's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
A brilliant ending for this trilogy. Full of twists and turns that I did not see coming. We finally learn how the Scholomance came about.
The book explores themes such as balance, destiny, friendship and fairness
The book explores themes such as balance, destiny, friendship and fairness
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Death
Moderate: Classism, Murder, Grief, and Medical trauma
ladypalutena's review against another edition
dark
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
4.0
I was correct in my assessment of the first book: by blowing it up from a duology to a trilogy, I feel like there's a lot that could have been trimmed down. I don't think she could have ever put it back to a duology (unless you did two 500 page books), but the story here didn't end up being as satisfying as I wanted.
This is mainly for the following reason:After two books dealing with mals, and two books of El describing what it's like to take down a maw-mouth, it turns out that in order to create an Enclave, you have to sacrifice someone and turn them into a maw-mouth. So when you destroy a maw-mouth, you're destroying an Enclave somewhere else in the world.
The last hundred or so pages of this book, much like the last hundred or so pages of The Last Graduate, shoves everything in it. It's like the previous three hundred pages barely mattered: the entirety of the conflict happens in the final few pages.Like, I was expecting some sort of final battle between her and Maw-Mouth Orion, but what ends up happening is she simply holds his hands and tells him that he's already dead, then it takes literally hundreds of people to stop everything from collapsing in on himself and then somehow Orion still survives?
I did really enjoy this series. I enjoyed the magic system, I enjoyed Novik's writing, and I enjoyed the characters that weren't El (which makes me wish for some sort of spin-off for Aadhya or Liu).
Speaking of other characters, while El is busy mourning Orion's death (or at the very least, still planning on going back to the Scholomance to kill Patience and put Orion out of his misery),she ends up banging Liesel? This relationship seems to come out of nowhere to me - it's not even remotely hinted at in the last book, and then suddenly they're alone together and El thinks the only thing she can do to feel anything is to jump in bed together? It left a bad taste in my mouth. I guess technically, yes, she thinks Orion is dead so she's not cheating on him, but really? The kid hasn't even been dead for two weeks yet?
All together, I enjoyed the series, and I'd definitely read it again, and try to read it while knowing what I know now about the Enclaves and how everything ends up. It's just not the story I was expecting.
This is mainly for the following reason:
The last hundred or so pages of this book, much like the last hundred or so pages of The Last Graduate, shoves everything in it. It's like the previous three hundred pages barely mattered: the entirety of the conflict happens in the final few pages.
I did really enjoy this series. I enjoyed the magic system, I enjoyed Novik's writing, and I enjoyed the characters that weren't El (which makes me wish for some sort of spin-off for Aadhya or Liu).
Speaking of other characters, while El is busy mourning Orion's death (or at the very least, still planning on going back to the Scholomance to kill Patience and put Orion out of his misery),
All together, I enjoyed the series, and I'd definitely read it again, and try to read it while knowing what I know now about the Enclaves and how everything ends up. It's just not the story I was expecting.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, War, Child abuse, and Death
illegalitch's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
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
This one got me. I teared up at a couple scenes. Getting an emotional reaction is one thing, but for that emotional to manifest physically with tears in my eyes... that another level. And the big secret! I was NOT expecting that. It's not very often a story can surprise me or leave me guessing. Half of the time, when they do, it's because the big surprise is just so far out there that it doesn't make sense. This book does not fall into that category. The big surprise flows so well with the story that I'm almost kicking myself for not seeing it in the earlier books! Which means this book (and series) is an automatic 5-star rating.
Well paced, especially for an anti-hero story written in First Person. I read the first book itself and listened to the second two audiobooks because I couldn't wait to finish the story, I had to know what was next. The narrator was perfect! Naomi Novik definitely earned a spot on my Favorite Authors list with this series and I cannot wait to read more of their work.
Well paced, especially for an anti-hero story written in First Person. I read the first book itself and listened to the second two audiobooks because I couldn't wait to finish the story, I had to know what was next. The narrator was perfect! Naomi Novik definitely earned a spot on my Favorite Authors list with this series and I cannot wait to read more of their work.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Murder, Violence, and Grief
Although the content may be upsetting for some, I feel it was presented well and not gratuitously.beccaand's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
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: Child death, Death, Violence, Torture, Body horror, Grief, and Murder
Moderate: Child abuse and War
Minor: Sexual content and Death of parent
tiffanne11's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
hopeful
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? No
5.0
The twists and turns. Even when I thought I knew what was coming, it came in a different way than expected.
This series was so incredibly good.
This series was so incredibly good.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Child death, and Death
doahdancer's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Suicidal thoughts, War, Grief, Toxic relationship, Death, Death of parent, Violence, Vomit, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual content
danicakvcs's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
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? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, War, Physical abuse, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Murder and Child death
Minor: Blood and Kidnapping
erikagibson126's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content, Blood, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Violence, Child death, Body horror, Grief, War, and Gore
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, Gore, Death, Blood, and Violence
bujo_bellel's review
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: Violence, Death, and Torture
Moderate: Body horror and War
Minor: Sexual content and Death of parent