Reviews with content warning for Torture - Les enclaves dorées

For much of this book, El didn’t have a clearly defined goal, and sometimes the plot suffers from meandering twists as a result. There’s a non-zero amount of info dumping, and some of the relationships from previous books aren’t on display as well in this one. I like that everything comes together at the end, but not necessarily tied in a neat tidy bow, because humanity is messy and sometimes shitty tbh. If you enjoyed the first two books, you’ll want to read this conclusion to the series.

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displacedcactus's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad slow-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? No

This review contains spoilers for the end of Book 2 of the Scholomance, so don't read if you haven't read it yet.
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If you thought things would be a little more pleasant after El left the Scholomance, I had bad news for you. The entire magical world feels very much like an allegory for late-stage capitalism and everything is terrible, plus El is depressed about Orion's actions at the end of Book 2.

I found large chunks of this book to be a real slog. In the first two books it felt like there was a very clear goal: survive until graduation, and try to make sure your allies survive too. But for much of this book, El isn't quite sure of her goal, as she gets pulled in different directions. Then again, sometimes that's what it's like IRL after graduation.

Things get pretty dark in this book. I mean, the whole series has been dark, but there were some twists that showed that the outside world was really even worse than the school, and the real monster is humanity, etc etc.

If you've enjoyed the first two books of the series and you want to know how it ends, you'll probably enjoy this conclusion. But if you were on the fence about the first two, I think you can safely skip this one and make up your own ending in your head (or ask a friend who does read it for the condensed version).

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nefariousbee's review against another edition

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adventurous dark reflective relaxing fast-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

4.5

after a while, I found a series that gets better with every book. the last one really surprised me in its depth, I didn't think it would be more than a nice, fun read you can get immersed in magic in. but somehow it took this unexpected, serious turn, and I really loved that.
the pacing is wobbly and the characters are not always up to my expectations but the something you want from a book, it's there.

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le3713's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional 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

Seldom is the final book in a trilogy my favorite, but this one was. The sometimes slow work of understanding the world, magic system, and social order Novik had built paid off in this book. I loved understanding mana, malia, and maw mouths better. It still took me a good chunk of time to get through, but I was deeply invested through the second half. I didn’t anticipate the turns the book would take, and found the ending satisfying - hopeful but not quite happily ever after.

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kayladaila's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective 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

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kagey's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

A satisfying conclusion to my favourite series in recent years. This novel didn’t seem quite as tight as the first to, but venturing out into the wizard world was fascinating. A lot of revelations and payoffs that were set up previously. Definitely can be read as a compelling allegory for capitalism, and I think the complexity taken on in the narrative is admirable. If anything I just wanted more, more Chloe, more time with Liu, more of the fallout, more of the other graduates. Still grateful for what we got though, I think Novik stuck the landing.

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prynne31's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring 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? Yes

5.0

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greymalkin's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

An incredibly satisfying and pleasing conclusion to the trilogy. I loved it and immediately started re-reading the series again for reasons mentioned under the spoiler tag.

It is very rare for an author to be able to drop a twist so late in a series and pull it off. Either the twist is predicated on information that the reader never knew or couldn't possibly know (e.g. That there were two murderers, that one particular song has huge personal meaning for the main character even though it was never mentioned, etc.). But Naomi Novik did a marvelously satisfying job at it. As soon as it came up I was like OMG now so many things make sense!! There were always little moments that felt interesting but not particularly significant, and to have them suddenly all be huge clues as to what was really going on was very very cool. The twist didn't feel like it came out of nowhere and it didn't make me feel stupid for not noticing all the hints. I love when I can be delightfully surprised (and horrified because of the actual content of the twist).

I also really loved that this book focused on El really deepening her friendships and feelings for other people and showing how she could bring together disparate groups even though she's not particularly charismatic or great at social things. I had liked Liesel from the second book but I really loved her in this one. And Orion... my heart bled for Orion.

It took me a while to finish the book because I was deliberately pacing it out, savoring the moments because so many huge things happened all the time it was better to take in the book in sips rather than gulps. And once I finished it, I immediately started reading the first book again. Only a few chapters into the first book and I was very pleased to see that yes indeed, there's a huge clue right there right at the start and yet we had no idea what we were looking at so it meant nothing. Tremendous.

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