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A review by abigails_books
The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik
dark
funny
hopeful
reflective
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
4.0
CW: mild sex scene, general monster-fighting violence
Rating: 4 stars
"Orion didn't look over at me again, even when he surfaced in between the killing waves; he was too busy. It was just as well, because if he'd looked over at me, I'd have smiled stupidly back at him. I was glad, so glad, even pinned down in this room with all the monsters in the world trying to come at me, at Orion, because it wasn't despair in his way after all; it was just the clumsiness of learning. He could want other things. I wasn't the only thing he'd ever want; I was just the first other thing he'd wanted."
This book was very cute and overall I enjoyed it as the follow-up to A Deadly Education, Lesson One of the Scholomance.
Summary: Galadriel 'El' Higgins and her cast of friends, including Orion Lake, who was quickly firming up to boyfriend status in this book, start their senior year at The Scholomance, picking up exactly where we left off in A Deadly Education. As a new senior, El quickly realizes the school, its own entity and almost a character, is trying to tell her something. At first, she thinks the school is out to get her but eventually realizes the school is trying to tell her it wants to help her save all the students from the quickly breaking-down school they are all locked in for protection from the vicious monsters, or mals, that are hungry for wizard children's mana, or magical life force.
Upon realizing what the school wants from her, and realizing that her dark sorceress prophecy actually helps her to fulfill her mission, El and her friends come up with a plan to save every student in the school and trap all (most) of the mals in the world within the school, before pushing it into the void — trapped, but not really taking up space either.
Along the way, El and Orion get much more familiar with each other, and El learns another level of what makes Orion who he is, which was probably the best part of the book.
My first thoughts:
I felt a little bored in the first half of the book, despite a few very cute moments and sarcastic comments between El and Orion. The main reason I felt this way was because I realized the major plot of the book didn't fully start until the second half of the book.
Some gossip around this series is that Novik originally intended to only write two books, but after writing a majority realized it would work better as a three-book arc. To me, this rumor explains a lot because the first two books felt like they very easily could have been one book.
Issues:
I felt the themes in this book would have been stronger had it simply been a continuation of the first book, and also the relationship building between El and her growing circle of friends. I definitely think Orion and El's relationship would have made much more sense to read it in one book develop from enemies to actual lovers, rather than begrudging almost lovers at the end of the first book.
I also think the boring bit at the beginning of this book wouldn't have been so boring if it had been bridging the cliffhanger from book 1 to the major plot of book 2 — it probably would have felt more cohesive that way and also she wouldn't have wasted so much word space regurgitating history and facts from the first book, which is a YA pet-peeve of mine. If we read the first book, we know -- you don't need to re-write half of it. So anyway, I did end up skimming quite a bit of the first half because it was mostly re-written from the first book.
However, once I got through the first half, El and Orion finally engaged in a more realistic and continuous way, and the plot both sped up and steamed up if you catch my drift. But, then it was over, and with that cliffhanger, I mean! I just would have loved about 200 more pages? Is that too much to ask for?
All in all, I'll have to wait to read the final book to decide how I feel, but I do think this could have been in A Deadly Education instead of its own book.
Things I liked:
-Seeing El and Orion's love story finally come to fruition was exactly what I wanted from this book, so it delivered on that front.
-El's developing deep friendships with Liu and Aadhya was excellent, and her growing relationship with her familiar Precious was hilarious.
-So much of these books is just what El is going through and sometimes the dialogue is non-existent. However, it was great to finally get in-depth conversations between El and Orion and, most importantly, to get to understand who Orion actually is as opposed to what El assumes. I finally felt like I understood his character rather than seeing her inward feelings about why he made certain decisions.
-It was very CUTE, which is what I WANTED, and I definitely squealed and smiled my way through the latter half of the book. It also kept up the sarcasm and dark optimism from the first book, which I appreciated.
Overall, I just think I'm a more mature, longer book reader, but these books have been a very nice little break. I almost feel like I'm my younger self while reading it, which is a really nice little get-away.
Rating: 4 stars
"Orion didn't look over at me again, even when he surfaced in between the killing waves; he was too busy. It was just as well, because if he'd looked over at me, I'd have smiled stupidly back at him. I was glad, so glad, even pinned down in this room with all the monsters in the world trying to come at me, at Orion, because it wasn't despair in his way after all; it was just the clumsiness of learning. He could want other things. I wasn't the only thing he'd ever want; I was just the first other thing he'd wanted."
This book was very cute and overall I enjoyed it as the follow-up to A Deadly Education, Lesson One of the Scholomance.
Summary: Galadriel 'El' Higgins and her cast of friends, including Orion Lake, who was quickly firming up to boyfriend status in this book, start their senior year at The Scholomance, picking up exactly where we left off in A Deadly Education. As a new senior, El quickly realizes the school, its own entity and almost a character, is trying to tell her something. At first, she thinks the school is out to get her but eventually realizes the school is trying to tell her it wants to help her save all the students from the quickly breaking-down school they are all locked in for protection from the vicious monsters, or mals, that are hungry for wizard children's mana, or magical life force.
Upon realizing what the school wants from her, and realizing that her dark sorceress prophecy actually helps her to fulfill her mission, El and her friends come up with a plan to save every student in the school and trap all (most) of the mals in the world within the school, before pushing it into the void — trapped, but not really taking up space either.
Along the way, El and Orion get much more familiar with each other, and El learns another level of what makes Orion who he is, which was probably the best part of the book.
My first thoughts:
I felt a little bored in the first half of the book, despite a few very cute moments and sarcastic comments between El and Orion. The main reason I felt this way was because I realized the major plot of the book didn't fully start until the second half of the book.
Some gossip around this series is that Novik originally intended to only write two books, but after writing a majority realized it would work better as a three-book arc. To me, this rumor explains a lot because the first two books felt like they very easily could have been one book.
Issues:
I felt the themes in this book would have been stronger had it simply been a continuation of the first book, and also the relationship building between El and her growing circle of friends. I definitely think Orion and El's relationship would have made much more sense to read it in one book develop from enemies to actual lovers, rather than begrudging almost lovers at the end of the first book.
I also think the boring bit at the beginning of this book wouldn't have been so boring if it had been bridging the cliffhanger from book 1 to the major plot of book 2 — it probably would have felt more cohesive that way and also she wouldn't have wasted so much word space regurgitating history and facts from the first book, which is a YA pet-peeve of mine. If we read the first book, we know -- you don't need to re-write half of it. So anyway, I did end up skimming quite a bit of the first half because it was mostly re-written from the first book.
However, once I got through the first half, El and Orion finally engaged in a more realistic and continuous way, and the plot both sped up and steamed up if you catch my drift. But, then it was over, and with that cliffhanger, I mean! I just would have loved about 200 more pages? Is that too much to ask for?
All in all, I'll have to wait to read the final book to decide how I feel, but I do think this could have been in A Deadly Education instead of its own book.
Things I liked:
-Seeing El and Orion's love story finally come to fruition was exactly what I wanted from this book, so it delivered on that front.
-El's developing deep friendships with Liu and Aadhya was excellent, and her growing relationship with her familiar Precious was hilarious.
-So much of these books is just what El is going through and sometimes the dialogue is non-existent. However, it was great to finally get in-depth conversations between El and Orion and, most importantly, to get to understand who Orion actually is as opposed to what El assumes. I finally felt like I understood his character rather than seeing her inward feelings about why he made certain decisions.
-It was very CUTE, which is what I WANTED, and I definitely squealed and smiled my way through the latter half of the book. It also kept up the sarcasm and dark optimism from the first book, which I appreciated.
Overall, I just think I'm a more mature, longer book reader, but these books have been a very nice little break. I almost feel like I'm my younger self while reading it, which is a really nice little get-away.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content and Violence