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A review by xcrissy67x
A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik
Did not finish book. Stopped at 26%.
DNF
*****
Yet another book which I have seen incredibly hyped up but I yet again cannot see why. I went into this book extremely excited, and was ready to read the full 300 pages in one sitting but about 40 pages in, I knew that that was not happening. By page 88, I gave up trying to push through it.
The book follows a Galadriel “El” Higgins who is in The Scholomance school. The school is full of dangerous creatures that are ready to pounce at you at any chance they can get. El, whose powers are too dark and could wipe out the entire school, cannot defend herself without flattering the school alongside it. Enter Orion Lake, the school hero who takes it upon himself to save El much to her dismay and resentment.
I think the concept of this book might have been extremely interesting if it was executed well. There's potential for a good enemies to lover plotline and the school’s environment also allows for some action packed and magical scenes which really appeals to me. Despite this, the book thoroughly disappointed me and I couldn't even finish to see whether those scenes or tropes happened.
The main character, from the very start, is unnecessarily rude and felt really egotistical. It also felt as though the character is trying too hard to be edgy and dark. She is constantly mentioning how she is so powerful and her magic is so dark and dangerous. However, anytime she gets into danger, she fails to show any sort of power. She is meant to suppress her powers as she is worried to wipe out the school or whatever it is she says, but she just sort of fumbles around and quite frankly, shows no sign of having any of the power she seems so proud to have.
The other characters are also very lacking. They are very boring and they seem to just appear out of nowhere. You don't get to connect with any of the characters, and the ones that you do have potential to know, ie. El, you don't really want to know because of how unlikable the character is. The only character I didn't mind was Orion Lake though I didn't really connect with him either.
In addition to the character, I could not stand by the writing. If you really enjoy books that reveal the plot in a gradual, natural way, through the actions of the characters, this book is absolutely not it. This book is the internal monologue of El, which is how we see just how highly she thinks of herself, and just feels like a ramble of information that we hastily need to know so that the next part makes sense. I saw other reviewers describe it as info dumping and I completely agree. It made the book extremely dull and boring to read. I kept zoning in and out because I couldn't concentrate.
It's a shame that I didn't enjoy this book. I was very excited to read it but was very much disappointed. I'm glad I did not buy this book. The book was gifted to me by a friend who also did not enjoy it. If you like the narrative/internal monologue writing style, you might enjoy this, but it just was not for me at all.
*****
Yet another book which I have seen incredibly hyped up but I yet again cannot see why. I went into this book extremely excited, and was ready to read the full 300 pages in one sitting but about 40 pages in, I knew that that was not happening. By page 88, I gave up trying to push through it.
The book follows a Galadriel “El” Higgins who is in The Scholomance school. The school is full of dangerous creatures that are ready to pounce at you at any chance they can get. El, whose powers are too dark and could wipe out the entire school, cannot defend herself without flattering the school alongside it. Enter Orion Lake, the school hero who takes it upon himself to save El much to her dismay and resentment.
I think the concept of this book might have been extremely interesting if it was executed well. There's potential for a good enemies to lover plotline and the school’s environment also allows for some action packed and magical scenes which really appeals to me. Despite this, the book thoroughly disappointed me and I couldn't even finish to see whether those scenes or tropes happened.
The main character, from the very start, is unnecessarily rude and felt really egotistical. It also felt as though the character is trying too hard to be edgy and dark. She is constantly mentioning how she is so powerful and her magic is so dark and dangerous. However, anytime she gets into danger, she fails to show any sort of power. She is meant to suppress her powers as she is worried to wipe out the school or whatever it is she says, but she just sort of fumbles around and quite frankly, shows no sign of having any of the power she seems so proud to have.
The other characters are also very lacking. They are very boring and they seem to just appear out of nowhere. You don't get to connect with any of the characters, and the ones that you do have potential to know, ie. El, you don't really want to know because of how unlikable the character is. The only character I didn't mind was Orion Lake though I didn't really connect with him either.
In addition to the character, I could not stand by the writing. If you really enjoy books that reveal the plot in a gradual, natural way, through the actions of the characters, this book is absolutely not it. This book is the internal monologue of El, which is how we see just how highly she thinks of herself, and just feels like a ramble of information that we hastily need to know so that the next part makes sense. I saw other reviewers describe it as info dumping and I completely agree. It made the book extremely dull and boring to read. I kept zoning in and out because I couldn't concentrate.
It's a shame that I didn't enjoy this book. I was very excited to read it but was very much disappointed. I'm glad I did not buy this book. The book was gifted to me by a friend who also did not enjoy it. If you like the narrative/internal monologue writing style, you might enjoy this, but it just was not for me at all.