A review by ashlightgrayson
The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-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 was a fitting conclusion to this trilogy and it did not disappoint. I felt this installment was more event driven compared to the previous two books. The first half of the story focuses a lot on investigating a threat to the enclaves. El has quite a few internal demons she needs to battle on her own both secondary to her loss of Orion and the prophecy that has haunted her since childhood. We finally get to explore the enclaves around the world and the complex politics involved. There is a lot of ethical questions that are brought up with how the enclaves obtain their mana and how they choose to distribute and use it. It's almost like watching different mafia families fight over power, sometimes via less than moral means.

We get to meet the families of a lot of the main and side characters we've gotten to know since book 1. Some of them are worse than others in terms of being terrible people. Even outside of the Scholomance it is clear that there is a mentality of "survival of the fittest". Mages are trying to get the best advantages to survive at the expense of others most of the time. El, through her actions, has found a semblance of respect among the Enclaves. This helps her have leverage in terms of changing some of the systemic ways in which the hierarchy of power is oppressive and immoral. 

The tensions are high in this last book. All of it, thankfully, has a great pay off. The build up at the beginning is slower, but there wasn't a moment where I wasn't interested in finding out what was going to happen next. I'm looking forward to reading more series by Novik. This one has been great. 
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