A review by sapphicsoilscientist
A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik

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

2.5

This book is Harry Potter meets Hunger Games meets My Immortal (probably).
The main character is terribly annoying for the first half of the book and not at all lovable, but the side characters are decent. The magic system could use a few more details, and the book overall could have used another round of editing. (Seriously, are YA authors not given editors or enough time to edit? But at the same time, this was published by Temeraire Ltd, which is Novak's own company so there shouldn't have been a rush.) If you can get through the first 60% of the book it picks up significantly. The sequel audiobook doesn't have any wait time, so I'm going to listen to it, but I probably wouldn't bother if there was, if that helps at all. EDIT: Lol absolutely not. She's annoying annoying me again and all that hard earned character development just went down the drain. 

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