A review by bookwisp
The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik

adventurous dark 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

4.0

Now a Senior in the Scholomance, El is in a better position than she’d ever imagined. She’s going into her final year with allies – friends – and they might just have the beginnings of a plan. With graduation looming ever closer, she and the rest of her class are scrambling to learn as much as they can to make it out of the gates. But the Scholomance has changed the rules of the game and you know what they say about best laid plans… 

What a wonderful sequel! The Scholomance continues to delight, disturb and fascinate. I devoured this very quickly. Without giving too much away, the plot headed in a direction I didn’t expect but thoroughly enjoyed. 

El continues to grow as a character. If you found her abrasive in the first novel (and couldn’t forgive her for it, as I did), you’ll likely find her more palatable here. Her friendships with Liu, Aadhya and even Chloe are very central to El’s development, even if they didn’t get as much ‘page’ time as I’d have preferred. I did get a kick outta El’s unwanted and unwelcome gaggle of helpless freshmen who also contribute to her character development. 

The prose still suffered from the same faults as A Deadly Education – a little dense in places and it interrupted itself to world build a little too many times – but it’s not a deal breaker, really. Through the latter half of this book, the momentum just builds and builds and – honestly? – you’re probably going to want to clear your schedule to ride it out. It’ll probably become clear to you when you read it, but the final act genuinely made me feel quite emotional.
Look, people being brave, struggling together against impossible odds?? That stuff MOVES me, okay :’)
 

Because my TBR pile mountain is so huge, I usually find myself reading backlist books where the whole series is out. As a result, I’m decidedly out of practice waiting for the next book to be published. I REQUEST and REQUIRE The Golden Enclaves now, please and thank you. 
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