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thecatsmeow 's review for:
The Last Graduate
by Naomi Novik
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
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
A bit slower and at times repetitive compared to the first book, but still an overall solid second book for a trilogy. I rather liked the broadening of El's world in this one, one event after the other, and how she herself changed in light of this, and somehow, without even meeting her mother, still seems to be very much her mother's daughter in this, full of the kindness and hope that she seems to embody in El's own mind. But more than that, how the desire for those very things remained within the students of the school despite everything setting them up to be otherwise, stemming from the history of those who had been part of it.
It did almost seem too good to be true when hitting those last few pages of the novel, so the ending wasn't entirely unexpected. The romance itself did feel a bit rushed, as did some of Orion's development, which while there in quieter forms since the first book, only really hit hard in the last quarter of the book. But the ending did leave me wanting to know what was honestly going on with him, as well as with El's own developments. I rather liked the different approach to the idea of the "chosen" one that Novik did in with these two, and again, curious to find out how it all plays out in the final book.
The middle is probably where things drag on a bit, but waiting to see what becomes of the third before making any judgments on how necessary some of what was laid out there was.
It did almost seem too good to be true when hitting those last few pages of the novel, so the ending wasn't entirely unexpected. The romance itself did feel a bit rushed, as did some of Orion's development, which while there in quieter forms since the first book, only really hit hard in the last quarter of the book. But the ending did leave me wanting to know what was honestly going on with him, as well as with El's own developments. I rather liked the different approach to the idea of the "chosen" one that Novik did in with these two, and again, curious to find out how it all plays out in the final book.
The middle is probably where things drag on a bit, but waiting to see what becomes of the third before making any judgments on how necessary some of what was laid out there was.