A Deadly Education: A Novel (The Scholomance)
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - From the author of Uprooted and Spinning Silver comes the first book of the Scholomance trilogy, the story of an unwilling dark sorceress who is destined to rewrite the rules of magic. FINALIST FOR THE LODESTAR AWARD - "The dark school of magic I've been waiting for."--Katherine Arden, author of the Winternight Trilogy I decided that Orion Lake needed to die after the second time he saved my life. Everyone loves Orion Lake. Everyone else, that is. Far as I'm concerned, he can keep his flashy combat magic to himself. I'm not joining his pack of adoring fans. I don't need help surviving the Scholomance, even if they do. Forget the hordes of monsters and cursed artifacts, I'm probably the most dangerous thing in the place. Just give me a chance and I'll level mountains and kill untold millions, make myself the dark queen of the world. At least, that's what the world expects. Most of the other students in here would be delighted if Orion killed me like one more evil thing that's crawled out of the drains. Sometimes I think they want me to turn into the evil witch they assume I am. The school certainly does. But the Scholomance isn't getting what it wants from me. And neither is Orion Lake. I may not be anyone's idea of the shining hero, but I'm going to make it out of this place alive, and I'm not going to slaughter thousands to do it, either. Although I'm giving serious consideration to just one. With flawless mastery, Naomi Novik creates a school bursting with magic like you've never seen before, and a heroine for the ages--a character so sharply realized and so richly nuanced that she will live on in hearts and minds for generations to come.
The magic of the Scholomance trilogy continues in The Last Graduate and The Golden Enclaves "The can't-miss fantasy of fall 2020, a brutal coming-of-power story steeped in the aesthetics of dark academia. . . . A Deadly Education will cement Naomi Novik's place as one of the greatest and most versatile fantasy writers of our time."--BookPage (starred review) "A must-read . . . Novik puts a refreshingly dark, adult spin on the magical boarding school. . . . Readers will delight in the push-and-pull of El and Orion's relationship, the fantastically detailed world, the clever magic system, and the matter-of-fact diversity of the student body."--Publishers Weekly (starred review)
The magic of the Scholomance trilogy continues in The Last Graduate and The Golden Enclaves "The can't-miss fantasy of fall 2020, a brutal coming-of-power story steeped in the aesthetics of dark academia. . . . A Deadly Education will cement Naomi Novik's place as one of the greatest and most versatile fantasy writers of our time."--BookPage (starred review) "A must-read . . . Novik puts a refreshingly dark, adult spin on the magical boarding school. . . . Readers will delight in the push-and-pull of El and Orion's relationship, the fantastically detailed world, the clever magic system, and the matter-of-fact diversity of the student body."--Publishers Weekly (starred review)
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Community Reviews
Dark, Deadly, Daring academia. A like Wicked amd a little swooning mixed perfectly with world building majority of the book. I loved it... so much.
I love love love this book. This is a dark YA book. The writing is strong, the main character is well fleshed out. I loved the main character El. She is mean, rude, and everything female protagonists typically aren't. Note, her personality is why a lot of people do not like her or this book. The book has a lot of El's inner monologue so if you don't like her you probably will not like the book. I love her relationship with Orion and their interactions. This book starts to explore the advantage of privilege some students have and the double-edged sword of belonging to a group. I also like this book because it has a pretty solid world-building and magic system. World-building and magic systems are my peanut-butter and jam. I hope to learn more in the next book.
People are comparing it to Harry Potter. There is one thing that has in common with Harry Potter, it takes place in a magical school in England. I love Harry Potter but I am so sick of people criticizing other authors for using a magical school as their story setting. J.K. Rowling did not invent the concept of following a protagonist attending a magical school.
The only reason I am not giving it five stars is because of the controversy over some elements of the story are racist. I do think some of the points are valid especially the passage about the dreadlocks. The author has apologized for this passage. The passage mentioned will be removed from new editions. I think it is really important to point out BIPOC representation missteps in media. I do think the author will learn and grow from the feedback from this book.
Two articles I thought explained and discussed the racist elements
https://bookriot.com/racism-in-naomi-noviks-a-deadly-education
https://themarysue.com/racism-vs-representation-the-missteps-of-naomi-noviks-a-deadly-education
People are comparing it to Harry Potter. There is one thing that has in common with Harry Potter, it takes place in a magical school in England. I love Harry Potter but I am so sick of people criticizing other authors for using a magical school as their story setting. J.K. Rowling did not invent the concept of following a protagonist attending a magical school.
The only reason I am not giving it five stars is because of the controversy over some elements of the story are racist. I do think some of the points are valid especially the passage about the dreadlocks. The author has apologized for this passage. The passage mentioned will be removed from new editions. I think it is really important to point out BIPOC representation missteps in media. I do think the author will learn and grow from the feedback from this book.
Two articles I thought explained and discussed the racist elements
https://bookriot.com/racism-in-naomi-noviks-a-deadly-education
https://themarysue.com/racism-vs-representation-the-missteps-of-naomi-noviks-a-deadly-education
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