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)
A fun read with a different magic school full of darkness and an almost apocaliptic feel. A thought out and detailed worldbuilding is exciting to read. I find an actual story as important as a full fledged world in fantasy work, and this book delivers on both accounts. I found so-called "info dumps" quite fascinating and hope to see more in the next book. (Although it may be annoying to those that can only enjoy dialog and action driven books.)
I appreciated the themes of balance and price for magic and one's actions through the story. Together with a technical approach to magic skills that go beyond the classic "think it very hard and wave your wand", it adds realism to this world.
The heroine is a a snarky antisocial teenager who manages to be realistic and engaging. Her backstory makes her often rude behavior easy to understand as a defence mechanism, and left me rooting for her. The book covers a very short time frame, but the heroine still manages to go through interesting changes and personal growth. I hope there is more development for secondary characters in the future book as well, as they are only mildly explored thus far.
The slightly rumbling inner monologue writing was definitely a highlight for me, adding personality and humour to the simplest expositions.
Overall, 7 hours well spent and I'm looking forward to the second book.
