thepunktheory's Review of The Golden Enclaves (The Scholomance, #3) (The Golden Enclaves)

by Naomi Novik

#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Saving the world is a test no school of magic can prepare you for in the triumphant conclusion to the New York Times bestselling trilogy that began with A Deadly Education and The Last Graduate.

FINALIST FOR THE HUGO AWARD • ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Paste, Publishers Weekly

The one thing you never talk about while you’re in the Scholomance is what you’ll do when you get out. Not even the richest enclaver would tempt fate that way. But it’s all we dream about: the hideously slim chance we’ll survive to make it out the gates and improbably find ourselves with a life ahead of us, a life outside the Scholomance halls.

And now the impossible dream has come true. I’m out, we’re all out—and I didn’t even have to turn into a monstrous dark witch to make it happen. So much for my great-grandmother’s prophecy of doom and destruction. I didn’t kill enclavers, I saved them. Me and Orion and our allies. Our graduation plan worked to perfection: We saved everyone and made the world safe for all wizards and brought peace and harmony to all the enclaves everywhere.

Ha, only joking! Actually, it’s gone all wrong. Someone else has picked up the project of destroying enclaves in my stead, and probably everyone we saved is about to get killed in the brewing enclave war. And the first thing I’ve got to do now, having miraculously gotten out of the Scholomance, is turn straight around and find a way back in.

Full review on my blog!

This was an amazing finish to a really cool trilogy.
As I mentioned in my past reviews, I tremendously enjoyed the first two Scholomance books (A Deadly Education and The Last Graduate), and I’m glad to say #3 is no exception.

First of all, I love that we finally learn something of the world this is set in outside of the very confined space of the school. While there had been talk about the enclaves before it isn’t until now that we really get to see them up close. The world-building within the Scholomance was great, so I simply hoped that wouldn’t crumple once things became more expansive. I’m not gonna lie, there are one or two things I have questions about. The logic isn’t 100% solid on every tiny aspect, but you know what? I can live with 90-95% percent. I don’t want to go into detail as that would constitute massive spoilers but none of the things I noticed were major aspects of the story or the world-building. Rather small details that might not pass up-close inspection, but it’s fine.

The story is well written with a pace that perfectly matches it. We cover *a lot* of ground in this one. We also get several interesting twists. There were a bunch of different ways this could have gone, how the story could have ended. So, while I had some options mapped out in my head, it still came as a surprise to find out what the actual ending would be. I really appreciate it when a writer can do this well. There aren’t a million options because you don’t get info. There are options because that’s how it is in real life. You can’t really tell what will happen! But at the same time, what does happen in the story is consistent with all the things we learned before. Nothing is just a shocker for the sake of shocking the audience. With the tone of the books thus far, I didn’t even know whether we’d get a happy or a sad ending. Both of the options would have been possible and would have matched the prior plot.

The Golden Enclaves (The Scholomance, #3) (The Golden Enclaves)

by Naomi Novik

Reviewed by thepunktheory on Jan 7, 2023

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