I tried to read this book, but was not interested from the first chapter. I also read many reviews from other people describing the problematic and frankly racist depictions of certain characters, and I have no interest in continuing to read this book. At this point, white authors should know it's not their place to write from the point of view of non-white characters, even if they are half white. Doing research does not take the place of lived experiences. And making up bugs that only live in loc'ed hair? How does something clearly that racist get past a team of people into a final book (I know how--this is why there needs to be diversity in every stage of publishing a book).

꧁ 2 stars ꧂

After a month of this torture... I finally finished A Deadly Education! Honestly, I would have DNFed this book if not for the cliffhanger ending. Also, did you know that Naomi Novik founded/helped found AO3? AO3 has some of the best writing I've read, but this book... it ain't it.

characters
the only reason why i kept reading was orion lake. orion is the definition of a golden retriever boy, and i just want to give him a big hug because he deserves it!! this boy goes around saving other people from monsters because that's the only thing he's good at, and everyone just becomes so superficial to him (lowkey worshipping,, kinda creepy) so he feels alone, even though he's always in a big group. but then he's still so kind to everyone, especially el (who REALLY was not deserving of his kindness). speaking of el, i really strongly dislike her character. she's "quirky" for the sake of being quirky, and acts like a depressed alt girl for NO REASON WHATSOEVER. the entire book is told in her perspective, and it's just her complaining about everything that happens and how she is sO uNfoRtUnaTe to not be invited into an enclave, while DISSING ENCLAVE PEOPLE WITH HER EVERY BREATH. girl, if you want to get into an enclave then maybe you should ACT like you like them, when they try to interact with you?? her acting skills really ain't great.

let's talk about their relationship. orion enters by saving el from a mal (basically monsters in this book) and el gets mad at him, because he ruined her door. i sympathise with el in this one, but only this one, because orion is out there chasing monsters for no reason, and he did ruin her room. but then he offers to help her fix it, and el accepts his help, but is still so b!tchy about everything? after that, they develop a grudging friendship-of-sorts, which basically consists of orion saving el's life while they do mundane tasks, el gets mad at him, orion apologizes, and the cycle repeats again. i still don't understand why el can't just take the help gratefully, since she's always complaining about the mals and how dangerous they are?? this girl needs to get her big ego in check. especially since she's apparently tHe MoSt PoWeRfUL student, but she can't do anything normal because all her spells are meant for great destruction (which is then never mentioned later? it's not even a plot point that she can do major damage, since she never does it out of the goodness of her heart. and her mom is the smartest witch/whatever they're called to exist, since she made some cool mana(energy)-holder crystals, but again, el doesn't even think of flexing that to get an alliance? THIS GIRL IS LOWKEY DUMB. i think staying ALIVE without much effort would trump her need for independence?? but anyways, i'm getting off track. the point i was originally going to prove is that orion has no reason to stay with el, even as she uses him for the fake dating drama. not once do they address it until the very end, and it was not really connected with the rest of the plot? the book would have functioned the same if they were just reluctant friends and allies, and never in a relationship. especially since THEY DON'T HAVE ANY CHEMISTRY!! NONE AT ALL!! orion just wants someone to treat him like a normal person, so he latches onto el, the only person who would do that. el just wants to use him as a prop i guess?? why did they kiss at the end. I AM SO "???" SINCE IT WAS SO UNDERDEVELOPED??

also, i guess i liked seeing the racially diverse cast in this book. kinda wacky how there are 1000+ kids in each grade, in a school with no teachers and monsters everywhere? the logistics just... don't work out, but i'll be further elaborating on that later. for now, let's talk about the compulsory racial stereotyping. el is biracial (caucasian and south asian) but she is estranged from the indian side of her family, so she acts pretty white. i understand that, and i think it was done deliberately to show how she doesn't connect with her culture a lot. but also, she just calls other students by their race? like, she doesn't even TRY to know someone's name, she just refers to them as "the chinese boy" or "the brazilian girl" and that makes me a bit uncomfy, especially when they have been at the same school for 3 years already. now, i understand that there are a LOT of students and it's impractical to know all their names when they could die the next day, but if orion does it, why can't el even try? sure, it's all in her nonchalant character traits, but she also lowkey racially stereotypes them so... yikes. and this is not mentioning how there was a paragraph in which she basically says that dreadlocks are dirty and can get infested by mals, but naomi novik addressed that already, and she said that it will be taken out of all future publications. in short, i just don't think this international vibe was established correctly, and it was just used for a plot point, in order to have the "studying languages gives you different spells" subplot.

plot & writing style
okay, let's talk more about what i despised from this book. the writing style. the plot. perhaps the entire book ngl.

- info dumping
at this point, i'm convinced that naomi novik wrote this on a dare, since THE BOOK WAS MAKING STUFF UP AS IT WENT. info dumping happened IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CLIMAX. literally, they were in the middle of a battle, and this lady thinks it's the perfect time to go on a pagelong rant about the specific kind of mal, and the backstory? SHOULDN'T THIS HAVE BEEN MENTIONED MAAANY CHAPTERS AGO? i'm not sure if this is just her writing style, but i despise it vehemently. i'd like to know what's going on from the start, not being made up as things happen for the plot convenience xx

- train of thought
this entire book is el's internal monologue with minimal dialogues, and a lot of angsty teenage complaining. i'm the same age as her, and i'd like to think that i don't complain half as much. she walks somewhere? she complains. she eats food? she complains. she GOES TO BED WHILE ORION WATCHES OUT FOR MALS SO SHE DOESN'T DIE? yep, more complaining. excuse me what??? and all the run-on sentences... I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY THIS BOOK WAS NOT EDITED FURTHER. is this a specific writing style that i just didn't know about, where the main character goes on a rant for 336 pages?

- second person pov
i- i can't even. the book LITERALLY SAYS, "reader, [...]" in the last 10% and I CAN'T DEAL WITH THAT. in a full book of first person POV, suddenly it's an open letter to the reader? where is she writing this? when? why? we get no other information. i was fine with the second person perspective in The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. because it was literally a letter to whoever was reading, but this clearly wasn't structured to be one.
description

- the pacing
am i the only one who had trouble staying awake through the book? because the chapters were super long, and nothing substantial happens in over half of them. it's just the same thing: orion and el argue, el complains, orion fights some monsters, el disses some enclave kids, the side characters show up for their mandatory "support el" speech. rinse and repeat. where is the variety? it gets kinda old after a while, y'know...

setting
i have no idea what naomi novik was trying to accomplish with the harry potter-comparable setting. the scholomance is just hogwarts, but making no sense. there are no adults in this place, and somehow 5000+ kids are supposed to manage themselves, in a giant school filled with monsters and other deadly things? where are the cooks, or does the food just magically appear on the table? why do the staircases just move for no purpose? at this point, i am sure that nothing has a purpose in this book. they're just all added to provide the mandatory suspense and disbelief at this horrible system that's supposed to keep kids safe. Ah, so by stuffing all the kids into one place should be safer than when they're with their parents, but somehow having 2 kids in a room makes it monster bait? and also, the affinity thing definitely makes no sense, because el is supposedly good at destruction, but she's doing the language track and has barely any useful spells, and somehow still survives just fine. she can't even clean her room without setting fire to everything?? and orion just.. repels monsters, i guess. but he's also really good at spellwork? and everyone else just exists and el doesn't mention anyone else with an affinity for special things like orion and herself, so are we just supposed to believe that they're so special just because? and with the whole bad wizard thing (maleficers? i don't even remember at this point), that plotline ran dry so fast. they had NO PART in the book aside from that one guy who tried to kill el. and the other students literally don't care that there are KNOWN EVIL PEOPLE among them who like to suck up other people's mana? aight then...

i've seen people raving about how this is such a detailed and original fantasy world. original, i'll give it that. but detailed? I DO NOT KNOW WHAT IS GOING ON. NOTHING. there are random details that are wholly unneeded and contribute nothing to the story. if anything, this book is overly detailed while not even having a basic structure. the main characters are pretty much invincible to the various things they should have died from, but they stay alive because PLOT CONVENIENCE and pure luck! el manages to insult all the powerful students but nobody actively tries to retaliate because they have better morals! and el's mother is literally famous for being good at magic-y things, but she still gives away things for free and lives an unknown life in a hippie commune and somehow no magical people tried to kidnap them for her mom's skills? sounds fake ngl...

conclusion
this book makes no sense, is super slow, and i have learned no lesson and gained no wisdom after reading it. to all the people calling it the next harry potter: what??? and to all the people calling it a dark academia masterpiece: WHAT??? i guess i just have really specific taste, and it sure ain't this.

Novik knows no bounds when it comes to writing great stories. There are so many wonderful aspects to this book, but the relationship between El and Orion made for an interesting pairing, not unlike a certain pair from Harry Potter. Of course, this is understood to be a darker, gender-bent similarity to the that series, but Novik makes the story her own.

A Deadly Education by Naomi Novak is a new spin on magic school, with much deadlier consequences. It is a must read for fans of the genre.

This was an AMAZING book. Like, I need the next one right now amazing. I've always enjoyed Naomi Novik's books, but this one takes the cake. It's like if Hogwarts (the school itself) was deadly and students had to make pacts and keeps secrets to survive. All I can say is, well done!

This book was just far too slow and I really struggled to get into it. I also really did not like any of the characters. I wanted to love a book about a magical school that’s trying to kill it’s students, but the pacing just didn’t work! I had the same struggle with Uprooted, if I’m being honest, but the story was interesting enough to keep me engaged.

This book unfortunately was not for me. As much as I wanted to love it (the main character's name is Galadriel! That alone should make me love it), I just didn't connect with the main character. Naomi Novik is clearly a talented writer, but this is different from her past two fantasies (Uprooted & Spinning Silver), which had a more historical tone. This is contemporary, which might contribute to why I had a hard time enjoying it. However, I will still recommend it to patrons looking for fantasy/boarding school novels.

Thank you to NetGalley, Naomi Novik, and Random House Public Group - Ballentine sending me the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is a very well told story, by a well-rounded and respected author. As the first in a new series, it has phenomenal world-building and character development. I am really looking forward to the next addition as I'm already addicted, but it didn't feel like the traditional cliff-hanger ending, which I and and many patrons find infuriating. Plus in a sea of similar-sounding storylines I found very unique elements that I quite liked in this one. I have already started recommending it, even though I don't usually do that for the first book in a series because I like to make sure it has "legs." However, I do believe after reading other books by this author that it is quite likely this series will take off like an Olympic sprinter. I can't wait to read the next one to see if I'm right..

Magical schools! Monsters! I want it all. This is my kind of book in theory, the overall story is really inventive and the author's imagination can't be understated. Despite that, the execution and info dumping honestly made it drag. I felt the same way about Spinning Silver, so maybe this author just isn't for me even if I do try to keep forcing it.

ARC received from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I am so late to the game with this book that it is kind of sad. Still, I am happy I gave this book a chance because man I really did enjoy all of it. While I have heard the discourse going on about this book I am not going to touch much on that in this review. Mainly, because I am a white woman in my twenties whose opinion does not really matter. I would rather leave that up to people that actually have first hand knowledge of racial stigma. I do have to say that I quite enjoyed all the different characters and their backgrounds in this book. It felt like it was only lightly touched on but that was kind of the point. These kids are all shoved together without adults around. They are just trying to fight to survive not worrying about anything else.

I have seen this book being compared with Harry Potter and I can definitely see the similarities. This world feels like if Hogwarts had decided to say screw it and get revenge for all the students have put it through. The ending felt like there was still more to work on which, while a bit disappointing, was the whole set up for the second book. I can't wait to read it and she were the story goes.

This book was FANTASTIC!!!!

El is just trying to survive her school year. She keeps getting textbooks about raining terror and being the best evil sorcerous ever, the school is trying extra hard to kill students this year and to top it off the resident Hero has made her his pet project, aka kill her if she goes evil.

This book was soooo goood!!! I love that El is determined not be evil when being evil would be the easiest path. Orion is ridiculous. I adore El making friends, yay!!!

I cannot wait for the next one.

It starts off slow and kind of dense, but once the action begins, it's hard to resist the story as it drives forward. It reads as a true epic, one that makes you feel the world really has been reshaped as you read it. Would recommend.

This was a thoroughly enjoyable story about a magic school that’s very different from Hogwarts. Basically everything in the Scholomance is trying to kill the students but they still have a better chance of survival than in the mundane world. I can’t wait for the next book in the series!

Wow I didn't like this one. Everything was SO grim and SO dangerous that like . . . nothing landed. Where are the stakes if literally everything is life/death? Doesn't work for me, thank you

Uprooted and Spinning Silver are two of my favorite books so when I heard Naomi Novik was coming out with a magical boarding school series, I couldn’t wait to start this book. But I ultimately ended up waiting a few months. And A Deadly Education is an interesting start to what promises to be an intriguing series.

The beginning of the book is slow. There’s quite a lot of info-dumping as Novik introduces the characters, the world, and the unique entity that is the school. And El really got on my nerves at first. But then I hit a point about a third of the way in where everything started to come together and I started to understand the characters and the harsh world they live in.

A Deadly Education is innovative, atmospheric, and rather dark. Novik has thought of every last detail of the Scholomance (and it’s various monsters) and it shows. But, ultimately, this is a character study about friendship and family and accepting yourself. El grew on me over time and I really liked seeing how she changed over time as her situation changed. I also thought it was interesting to see how her internal dialogue regarding the other characters changed over time, from harshly analytical to more emotional. Orion’s storyline was also quite entertaining and I liked how Novik turned some tropes on their head.

While this book did feel a bit younger than I was expecting, I thought that A Deadly Education was an entertaining series opener with some incredibly detailed world-building. I’m looking forward to continuing with this series, particularly after that ending. Also, if you’re planning to read this book, it’s worth checking out Naomi Novik’s apology and commitment to doing better in regards to the representation in this book.

Set in a deadly school for magic beings where allies and connections can make the difference between death and graduation (high school is rough)--whether it's the school and it's monsters trying to get the students or each other for survival. Loner Galadriel "El" inadvertently finds frenemy-ship with the class hero, Orion Lake, who has saved at least 600 students since his enrollment. Scholomance may have moving staircases, but unlike Hogwarts death can come at you at any moment (oh wait...); there are enclaves rather than districts like Hunger Games, but enclaves don't work together among themselves for survival (oh wait...); unlike Lord of The Flies, kids don't go around deliberately killing each other off (oh wait...); there's a void filled with monsters, but unlike Stranger Things, there isn't a main character named El who reluctantly tries to stop the monsters from destroying everything (oh wait...).
Overall, the world building was somewhat creative (see above) with descriptions of vicious monsters that feed off students. El was a difficult character to like, but I was definitely rooting for her and the unexpected partnership with Orion. Because the narrative is first-person from El's perspective, there is a significant limit on other POVs, which may add to the narrow view of languages, cultures, and enclaves. El is half-British, half-Indian, raised by her mother, who is a healer. El is isolated from much of the outside world because of a deadly premonition from her grandmother, and she is of a lower-class than her well-off, enclaved peers. As a result, El is prickly, standoffish, and sarcastic, which is woven throughout the narrative, but also generous and loyal to those who genuinely help her. Overall, the book was a fine, distracting read (didn't love it, didn't hate, just ok) with a catching cliffhanger (guess I'll have to read the 2nd one).

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy of A Deadly Education.

You know how we all dreamed of going to Hogwarts after reading HP? Well, imagine the opposite and you’ve got the Scholomance. No teachers to protect you and no holidays home. This school is full of mal, monsters that are constantly trying to kill and eat you. We see all of this from the prospective of El, and woo does she have a lot to tell us.

I definitely enjoyed parts of this book, like her interactions with other students as she slowly formed friendships, and the action scenes with fighting the mals BUT there was so much back story and inner monologue that it just lagged the story down the entire time. There’s too much and it read like a history book of magic and enclaves- so much with the enclaves, that I started internally groaning every time she brought it up. This book would have been a really fun read with some major editing, but as it, it was a struggle to get through a lot of it. I appreciate the world building but prefer to be shown, not told. With that ending, I’ll definitely read the next in the series, but I was disappointed in this one overall.

Oh man; I did not like this book as much I thought I would. And I really did want to love it - having fallen for Novik's previous work, Spinning Silver. THAT one I would recommend over and over again. "A Deadly Education"...? Well here is what I took issue with:

1. Nothing happened, plot-wise. THERE WAS SO MUCH EXPOSITION. There was personally barely any build-up to climatic event (unless you count the predictable one in Chapter 12) and majority of the novel spent its time building the main character's backstory. This hindered my enjoyment as since this is part of a series, most world-building is often reserved for the second instalment and the first serves to draw the reader in, usually through something exceptionally exciting. Said exciting thing was missing here.

2. The romance was lukewarm. Orion Lake and El, our narrator, are clearly meant to be together, and then there is this sudden revelation in the final chapter (no spoilers, don't worry) - but the revelation is jarring vis-a-vis the rest of the relationship. Aside from some snarky remarks and Orion's hero-to-the-rescue complex, no real tension is built - romantic or otherwise.

3. Cultural insensitivities. The use of the word "mana". The term "mana" derives from Polynesian tradition (yet is never credited as such). Throughout the novel, El constantly refers to her mana (which is a supernatural power that can be inherited or transmitted). El is annoyed that she has to learn Marathi (her mother's language) and reminds the readers that English and Mandarin are the languages we REALLY need to know. Some characters have non-Western names but could have been easily named "Tom" or "Sally" for the lack of depth given to them.

And do not get me started on how the novel feels highly derivative of Harry Potter. I know that Harry Potter, as a cultural standpoint, seeps into the imagination whenever there is any novel that attempts to portray a magical school to train budding wizards. I acknowledge my bias here. BUT THE SETTING IS LITERALLY A MAGICAL SCHOOL THAT TRIES TO KILL ITS STUDENTS.

I wanted so much more. I really wanted to love this. This was a miss for me.

Thank you to Penguin Random House and Net Galley for this #gifted ebook in return for an honest review.

This is my first Naomi Novik book and it sounded right up my alley. A magical school? Check. Drama? Check. Great premise? Check again. In practice, there was some rambling that made me not sure I was willing to read the second book. I felt like I really needed to invest in the world building and I'm not sure it was worth it. Did I like the book? Yes. Did I love it? No.

Naomi Novik’s latest fantasy series takes place in a magical school located in the Void, called the Scholomance. There are no teachers, homework and textbooks seem to appear as students need them and cast spells to bring them. There are no Houses, but there are enclaves from major areas like New York and London – and every spellcaster in that school is jockeying for a position in them. Oh, and there are demons and monsters wandering around the school waiting to kill you. Or your fellow students will, if you’re too much of a threat. You think a Zoom graduation stinks? The Scholomance graduation is when all the monsters rush the seniors as they try to leave the building. It’s an all-out brawl for survival to graduate, because to graduate is to live. Enter El, short for “Galadriel”, a half-Indian, half-Welsh magic user with incredible destructive power. She’s also misanthropic to the point of mania, in part because of a rough childhood (see: destructive power) and the fact that her father died protecting her pregnant mother at graduation.

But El realizes she’s got to make friends to survive, and a shining knight named Orion Lake, the school good guy, is determined to get through that antisocial exterior. He saves her life multiple times, to her frustration, but she also discovers that his good deeds are causing major fallout in the school – and a group of students have to come together to set things right.

While I loved the premise of the “dark magic school”, I didn’t fully connect with A Deadly Education. El got on my nerves quickly as the “lone wolf” schtick wore me out; Orion’s stubborn insistence on being the good guy grated, and there were moments when the book just didn’t move forward for me. I normally love Naomi Novik’s writing, but this one wasn’t my book.

A Deadly Education has starred reviews from BookPage and Publishers Weekly.