I feel as though I had extremely high hopes for this book and it ultimately fell flat for me. I think I could have skipped probably 200 pages of it and still understood the point of what was happening. The only thing that had me slightly interested was honestly the last sentence. I do plan on eventually trying the second book, because of the last sentence in this one, so we will see how that goes. This is my first book by NN and I do plan on trying more of her books, but it may be that her writing style isn’t for me. Only time will tell.

In A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik, lesson one: block off a large block of time when starting this series because you will not want to put it down -Damn, getting sleep and bathing. Hell, even food is optional. This book is so excellent it will grasp you around the neck and hold you tight. 

“READER, I RAN the fuck away.”

First off, let me set the scene. The first book of the trilogy, A Deadly Education, introduces us to our protagonist, Galadriel, and the school called Scholomance. Galadriel’s character reminds me of if I took Harry Potter and made the exact opposite of him in every way. 

If I constantly put him in dangerous situations, and Hogwarts continually tried to feed him to fluffy the three-headed dog, it would be Galadriel. The only similarity between them is at both of their cores, they have good hearts. But in Galadriel’s case, her heart is slightly darker and has terrifying magic and great snark armor. 

Scholomance is the wizarding school that Galadriel goes to. The survival rate for Scholomance is around 50%. You do not fail out; you are blown to bits, eaten, have your skin flayed off in strips, or suffer irreparable psychological damage. To graduate, you must run the gauntlet through an obstacle course of creatures from hell all bent on devouring your mind, body, and soul. Surviving Scholomance is just as much about luck and social station as it is about skill. 

“I love having existential crises at bedtime, it’s so restful.”

Imagine being a kid; maybe you are a bit shy or gawky. You come from humble beginnings. Now imagine that your ability to survive Scholomance depends on your family’s wealth or your power to be a suck-up. If you aren’t good enough at it, you will probably get eaten by the demons that roam the sacred halls. In Galadriel’s case, everyone hates her or is unnerved by her. They know something is off: dark queen vibes. What they don’t understand is that Galadriel has an immense amount of power. The kind that flattens cities and makes people slaves. Except that all she wants to be is left alone and not hurt anyone. How does she survive her junior year without harming anyone and not being eaten alive by the evils that roam the halls?

“You know, it’s almost impressive,” he said after a moment, sounding less wobbly. “You’re nearly dead and you’re still the rudest person I’ve ever met. You’re welcome again, by the way.”
“Given that you’re at least half responsible for this situation, I refuse to thank you,” I said.”

It has been a long time since I read something as engaging as A Deadly Education, and the series as a whole. I adored El, her snark, and her heart. She wants people to leave her alone, and instead of yelling at them to “get off my lawn,” people won’t leave her be. And things keep getting more complicated. There is a boy who is confusing to her. People start gravitating towards her and maybe want to be friends. What is this friend nonsense? 

Novik did an excellent job in crafting the characters and the school. You want to know them; there is enough teenageness to believe they are young adults grappling with hormones and who they are. But enough realism that they understand that the school and the demon-like creatures will eat them. 

Pick up A Deadly Education and get sucked in.

eARC provided by Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Del Rey, from NetGalley.
The premise of the book was right up my alley. I love the idea of a magical school, and it was definitely different from other books also centering around a magical education.
However the story did feel slow at times. I had a hard time reading for a long consecutive time, and there was a lot of info-dumping on the magical system, which meant that it was hard to understand at times.
The main character is annoying in the beginning. I understand that she has endured much hardship which has made her cynical, but at times it is a bit too much. However towards the end of the book I definitely start liking her more. Especially when she finally allows herself to joke with her new friends. I will indeed continue the series, and I am looking forward to learn what happens at her graduation.

it was really hard to get into, i had a hard time understanding the plot of the book. maybe since it was digital, i will probably try another time with paperback since my friends love this one.

What a gem in the fantasy genre! El, our main character, is unlikeable but ultimately loveable as she strives to survive her magical boarding school set on destroying all of its students. In this novel, you'll find character growth, found family, and some really interesting world-building. I found this to be a great combination of dark, smart, and exciting. The mechanics of the school and learning were fascinating to me, and I loved watching El navigate life there.

I can’t wait to dive into this series and really enjoy it. I’ll come back and provide a proper review once I’ve read it fully.

I finally get the hype behind this book, I understand why it’s not for everyone. Her writing style is very odd. I hated uprooted, but I can’t wait to see how this series continues.

I admit that when I first heard the plot description for this series, I sighed. "What if Hogwarts, but evil" is a pretty tired concept, much less in 2020, when the first volume in the trilogy, A Deadly Education, was published. And with a heroine whose description seemed to suggest a genderbent Kylo Ren, the whole thing seemed very aggressively Not For Me. It was a lucky break, then, that Novik included the entire trilogy in this year's Hugo voter packet, because this series turns out be both delightful and clever. The setting—a self-sustaining, self-contained school for wizards designed to protect them from the perils of the outside world, but which becomes its own death trap which only a small percentage of students manage to survive—is elaborately worked through, and the psychological cost of attending this school, in which students scramble for survival, make desperate alliances, and weigh the consequences of surrendering to the dark side for some extra power, are explored with a refreshing lack of sentimentality. Also refreshing is the series's heroine, who resists the pull of the dark less out of an innate desire to to do good as out of a furiously annoyed sense of ethics. By the time we get to the third volume, the elaborate worldbuilding has revealed a society that has locked itself, through technological choices made centuries ago, into a series of increasingly bad options, which makes for both a powerful environmental metaphor, and a satisfying villain for the heroine and her friends to tilt against.

If Hogwarts resided in Hell....

I definitely enjoyed this book. I am REALLY glad that I grabbed the audio because I am 99% certain that (like Ninth House) if I had read it, I would not have rated it so highly. The dialogue between characters feels more like a treat than an actual part of the novel. The main course is served directly from the thought process and detailed explanations coming from El, the MC. There is a LOT of details, a LOT of rules and a LOT of badass creatures that make for some pretty deadly situations. The school itself is like a lurking death trap for the kids inside. Basically be happy if you graduate and don't get caught alone. El is down to earth, sarcastic and carries a sadistically dark power. Her dry sense of humor actually had me chuckling more than I realized and her relationship with Orion is probably my favorite part (because thank god for dialogue moments).

The world building includes aspects of covens all over the world but the main setting is the school and I could see myself in the hallways as I read. Simplistic overall, but the informational aspects is where the lulls come flying in. The magic system is almost an easy to follow process but be ready to have it overshadowed by the mass amount of descriptives and rules that follow. It is pretty intense. Yet again, another reason I was thankful for audio. Characters are where the strong part of the novel existed for me (and monsters). In a place where the term 'friend' is a luxury, I enjoyed each connection that El unknowingly and in some cases unwantingly made. I think this is why the final 35% of the book is my favorite.

I am looking forward to book two more than I originally thought possible. I will be grabbing the audio for that as well. It really helped with the intricacies of words, spells and details. I also liked the narrator. While she came off a bit dry at first, I noticed the deeper I got into El's persona that the narrative voice just fit her.

If you are not into stream of consciousness narratives or an onslaught of detail dumps, this may not be for you. If you're on the fence I recommend grabbing the audio like I did. It's full of dark academia, covens, monsters and the underdog rising.

The way that I devoured this and immediately needed to get my hands on the next installment!

Dark academia & magic - sign me up. I really enjoyed this, and cannot wait to jump into the next installment.

Our protagonist is snarky and sarcastic which was so much fun, but at times it was a little over to the top.

There was also a lot of info-dumping for the world-building, which was thorough and I loved those details, but the extended exposition did get to be a lot after a while.

"I love having existential crises at bedtime, it's so restful"

It took me quite a while to read this book but it was AMAZING. It is a great introduction to the series with great characters and very extensive world building in less than 400 pages. The ending is also so abrupt and left on such a cliffhanger that it will leave you yearning for more. My only overall con about it is that sometimes it can get too dense due to the amount of world building it has and the way it is narrated.

A great series opener. I can see this as a teen and even a middle school novel if it weren't for the intermittent swearing. I love the intermittent swearing, just making a casual observation.

This series was recommended by a friend and I’m so glad I listened! It’s like dark academia meets a very twisted Harry Potter (think magical school) and I can’t read the rest of the books. The story follows El, attending Scholomance which is a school for the magically gifted, following in her parents’ footsteps. But every day is a lesson in survival because without teachers and friendships, every move is strategic and calculated as you try to make it to graduation before the school finds a way to kill you. El is powerful but what could save her classmates could also easily kill them but with the help of her new ally Orion, maybe both will make it out of there alive. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and can’t wait to see what’s next.
Thank you to Random House - Ballantine for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

A decent start to a dark academia fantasy trilogy. Our female lead is SUCH a hoot, she’s so unapologetically herself, and terrible at that. She made for a fun perspective to be in, but her constant inability to trust in others intentions slightly hurt the chances of what I believe is going to be the romantic pairing in the upcoming books. I can’t wait to see where the story takes me next.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! No spoilers. Beyond amazing I enjoyed this book so very much. The characters and storyline were fantastic. The ending I did not see coming Could not put down nor did I want to. Truly Amazing and appreciated the whole story. This is going to be a must read for many many readers. Maybe even a book club pick.

I received a free copy of A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik in exchange for my honest review.

This was a fun read!
It was also low effort so the time flew by, I read this in a couple of days and then the second in the series in just a day so very digestible and easy to binge
(If only gaining mana could be done like this)

El is a student at a magic school where barely anyone makes it out alive, and being a bratty rude peer is unsurprisingly not making her any friends, until it does.
Her character is a bit different from other heroine's/mcs in that she really does speak her mind and it does make for some funny reading. She's not saving anyone, nor does she want saving and you will get a elbow to the gut for it (luckily not one of her numerous death to all spells)
“So he had actually come to my rescue. That was even worse.”

Enter Orion -
The knight in shining armour of the school. And the object of El's resentment.
What could be a better recipe for a (light) enemies to lovers

Joining El and her friends on their journey of just surviving school where any number of monsters are trying to eat them at any time and everyone also thinking El's an evil witch seconds away from eating them was a pretty fun time

Overall I would rec this if you're looking for a YA magic school novel, while not being an entirely original idea this was done in an original way and it's worth the read, I would say this is definitely a foundation for the rest of the books and it can be a bit info dump-y. The narrative is quite conversational so keep that in mind if it isn't your thing

Relatable
“I love having existential crises at bedtime, it’s so restful”

I’m obsessed with this series. Dark and densely built fantasy world that turns its premise on its head more than once. I’m a sucker for a golden retriever boy x moody grumpy girl combo, and for fantasy worlds that are fully built out. This first one is exposition heavy, and at times it feels like the author is more interested in explaining her fantasy world than the actual plot, but I don’t even mind it because it’s so cleverly written and fascinating that I’m just along for the ride.

I enjoyed this book so much. What's not to love when you have a magical school that is trying to kill it's students. El is such a great character to read about and her interactions with Orion were so entertaining.

I am a big fan of Naomi Novik's other works but this quickly became one of my favorite's by this author. I just love the way she writes. You can tell that Novik put in a lot of time and thought into the story. I immediately wanted to read the next book in the series.

I would recommend this book to everyone I know

"A Deadly Education" by Naomi Novik offers a dark and thrilling take on the magic school genre, set in the perilous Scholomance. The protagonist, El Higgins, is a refreshingly unconventional character, navigating a world filled with dangerous creatures and treacherous alliances. Novik masterfully blends fantasy and horror elements, creating a gripping narrative, although the pacing sometimes falters. It's an engaging read for fans of fantasy who enjoy a darker, more survivalist twist.

This started out so good, and I bet it finishes well, but all the infodumping made it really hard to get through it. The premise is nice, there is lots of potential, but I need something to actually happen, and the infodumping turned me off, I really struggled to get through it, even though the actual story was pretty good. I will not continue this series.