This book grabs you and takes you on a ride. I was a bit confused with the magic system in the beginning, because I am normally a thriller/ horror reader. This book grabs you and you are captured by the characters. Can't wait to read books two and three. Thank you to the publisher for my honest review. 4 stars

Who knew magic boarding schools could be so dark and deadly, and still wizards are willing to go any length to get in and consider themselves lucky when they are chosen?
This Scholomance universe is truly something else!
I have read only the first book of the trilogy, A Deadly Education, so far, and I can't wait to know more about El, Orion and the others in the next ones.

Naomi Novik is a tough author for me, but in a good way.
Kind of like the brilliant teacher that you feel lucky to have, but she explains the lesson too fast for you to truly follow. And while you debate if you are smart enough to deserve such a great teacher and if you are getting too behind with the program, you find yourself trusting her ways and going with the flow (and I am not a "go-with-the-flow" kind of person, bye bye comfort zone!). All of a sudden you realize that you learnt all the lessons without even knowing it and the whole program makes a big huge sense in one gulp! As if she were there, the Author / Teacher, looking at me, with that "I knew you could do it" reassuring smile.
She overwhelmes and then soothes me.

A Deadly Education is narrated from the point of view of Galadriel, a teenage sorceress admitted to the Scholomance: a high school for wizards, but forget High School Musical or Hogwarts. The Scholomance is a creepy school, where, if you don't make alliances and you don't pay attention to every weird detail out of place, a mal will come and feed on you. If you get into the Scholomance, it's more likely that you will die there.
Then why should you want to go? Because the odds of surviving mals are even less favourable if you are a wizard and you don't go to the Scholomance. Life for young wizards is that hard, unless you train at the Scholomance and find an enclave where to live the rest of your of life more safely.

Back to "A Deadly Education"... how brilliant is the incipit? El writing:"I decided that Orion Lake needed to die after the second time he saved my life."
How can you not want to know more about El and Orion?

The first chapter is so intense! So much information all at once. It’s like making the acquaintance of a super-chatty person who launches herself into a monologue about her life after the first minute of knowing her. Overwhelming. But since El is such an interesting person, you brave through and keep your focus to make sure you don’t miss any important information. This girl will go places and you want to be knowingly there when it happens.
I liked that, as in the other Novik's book I read (Uprooted), her main character is a girl who is struggling to fit, who has a gift that is perceived as a negative trait, so she learns to control it and hide it. It makes me hope that by the end of the series she will have figured out how to use it positively, by paving a new road to good magic and finally feeling well in her own shoes.

Only one regret: I would have loved to hear Orion’s point of view every once in a while, but I trust as usual that it will all make sense in the end and I have to be more patient about finding out the whole story of Orion and his motives.

Some loose ends keep me wanting to find out if they will be tackled in the next books or just dropped and, of course, how will El, Orion and their allies make it out alive? Will they all make it out alive.

I might never find out how Naomi Novik's quickly turns books that I feel estranged from into page turners that keep awake at night, but I am so glad to keep being absorbed by her universe and her characters. Such truly amazing concepts and endearing souls: I can't wait to read them all!

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

“Getting attached to anyone in here except on practical terms is like sending out an engraved invitation to misery, even if you don’t pick out an idiot who spends all his time hurling himself into danger.”

Life in author Naomi Novik’s wizarding world is no piece of cake. Young wizards are particularly tasty to evil maleficaria creatures who prey on them for their power: a type of energy called mana. Galadriel “El” Higgins is no exception. She has no connection to any of the powerful enclaves that bind mana and power affinities for protection during her four-year stay in the Scholomance—an unusual high school overridden with maleficaria. El has an affinity for mass destruction and a snarky attitude that makes it difficult for others to trust her, especially considering her grandmother’s prophecy that El will destroy the world. However, El has a plan to lay low to survive, store mana in her mother’s crystals, and then impress the enclave members with a massive display of her power before graduation. But a wrench is thrown into her plot when golden boy Orion Lake repeatedly saves El’s life and sends her into turmoil.

Although the impeccable world-building initially drew me in, the characters ultimately made the story a disappointment. The Scholomance is a unique setting: built into the magical void to stay hidden, the school doesn’t have teachers and is full of evil creatures trying to eat the students. However, all El and her friends do is fight these creatures with no regard for character development or relationship building. El is an unlikable, antisocial heroine with a terrible attitude. While Novik attempts to peel back El’s layers, this is accompanied by an unparalleled amount of El’s complaining and bickering. Most of the book consists of El being rude to Orion, who continues to follow her around despite her behavior alienating him from the all-mighty New York enclave. There is no chemistry between the pair or satisfying release of their supposed romantic tension. My main problem with the novel is how unrealistic the characters’ behavior is considering their perilous situation. El details this plan to join an enclave to ensure her survival, yet she is unnecessarily rude and snarky to both enclave and non-enclave students. El’s only redeeming quality is her vow not to turn evil and employ her affinity for mass destruction. Her struggle to stay “good” is an interesting internal dilemma, especially considering how powerful she could be if she tapped into her full potential. Although teenagers are not supposed to be entirely rational, I would have liked the students to be more realistic in their fight to stay alive through graduation.

This is likely to appeal to fans of the "magical school genre". While the world building up front was sometimes a but of a slog to get through, the characters were a delight to spend time with. El is a complex and interesting protagonist and it's easy to be in her head. I'll definitely pick up the other 2 books in the series, especially since this one ends on a bit of a cliffhanger.

From the leading talent in fantasy, comes a magical trilogy, with a female anti-hero at its centre. Let me introduce you to a dangerous school for the magically gifted where fairly means certain death until one girl begins to rewrite it’s rules. Enter a school of magic unlike any you have ever encountered. There are no educators, no way our and friendships are merely strategic, and the odds of survival are never equal. Once you’re inside, there are only two ways out: you graduate or you die.

Our protagonist is uniquely prepared for the schools many dangers though she may be without allies, she possesses a dark powers string enough to level mountains and wipe out untold millions. Never mind easily destroying the countless monsters that prowl the schools magical hallways. Except she may accidentally kill the other students as well so she does everything she can to avoid using such dark magic. Unless she has no other choice.

With a flawless mystery surrounding the school and epic world-building this author creates a heroine for the ages. A character so sharply realised and so richly nuanced that she may live on in the hearts and minds of generations to come. She expertly crafts a character and world where she undoes expectations about magical schools, heroes prophesied with a destiny and deadly family legacies. An epic book about what it means to be monstrous and the ability to hold onto our humanity when all hope appears lost.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group for an advanced reader copy via NetGalley of A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik

I’m not sure how it took me so long to find out about this book and read it, but I’m so glad that I finally did! I really enjoyed the main character, El — she was snarky and grouchy and I felt like I could really relate to her. I especially loved how, as the narrator, her character went into so much detail about literally everything, as that helped me imagine the school and her surroundings and peers. I really didn’t want the book to end but loved how this part of the story was wrapped up and how the story for the next book was introduced.

I'm grateful to have had the chance to read this book, and I fully plan to dive into the next two books. This is exactly the type of "fun" YA series I was obsessed with as a teenager - a little prickly, a lot dark, and with a rich, interesting world. At times I wondered if the world building wasn't TOO complicated, with just a few more mals then were actually necessary, but by the end I felt very immersed in the reality of the school. It worked for me, definitely.

I just went out and acquired the next two books in the series, which is the strongest endorsement I can give.

I plan to publish my review on goodreads for all three books once I have finished the series. Thank you for the opportunity to read and review!

5⭐️ Set completely in a dark and twisted magic school for young wizards who are sent there to develop their magic and keep them safer from the monsters who seek to feast on their mana (magical energy). This dark academia has a cast of quirky characters who are trying to survive their time at The Scholomance. Having so many mana fueled wizards in one place is magnet for the monsters which their parents are trying to keep them safe from, left without teachers on a self directed learning journey, each student only has a small chance of making it out alive on graduation day. Not only are the students fighting the monsters but they are fighting each other to make sure they are the ones who survive.

I absolutely LOVED this book!

Written in a single POV to help me feel like I was El (Galadriel), the main character, allowed me to completely immerse myself in this world. We hear El’s every thought, the good, the bad, and at times the deranged… and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it!

We follow two main characters, El (Galadriel) the outcast, who is grumpy, snarky, sarcastic and absolutely not interested in making friends or even tolerate human interaction. She’s had enough of people! And Orion, the privileged hero of one of the biggest enclaves (magical communities) who spends all his time saving his classmates and being fawned over. When these two cross paths the banter is fun and El’s snark fires freely.

I thoroughly enjoyed walking with El as she reluctantly started to collect allies. Watching as their strategic partnerships, designed to increase their chances of graduating safely, grew into friendships was deeply satisfying. I especially enjoyed the awkward relationship that she had with Orion who kept trying to save her when she absolutely wanted to save herself.

The story kept me intrigued the whole way through, rarely did I find myself predicting what was to come. I thoroughly enjoyed this aspect as I was constantly surprised.

The author created a complicated and interesting world with such a unique magic system. Due to the way that we were inside El’s head the whole story there was a tendency to throw a whole lot of information at us all at once, but I appreciated this as I wanted to understand this magic school as soon as possible.

A Deadly Education was an amazing first instalment to this trilogy, and El is now one of my favourite characters.

Galadriel (El) and Orion are both dorks and I love them. The prickly outcast girl and the golden boy hero are a snarky, overpowered, sometimes dumb as rocks duo that make for non-stop shenanigans, moments of heart, and all-around good fun. The sheer amount of information about the spooky school the Scholomance can get overwhelming, but it’s no big deal to skim a few paragraphs here and there.

Absolutely love Naomi's writing and imagination. Insane to think you would want to read a story about a school that is trying to kill you and you want to keep going to this school. Loved the characters and the whimsical nature.

The world building and magic system is SO COOL and smart and unique and I really enjoyed it. such a captivating world, and I haven’t felt similar about a book since the world of Harry Potter! Very happy I finally picked this one up.

While Naomi is a fantastic writer with an incredible imagination, the writing left some to be desired for me, and sometimes I found my eyes going a little cross eyed. There was a lot of descriptions and words and no white space. I personally prefer more talking and less Inner monologue / diary writing etc. but it was entertaining overall and unique. I wasn’t confident I’d want to read the next books in the series, but of course that ending piqued my interest and has me running to Libby to place the next book on hold.

Thank you to Naomi, NetGalley and Random House Publishing Bellatine for the gifted copy to read - all thoughts and opinions are mine and not influenced!

I really enjoyed this book! the beginning was too clogged with exposition dumps but the rest was lovely!!

This really should have been right up my alley, parodying The Chosen One tropes with dark adacemia? Yes please. I actually found the protagonist too sarcastic, and the satire hits a little too mean-girls for me. I didn't get very far so maybe things level out.

What an absolutely fantastic book, the characters, plot and setting were so intricately thought of and unique. It was such a beautiful book to read and I wish I could read it for the first time again.
It was such a magical book that took the reader on a journey through their fantastical plot.

4.75⭐️

A lot of info dumping within the first few chapters.
And very very long chapters, like 1 hour long chapters to be exact! No one need chapters this long, my monkey brain needs a break every 10 minutes.. 😅

But all this aside : I got to chapter 5 and went ahead and purchased the rest of the series because even 26% in I could see this was going to be one of my favourite magical reads.
I love the idea of moving classrooms and a sentient school. I love the unique magic system.

I don’t particularly love being in the EL’s mind. I do find her a little annoying if not frustrating at times, however I can overlook it because I really enjoyed the story itself.

I reeeeaaally wanted to like this as it's been recommended to me many times by different people and I liked the concept, but absolutely did not vibe with the writing style nor the FMC's inner dialogue. 🫣 I just felt like the plot wasn't really there for a long while, and the worldbuilding took way too long for me to feel anything about it. I might try out book 2 but not in the near future. 😭 This is my first Novik read, but I know I absolutely do want to try out other novels by the author as well.

This books is well written and interesting but I struggled to get into it. It has dark academia/fantasy vibes but for a younger audience. If you are into that you'll love this one. I like a little more action and less of the high school feel.

I give this book a 3 star. This book was very different then what I thought it was going to be. I think I let the book talk and hype excite me way to much. I was kind of disappointed as this book read more like a girls school diary. I did not hate this book by any means but it didn’t keep my attention like I had hoped it would. I found myself reading a few chapters of this book and the reading other books in between. I feel as though this book requires a certain type of reader. I will recommend it to those that would like books like this and encourage readers who like books with an educational feel to them to give this a try. Personally for myself I needed a little more action the what was given.

A deadly education is a blend of dark academia with fantasy. The characters are well developed and overall plot was intriguing. But the execution was done poorly for my liking.

The large info dump mostly occurred in between the action or something quite interesting and it disturbed the flow of the imagination. It was totally unnecessary, sometimes felt even forced to make the whole plot even more forlorn or menacing.

It felt like Harry Potter mixed up with some hunger game or Divergent set up making it even more stark and dark. Lot many things didn't really make sense even after the info dump.

Overall not a book for me but I might already start to read the second book atleast the starting few pages coz of that cliffhanger at the end.

Thank you Netgalley, Naomi Novik and Random House publishing group- Ballantine for providing me with ARC in exchange of an honest review.

This story follows Galadriel, a student in a school for magically gifted individuals where danger is common place. With no adults in the school, students must be responsible for their own learning while avoiding the mals- creatures drawn to magic that cause only harm and destruction. Students are forced to walk a fine line between finding allies to support them while also competing in the cuthroat environment. Unfortunately, Galadriel more often than not finds herself a loner due to a mix of how others perceive her and her less than desirable social skills. When a fellow junior throws off the balance with his actions, Galadriel and the entire school find themselves at even greater risk than anticipated. Even worse, Galadriel worries that her classmates actions might ultimately destroy her chances for success both in school and beyond.

This story takes the premise of Lord of the Flies but creates a very unique and interesting social structure. The characters are perfectly flawed and relatable, and the plot has good pacing. I am excited to see where this series goes next.