HIGHLIGHTS
~you can be addicted to monster-hunting, actually
~mice make the best chaperones
~prickly cactus girl continues to have Feelings and Does Not Like It
~“Ohana means family. Family means no one gets left behind. Or forgotten.” is a VIBE
~when the system tries to break you, break the system

Spoilers ahead for A Deadly Education! Please don’t read on if you haven’t read the first book!

Reader, I finished The Last Graduate in a single day.

I forgot to drink and I ignored the bathroom. I turned off my computer and my phone to prevent any interruptions. I ignored work (fortunately, it was a slow work day). If the hubby hadn’t pushed a bowl of dinner into my lap I wouldn’t have eaten – and as it was I ate one-handed, so I could use my other to hold up the book and keep reading.

Putting it down – taking myself away from the story even for a moment – was simply not an option.

A Deadly Education seemed to be a love-it-or-hate-it book, with the deciding factor being El’s first-person narration. I loved it; I found it incredibly compelling, and I adored El herself. And I adored her even more throughout The Last Graduate, as we followed her along what’s clearly a carefully planned out character-arc, one that I found so painfully believable and heartbreaking and hopeful all at once.

The book opens with El in a much better position than she was in at the beginning of Education; she has an alliance with brilliant artificer Aadhya and ex-maleficer Liu, and a priceless spellbook containing, among other things, the spells for creating the all-important enclaves whose existence and ownership are at the heart of every aspect of wizard society. She and Orion, the golden boy of the New York enclave and legendary monster-slayer, are friends, with the tentative agreement to have a go at being more than friends if they both make it out of the school. And there’s Chloe, another New York enclaver, who is not quite a friend, but is waking up to the fact that the incredible privilege she’s known as an enclaver isn’t fair, and comes at a very, very steep cost for people who are not her.

Considering that El has never had anyone willingly spend time with her except for her mum, this is A Lot.

The Last Graduate covers what should be El’s last year at the Scholomance; she and her friends have survived to be seniors. But the hard work’s really just begun, because once they complete their finals, every last minute has to go into training with their alliances, facing off against the ever-changing obstacle course in the gym in the hope that their preparation will get them through graduation day alive. None of them know for sure whether the previous year’s seniors made it out, whether the graduation hall has been cleansed – for the first time in a century – of monsters, or whether all those rabidly-starving mals are still down there and waiting. And as the icing on the cake, the Scholomance seems to be out to get El specifically, giving her a deadly class schedule, trying to trick her into being stuck learning a new language at the last minute, and throwing every mal it has at her.

But.

I really want to call The Last Graduate a hopepunk book, because although the Scholomance seems designed to pit students against each other – to discourage friendship, love, sharing, genuine emotional connections of all kinds – to instil a survival first and only mentality in everyone who enters its doors – The Last Graduate is very much about flipping that fucking table. As incredible (and addictive) as A Deadly Education was, it was pretty heavy on the despair; The Last Graduate is about refusing to give in to despair, even when despair lays you out over and over. It’s about giving the system a finger, both the system that is trying to kill you, and the system that is trying to seduce you with safety and luxury and never having to be hurt again. And it is about the grit-your-teeth-till-they-break, dig-in-your-heels-till-they-bleed determination to make things better, no matter what it costs you.

It’s also about a prickly cactus learning that she really isn’t a cactus at all, that she wants to be good and has a heart made of caramel, actually. That she’s allowed to ask for help. That she has value.

That maybe everyone has value, actually.

(And what the fuck are you supposed to do with that, when you’ve been training yourself from day one not to care for the people around you, because if you care it just means you’ll be destroyed when the monster-school you’re all in kills them?)

It’s really hard to talk about this book without giving away massive spoilers; all the twists and turns, all the reveals, are absolutely incredible, but you should go in not knowing what they are. I can’t talk about the incredible subversions Novik pulls, all the things that made me want to punch the air and cheer. There is so much that is darkly, or not-so-darkly, hilarious; there is Precious, who I defy you not to adore; there are so many moments that are humbling, that will bring you to tears. Your heart will pound so fast, and you will scream, and you will want to shake some characters and jump up and down screaming with delight with others. You will be so proud of them; you will be so scared for them; you will be at the edge of your seat and I will be stunned if you can put this book down – as I said, I couldn’t. Not even for a minute.

If you loved A Deadly Education? Then you will love The Last Graduate. It really is that simple. I will be stunned if you don’t love it more than A Deadly Education – I did, do, and I didn’t think that was possible. If you liked El in the previous book, you will adore her in this one. If you hated the Scholomance, you need to read this book. If you want to see what happens with the familiars, with Orion, with the mals, with El’s alliance – you need to read this book. If you want to understand the threat and the promise that is that title – The Last Graduate, indeed – you need to read this book.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m just going to sit here and SCREAM until we get book three!

It's taken me a bit to form a coherent opinion about this book - the cliffhanger at the end, just wow. It's going to be an agonizing wait for the next book!

The Last Graduate picks up exactly where A Deadly Education left off, and in my opinion, thankfully does NOT suffer the oftentimes weird pacing issues from "middle book syndrome" - this book had me glued to the page every second from beginning to end. El feels true to her character still from the first book, and I enjoyed watching her relationships with friends and Orion (and others) change and grow.

Thanks so much for the advance copy, and TRUST me.... I'm eagerly (or obsessively) waiting for the next already!

The Last Graduate picks up right where A Deadly Education left off. Galadriel and the new class of graduating seniors don’t know whether the previous class made it through the school’s ravenous hoard of maleficaria alive—but they’re going to spend the next year sharpening their alliances and training for the worst.

I fell in love with El and her dark humor in the first book, and the sequel was no exception. We see her new relationships really transform from alliances of convenience into something deeply meaningful. Novik also delves into the rich history of scholomance, the politics of the enclaves outside of the school’s walls, and the more complex mechanics of magic. And like the first book, most of the real action doesn’t happen until the very end. While I love how Novik spent time building this super detailed world and giving us more character backstories, it also made the book feel a bit slow. Overall, I wished there was more action and movement throughout. I was also a bit perplexed by El’s relationship with Orion. He was pretty exasperating during the entire book and El basically treats him like a moody, irresponsible child. Orion’s overall lack of maturity and insight—compared to El’s self-control and sharp observations—just did not have me buying their relationship. This bothers me because it's obviously crucial to the story, and probably even more so in the next book. I wish Novik spent as much time building out their relationship as she did on the others.

Despite some of its shortcomings, that glorious ending had my heart racing and mind spinning—and it made it all worth it. I will happily dangle on this cliff until the third book comes out. So excited to see where Novik takes this brilliant series next!

The Last Graduate is everything I wanted in a sequel to A Deadly Education. I adore El and her entire voice and attitude and character so much. The Scholomance is a scary and intense place to be, and El was put to the test hardcore. I loved every second of it. I love how each character has their own challenges and struggles and has to use so much ingenuity to solve problems and stay the hell alive in this place. The creativity, energy, and mental fortitude required of every single student in that place is unimaginable. I love how El doesn't give Orion (or anyone else) any slack whatsoever and doesn't let them get away with bullshit. But at the same time she can bring people together in such powerful and meaningful ways that showcase her strength and the intensity they're all facing in that death trap. I don't know how much more I can say without just spewing out spoilers, so let's such say I FREAKING LOVED IT and OH MY GOD THAT ENDING. I need the next book like YESTERDAY.

The sequel to A Deadly Education begins right where the first book left off, with Elle, Orion, and friends in their last year at Scholomance and newly determined to save as many students as they can. Elle becomes the focus of nearly all the monsters in the school now that she has used her powers to protect other students. With the help of her former rivals, she plans an escape from the deadly school for all of the students. The Last Graduate avoids some of the mistakes of the first book (accidental racism) but continues others (info dumps, uncomfortable romances, joltingly sudden changes and endings). One interesting thread from the first book, Orion's ability to produce manna by stealing it from monsters, gets some development, but this thread is cut off in service to a romance that rings false and feels shoehorned in to create symmetry. Fun but ultimately empty, The Last Graduate left me uninterested in a potential third book.

El has spent years pushing everyone away as she struggled to survive the brutal magical education meted out by the Scholomance. With the help of a few good friends and one annoyingly heroic semi-boyfriend, she learned to trust others and wield her terrifying abilities for good. This starts to give her all kinds of dangerously hopeful ideas about surviving graduation with her body and soul intact, maybe even getting her friends out. But the Scholomance has been eating young wizards for centuries, and it still has a few cruelties to dole out. El's grumpy quips keep things from getting too dark despite the eldritch nightmares.

This review is based on an eARC (Advance Reader Copy) provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The Last Graduate will be released on September 28, 2021. 

Naomi Novik’s A Deadly Education may not have been the best book I read last year, but the action-packed dark magic school novel was certainly one of the most fun, with a tantalizing ending that made The Last Graduate one of my most-anticipated sequels of 2021. And it absolutely lives up to expectations, bringing more of everything that made A Deadly Education great while expanding the scope and providing another excellent hook for book three. 

[Note: I will try to avoid significant spoilers for both A Deadly Education and The Last Graduate in this review.]

The Last Graduate begins in the same scene where A Deadly Education finished, as El and her class prepare to begin their final year at the Scholomance. This also represents the first influx of new students since the series began, and with them trickles in news of the outside world. Of course, anything from the outside world is bound to be forced onto the backburner as the students undertake another year of trying to survive random monster encounters and preparing for the large-scale survival battle that is graduation. But, even amidst the monsters and the teenage angst, The Last Graduate nevertheless begins to delve deeper into how the outside world affects what happens in the school, and how what happens in the school may affect the outside world. 

Honestly, it’s hard for me to imagine any fan of A Deadly Education not loving The Last Graduate. It includes and expands on everything that made the first book great. El learning how to relate to other people? Yep—she continues building the relationships that began in A Deadly Education and forges a host of new ones. Monsters behind every corner, and a big, climactic fight scene? Check and check. The distribution of threats has changed, but El still has plenty to fight, and the finale was enough to top the nail-biting closer from the first book. Exploration of inequality in magical society? Even deeper than in book one, as the influx of outside news begins to illustrate the rivalries between enclaves and their consequences, pushing beyond (although not putting aside) the rich kid/poor kid distinction from the first book. And The Last Graduate throws itself headlong at the problem of why parents would intentionally send their children to a murderous magic school—and, even worse, send them with the message that only the selfish survive—an issue that was addressed in the first book but still created some difficulty with suspension of disbelief. 

The Last Graduate is not without its flaws, but all of them were baked in from the beginning of the series, so anyone who was able to look past them in A Deadly Education will probably do so again here. There is a bit of a lull in the middle, but anyone who has read 300 pages of El’s meandering narration understands that the fight scenes will be seasoned with long digressions into backstory. It won’t be all action all the time, but El’s narrative voice is strong enough to carry the slow parts, just as it was in the first book. Similarly, the fairly monocultural magical world—with diversity mostly limited to obvious ethnic or linguistic markers—may be disappointing, but it’s hardly unexpected after seeing the same in A Deadly Education. And the enormously overpowered leads may feel a little over-the-top at times, but anyone who read about the exploits of Orion and El in the first book knows exactly what to expect in the sequel. 

On the whole, The Last Graduate doesn’t fix all of the flaws of the first book, but it keeps all of the fun, moves the relationships forward, and expands the scope, ultimately delivering a heart-pounding installment with a satisfying conclusion of its own and an excellent hook for yet another step forward in book three. 

Recommended if you like: magic schools, prickly protagonists learning how to live with other people, meandering first-person narration, lots of monster-fighting. 

Overall rating: 16 of Tar Vol’s 20. Four stars on Goodreads.

Oh, thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC but man oh man---how long until we get the next one?!?!?!?! I don't think I can wait until next year! That ENDING! What the heck! This was a great sequel, I was so involved the book practically read itself. I love El even more now. But I just do not know if I can handle this cliffhanger. I might need emotional support.

This book follows the same pattern as the first. The ramblings of our protagonist, the relationships she makes (or doesn't make), and the plan to save the world... maybe.
I flew through the first half of the book and had to slug through the middle, but was able blow through the end! I'm so glad Orion and El finally bucked up and processed their emotions, BUT I wanna know why El's Mom wanted her to stay away from Orion!

The Last Graduate is an engaging continuation of the Scholomance trilogy. Picking up where A Deadly Education ended, El and her friends must deal with the consequences of the first book and prepare for graduation. The students in The Last Graduate must use the rules of the school to find a way to break those rules in order to survive. The Last Graduate is an exciting and engaging read, and I am looking forward to seeing where the trilogy goes from here.

I am kind of mad that I read this before the third book is out because that ending!! I need more ASAP! It was great to be back with El, Orion and the rest of the crew.

The Last Graduate exceeded my expectations as A Deadly Education's sequel. Usually in the 2nd installment of a trilogy, authors stick with a lot of what made the first so good; think Catching Fire and how it was just a 'bigger and better' Hunger Games which prepared us for the real switch-up that came in the finale. I expected something similar here. I expected there to be the usual summer break I got used to when reading series like Harry Potter - a few month timeskip where the next book drops us right in the middle and we naturally learn about all that's changed for our characters. Instead, The Last Graduate puts the reader basically where the last book left off - right after the student's attempt to fix the cleansing machinery. Instead of a nice summer vacation to lick their wounds, we learn that in the scholomance there is no summer vacation, because of course, it's the scholomance. This sets the break neck speed for the rest of the novel.

The plot structure for this book seemed so clear, I expected there to be another buildup to a big battle at the end where all the characters we've come to love band together to exit the graduation hall. I expected Orion and Galadriel to finally hash out their feelings because they may never see each other again. I expected El to somehow use her powers to even the playing field with the enclavers and their privilege. The plot for this book could have written itself, and Naomi Novik tweaked things in a way I never anticipated, that I rejected at first, but came to love after giving it a chance. We still got everything I rifled off above, just in ways I didn't expect. To me that's one of skills that shows mastery of craft - giving the readers what they want in a way they didn't realize they could have it.

The Last Graduate is not what you'll expect, but I promise it delivers just as much as it's predecessor.

Thank you Naomi Novik, Random
House Publishing and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this title. All opinions are my own!

Wizards, monsters, a school with no teachers and a precariously high death rate. A prickly main character who kicks butt in equal measure. Let’s get into it.

Galadriel (El, for short) is a 17 year old witch in a dark and frightening world where young wizards escape into a magical school for both training and to avoid certain doom at the hands of hungry monsters. In the second installment in the Scholomance series, El has tied down a formidable alliance for graduation. She’s still in an adorably charming love-to-hate, will-they-won’t-they relationship with Orion Lake. But now… the rest of the students know that she’s a dangerous time bomb of a witch just waiting to go off. Even so, they might just need her to survive.

The first book in this series was my first ever read by Naomi Novik, and I struggled very similarly with her writing style during this one as I did in the first. Most of the narrative is El launching into a stream of consciousness, even while she is in the midst of a conversation. There are aspects of this that are really charming, namely that El is funny and relatable in her ramblings. However, it makes it entirely too easy to check out during world building, info dumpy streams, and the next thing you know, you’ve lost track of what’s going on. It’s also difficult to separate sometimes what is a story from the past and what is happening in the present. This style is just not something I’ve been able to get over, and it’s taken a lot away from it for me.

This being said, it was an interesting ride to follow along in El and her friends story for survival and a hopeful future after graduation. There’s lots of adventure, and undeniably delightful and laugh out loud funny conversations between our leading lady and her love interest. However, I also think it is important to address that the first book in this series caught a lot of heat for being racist, and rightfully so, as it was undeniably problematic and hurtful to many communities. While it is great that Novik responded to this and promised to remove various sections from printing going forward, she has not solved the problem of utilizing a diverse cast and multi-lingual speakers for brownie points rather than illustrating these characters and cultures meaningfully. I was disappointed by this to say the very least.

If you think you can get down with this writing style and the premise sounds interesting to you, you might pick up this series and like it. If you do, just definitely be mindful and think critically about the problems with the “diversity” attempts. If you suspect you might be like me, you’ll probably mainly enjoy the witty narratives and banter with the LI, and so you might skip it. At the end of the day, I’m giving this book 2.75/5 stars.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC!

I had just finished A Deadly Education (talk about a cliffhanger ending!) when I received this ARC to read. I was SO excited because timing couldn't be any better!

The Last Graduate picks up exactly where A Deadly Education left off. I liked that it did that, I felt like I didn't miss out on anything AND A Deadly Education ended on a cliffhanger so it was nice to pick right back up.

I found The Last Graduate just as entertaining and magical as the first book. It most definitely did not flop like some sequels have known to do. The writing was consistent and I've become a fan of Naomi Novik's work.

A brilliant and humorous sequel that lives up to the hype of the first book. The cliffhanger ending will leave you desperate for the next book in the Scholomance series. Noami Novik's character's are bright, synical. and witty, a delight to read and her magic school is no Hogwarts, but it's got the charm to blow other magic schools right into the void!

The Last Graduate continues right where A Deadly Education left off, and sees our characters through their senior year, through graduation.

If you enjoyed the first book, I'm quite sure you will enjoy this one too, and in equal measure. The story, writing style, the world, characters, all continue in the same vein with raised stakes,

El and Orion are still the most awkwardly perfect and clueless pairing ever. In this book, we get to see how their relationship as well as all of El's other friendships and alliances grow and become stronger.

El herself continuously gets stronger as she embraces her powers and starts to except herself as who she is instead of who she thinks she is or how she wants to portray herself to others.

The world of the school is still incredibly well put together. And in this book, we get more understanding into the workings of the school and its history. This is easily my favorite part of these books. I find Scholomance so intriguing and imaginative.

Similar to the first one, though possibly more so, this is not the fastest book, you don't get to the crux of the issue until about 70% in. Some of the worries of the characters, the plotting they do, etc gets thrown out the window as soon as you get to this point, but I guess that's how life is as well, making plans until you're thrown a curve ball and you have to start all over. Even in the slower parts there's a lot to enjoy, mainly thanks to the very strong world building of the school.

The meandering, segue-heavy, stream-of consciousness, way of writing that the author does is possibly even more prominent in this one (or at least it felt more obvious to me). So if you don't enjoy that style of writing, that's something to take note of.

That cliffhanger ending will have you yelling at the book, and wishing the next one was out already. I sure don't know how I'm gonna wait a whole year.

Overall, a strong continuation of the Scholomance world that will drag you deeper into it. It will have you guessing as to what will happen next, and leave you wanting more.

** 4.5 stars **

Wow

What story. What a Cliffie!!

I ask for forgiveness. I had a really hard time getting into the last book (or the first book in this series). I found that it was slow and weighted down by the possibility of the unneeded backstory of the history of the world of magic that Novik created. It all seemed so extraneous and slowed the story down. Having read the two books back-to-back, the harmony of it works overall between just these two books when it comes to the history of world-building. What I thought was a slow plot in book 1, is a nonstop adventure to try to escape the school alive.

Novik somewhere along the way changed my perspective of this school that is suppose to be protecting magical children from a magical prison meant to as Mal food trough to a school that is trying to make children stronger to face the mals. It all happened by giving glimpses beyond what was expected. It was that subtle storybuildling that she had done throughout the two books.

All of the characters really grow and find themselves in this book and while there are moments that are awkward, they are teens that have spent over 4 years trapped in a school fighting for their lives, romance was the last thing any of them thought about. So those moments are rather catch perfect in which they take place, embarrassment and feelings of "where do we go from here".

This book totally saved this series for me and with its ending of a Cliffie. . . Man, oh, man it's going to be hard to wait to see what happens next. The book left me feeling on the verge of so much hopefulness and wonder for El and Orion, but in the next sentence speechless. I really need to know that these two make their dreams come true. You have won me over NNovik. You got me to the end as always.

** Thank you to NetGalley, Del Ray, and the author for the opportunity to review an advanced copy of this book. The opinions are my own and were not influenced by others. **

I don't have the right words for this book. The first in the series was one of the defining books of 2020 for me - a perfect balance of anger and hope. This one kicks the stakes up even further, as our heroine, El, learns more about what her true purpose in the world could be, as she starts looking at systemic rather than individual injustice, and what it takes to reimagine a world entirely. There are surprises and connection and ratcheting tension throughout the book, and then you get to the end and AAAAAAAAAAH I HATE YOU NAOMI NOVIK PLEASE WRITE/RELEASE THE NEXT BOOK IMMEDIATELY (jk I love you but seriously you have Done Things with this book that must be resolved before I can move on with life).

What an incredible sequel! I know Novik's writing best through Uprooted and Spinning Silver. While I knew that she had another successful series, I'd never experienced her ability to follow through with a story before. WOW. This was such a great follow up to A Deadly Education and ends on such a fantastic cliffhanger that I'm in agony waiting for the third book.

I so enjoyed <i>A Deadly Education</i> and couldn't wait to start this one: what would happen next at the Scholomance? This has less about the school classes and set-up and more about how the school itself works. We have the induction part, which is a little glossed over, and then we're into senior year. El and her two friends seem set to be ready to try to survive graduation, and honestly, what better metaphor for graduation than fighting monsters while trying to get to the real world? Oliver is off being, well, Oliver. And then things don't seem to be right. El notices changes from what usually happens (or what students have been told usually happens) and slowly figures out what to do, and then has to convince everyone to follow her. How her Dark Prophecy will affect all that isn't explored, but the nature of friendship and teams and teenage angst and working partnerships are, in ways that may not seem to be lessons but that teens will respond to. I can't wait for the next book!!

eARC provided by publisher via Netgalley.