An excellent sequel and expansion of the world. The cliff hanger was a bit expected and yet still emotional. Looking forward to reading the conclusion.

Free copy received in exchange for an honest review.

Still snarky, still fun.

The Last Graduate continues on the same dark humor note as A Deadly Education. And right from the beginning, we can see that El will have a lot to deal with this year. Luckily, she is not alone anymore.

If I said that in the first book, I had trouble seeing how many students are actually in school. This book definitely fixed that problem. As the graduation nears, the alliances are being finalized and El, the past loner, is forced to interact with more and more people. Some she likes, some she can barely stand, some can barely stand her.

With so many new characters, El's and Orion's interactions get pushed into the background. I wish we have gotten more of their relationship right from the beginning, but later we get enough to make up for it.

There is also more focus on learning about the school itself. There is a lot of new mystery and discoveries. Some of those are quite game-changing.

This book probably even more than the first one deals with morality. Should you be selfish or risk your life for others? Especially in this place where selfishness became the norm. And one thing is thinking about how someone will behave in a crisis, but how will they actually behave? And are certain actions good if they have worse consequences? For a YA, this book delves quite deep into that area.

Also, can I say how glad I am that I finished just a few days before the third book comes out? Because I have no clue how I would survive waiting one year after reading that ending.

The second book might not have been as great as the first but still a 5* material. It did have a bit slower start, in my opinion, but the end really made up for it.

I absolutely loved this book as much as the first one! Makes me even more excited to read the conclusion. I love Naomi Novak, she never disappoints.

I loved this series so freaking much! Unique plot and tbe characters were phenomenal! I need more from this author!

I read The Last Graduate in November of 2021.

This trilogy is absolutely one of my favorites and The Last Graduate was probably my favorite of the 3 novels. Naomi Novik creates such interesting and complex characters. I love El and Orion's relationship. The ending of this was purely criminal and had me impatiently waiting for the conclusion to the series.

Perhaps not quite as strong a novel as the first in the series, but still an excellent book. Highly recommended.

This is one of the absolute best series I have read in a long time. You have to be prepared to stick it out through book one which I found to be slower paced than the subsequent books in the series. It’s dark and twisted in all the best ways and would be a great read for those looking for a more mature Harry Potter type read.

I loved a deadly education and the magical school setting but make it dark. The Last Graduate gets even darker. I really do like the characters but I know some people find El really unlikeable. I’m not a huge fan of massive cliffhangers but I’ll forgive it!

The Last Graduate picks up right where the previous book left off with a new term starting at the Scholomance. El continues to grow as a person and has taken on a new role as "babysitter" to a group of freshman. In between classes, protecting the new students, and Orion's suspicious behavior - El and her friends need to prepare for graduation and the sprint through the graduation hall. El's sarcasm and jaded mentality are still there, even as she starts to learn compassion for others. This was a great second book in the trilogy, and while some loose ends were tied up, other mysteries take their place.

Was a decent second instalment in the series, although the action dragged a bit in the middle the end more than made up for it.

When I read the Scholomance, I was in profusely disbelief that this series isn’t the biggest hit on social media. I’m honestly confused about how underrated Naomi Novik’s books are, because no amount of recognition seems enough to me.

The way the author constructed a magic system from zero was incredible. I’ve read a good share of fantasy books with magic included and this is like nothing I’ve seen. Not only are the vibes immaculate but the amount of world building and information you’re constantly getting it’s crazy. Also, this book it’s quite darker than I expected without being too much. I must say, anyways, I expected a cute academic rivals romance with magic sprinkled, and I was definitely wrong (in the best way posible)

I also loved the way we were presenting with not only our tradicional (and necessary) enemies to lovers but the academic rivalry was stunning. I also found so entertaining the way we were presented with alliances first and friendships second

Overall, I absolutely loved the whole scholomance trilogy, I devoured the books and they made it into my top three trilogies/series of 2022. I recommend these books to anyone who enjoys fantasy and after this, Naomi Novik became an auto purchase author for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

I got around to reading this quite late. Compared to the first book this was really hard to get through. There seemed to be no character development and the story didn't progress as fast.

The first book in the series was hard to like. The main character was prickly, and had no friends. Thankfully, she has grown a lot in this novel, the second installment. I found by enjoyed this second book, much better than the first. The series is a bit dark at times, but, of course, with a premise that the school is trying to kill you, how could it not be. The book is a bit slow at times, but overall I enjoyed it.

This is the single best 2nd book in a trilogy that I've ever read -- and I've been reading for a very long time.

It takes the set up from the 1st book and runs with it in ways that I did not expect but that are perfect in hindsight. Simply wonderful story telling.

And that last line! I hated having to wait to read the 3rd book after that last line of this one.

Highly recommended.

(I received this ebook free as part of the Hugo Awards readers package in 2022. I bought book one myself. And book three when it became available. )

I loved this book so much! It was everything that I wanted, more darker and more delicious! So if you loved the deadly education, you'll definitely enjoy this book! I loved the side characters and everyone coming together!

As with most books written by Naomi Novik, I loved this. I'll be buying a copy for my shelf. What a fantastic read

After the first book, I wasn’t sure if I’d like this one or not. But I surprisingly did! It was much more action paced, which was nice, and everyone chilled out from the first book.

DNF @ 35%

I tried. I really did. I couldn’t read this one so long after reading the first book. Everything was just too dang complicated. There is so much going on. I really want to give this series another chance, but I don’t have the capacity for this right now. .

I loved the sequel to A Deadly Education. I love the concept of a magical school that is trying to kill its students. The second book finds Gal and her growing group of friends and allies gearing up for the graduation ceremony, which few of them will survive.
I think this may have been my favorite book in the series, which is rare for a 2nd book. I loved the school politics and the different enclave cultures. I also loved that how all the characters came together to defeat the systemic problems with the school. Gal remains prickly, but starts to realize that her powers are more than her magic.