This was easily one of my most anticipated books of the year last year. As soon as I finished "A Deadly Education," I was clamouring for "The Last Graduate."

I just wanted to be back with El, Orion, Aadhya, Liu, and all the rest so badly. I've rarely been as drawn in by a character as I have Galadriel. The fact that we're following *her* story, El, the one that is prophesied to destroy all the beautiful enclaves in the world, the one with an affinity for mass destruction, for becoming a dark sorceress, instead of the easier-to-believe hero of Orion is incredibly refreshing.

El is all of those things, but she's also kind and generous and caring. And angry, aggravated and formidable. Also, incredibly funny in a self-deprecating way with loads of dark humor. Easy to see why I love her. So, it's easy to see how she eventually begins to bring everyone else in the school into her circle - though some of them aren't entirely enthusiastic about it.

I gasped and nearly cried when I got to the end of this book. It ends on a hell of a cliff-hanger, with what seemed like forever a wait for the third, and final, book in the series: The Golden Enclaves. Now it's just a day away. Tomorrow I will have the last book in my hands. Tomorrow I'll be able to rejoin my favorite characters - I hope.

Naomi Novik was already a favorite author of mine before this series. I have been determined to read all her books since I floated through Uprooted on a cloud of absolutely contentedness at the story. This is a very different type of story, but just as amazingly good.

Sometimes it takes a lot to get on my auto-buy list. Others it takes one blindingly good book. Naomi Novik has earned the place on that list over and over, and I cannot wait to see what she does next.

Thank you to netgalley for providing an e-galley for review. The Last Graduate did not hold up to the same quality as Deadly Education for me. The same thing happened over and over in this book and I found myself bored with the gym run after gym run. While I still appreciate the anti-Hogwarts aspect of this series, this particular installment wasn't my favorite.

I thought I had read the first book in this trilogy but I hadn’t, which lead to me being very tardy with reading this book (a 2 book commitment is definitely more than double a single book commitment). So as much as I could apologise, I’m not going to. Reason being that I loved the first book. And I loved this book too. If anything I wish that I’d started reading a day later because finishing the day before the third book is published is too long of a wait. Honestly I am so annoyed that I can’t dive into the third book. The wait is electric. And it leaves me with a dreadful dilemma because I’ve been desperately waiting all week of the next episode of House of the Dragon, which airs tomorrow. So I don’t know which I.m more excited for. All I know is that tomorrow is going to be an entertaining day!

If it’s. It obvious, this book is awesome. The main character is just loveably unloveable. A chosen one who knows they are the chosen one and refuses to let on. A hapless romantic who also hates romance. Someone who hates everyone she’s ever met but is also drawn to protecting them. She’s delicious! A bit of fruity language and romance make this more suited to an older teen audience. I’d go as far as to say that it’s an adult book that would appeal to a teen audience (and the characters are teen but the story isn’t childish).

A wild ride and I.m waiting patiently until the next book is released (2 hours by my watch but who’s counting? Me, I’m counting. Work is going to be tough tomorrow 😂). I kinda wish I could read it again for the first time. It’s that good.

A great sequel to an amazing series. The Last Graduate follows El and her classmates into their final year in the Scholomance. Not only do they have to continue to survive, but they have to prepare to fight for their lives as graduation looms.

This series is an absolute delight. The writing is exquisite. Novik continues to build on a wonderfully unique plot and an interesting and diverse cast of characters. El might not be the most likeable person in the book but I truly love her character.

I am a hardcore Fantasy Romance lover. Normally, if there is little to no romance, I am disappointed and oftentimes bored. The first book was heavily plot driven, and had essentially no romance, just a little banter. I was more than okay with that because I was so sucked into the plot. I really did not need any romance at all. In this book, however, I feel as though you get less interaction overall with Orion, but you get more romance as a trade-off. I appreciated that there was a build to the romantic plotline but I think deep down I would have preferred more of just Orion overall. It felt like he was there but he was constantly off doing his own thing and I missed him. I missed the banter and the relationship that he and El have.

This time around we got to see El in new classes and interacting with a ton of new characters, first years and seniors alike. There was also a lot more interaction with the Scholomance itself. When it came to preparing for graduation, we got a ton of great scenes describing their practice battles. I continue to be amazed with Novik's creativity. She does a wonderful job at coming up with new ideas for spells and the various things that these kids can do.

Now the ending. Spoiler-free but....it's a bigger cliffhanger than the last book. I am so glad that The Golden Enclaves releases this week because I NEED to find out what happens next.

So, I had originally read the first book in the first edition, and was admittedly dismayed by some of the things that were in that edition. I recently got a copy of this and decided to see how the second book turned out, because I was still intrigued by what had been set up in the first book. This book was a lot more conscious about what might've previously been unconscious bias, and also explained some things that were apparently unpacked more in the next edition, but reiterated on the off chance the reader (like me) had read that first version and not any later revisions. We also get the theme of saving each other from the last book made more explicit, and in case there was any doubt, the school gets a bit more of a personality towards the back half of the book to drive it home. There's also a ton of nuance that Novik has added to what previously seemed very vague and hand wavy, and I have a feeling that because of that, the final book is going to be that much more interesting. And props to her for upping her cliffhanger game from the last book! I'm in for the final book and can't wait to see what happens.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Del Rey and to NetGalley for an ARC of this book.

I read the first book in this series because of a recommendation and I really liked it. I was super excited to get my hands on this one too. From start to finish I enjoyed this book and it certainly didn't disappoint. This book ends on a cliff hanger as well, so just know that going in. I can't wait to read the final book in this trilogy.

For fans of the Harry potter books !

Patience and Fortitude are lions in front of NYPL in midtown for me. Don't turn my beloved lions into monsters! :)

Okay, now that is out there; back to the story... I didn't read the first book until I received this copy for the second book. I liked how it is bit more gory version of Harry Potter where little wizards and witches were held prisoners and their endurance was tested instead of treated like princes and princesses. Reading the first book right before the second helped me make all the connections and i didn't have think who was this, what was that.

This book is about Galadriel's graduation year. Her being her stubborn self as always, she continued to reject the idea of being a part of enclave; however, as the hurdles became unmanageable issues, she realized that she needed alliances and maybe dash of an enclave support behind her.

Again story ended with a ginormous cliffhanger, so well done Naomi Novik, well done! Let's see what third book is going to bring to the table.

I swear if the first line of the next book is not [ "El then yeeted Orion's dumb ass out of the void after her, making it an even 12 times that she has saved him this year."], then I am going to rage.

Moving on... I read that this series was going to be a duology, but then the author realized that it needed a bridge between the two novels and that's definitely how this felt, like a bridge, just filling space. I wish it had been left as a duology, but can see why she felt the need for this additional novel. At this point I feel much like the students do, and can't wait to get out of the Schlomance. I want to know more about the outside world, I want to experience it through El's eyes, I want more. Bring on book 3, it can't come out fast enough.

It's Galadriel's senior year at the Scholomance--the year all seniors spend prepping for graduation, a nightmare event that pits the graduating class against a hall of hungry mals that are between them and the door out. With the mortal fire cleansing mechanism fixed, though....will there still be any mals in the graduation hall? The School also seems to just be targeting El, which leads to mana problems for the New York enclavers, who have been relying on Orion Lake to fill their coffers full of mana as he kills mal after mal. Once midterms end and all the seniors gear up for graduation, it becomes increasingly clear that El and her alliance need to do something more than just graduate.

We jump in basically the next moment from when book 1 ends and I just love that about these books. SUPER HEAVY DUTY WTF CLIFFHANGER ENDING, and then the next book is right back into the action instead of 3 chapters of explaining backstory. This is a continuation of the "chosen one but I don't wanna!" trope and I really really have been enjoying watch El struggle against literally everything--from classmates expectations to the actual school itself (and who doesn't love a good sentient building character?) that thinks or wants her to be The Big Bad of the story. I love the big pushback against "this is always how its been done", and am just flabergasted that in hundreds of years, not one adult has said "maybe we need to have a better idea than to have to choose between certain death and almost certain death for our kids". Thanks, boomer!
The one thing I find annoying about this story is the romance between El and Orion. It just feels forced and absolutely unnecessary. Why do you need a romance? Because it's YA? Is it YA? I think it's priced as an adult book. But I guess it could be worse--at least it's not a flipping love triangle!
This book is a great choice if you like books like The Hunger Games, dark academia, or the trope of teenagers save the world but a lot of them die trying. I cannot WAIT for The Golden Enclaves because yup, we had that SUPER HEAVY DUTY WTF CLIFFHANGER ENDING to end the book. ORION WHERE ARE YOU??

With thanks to the publisher Del Rey Books and Netgalley for my ARC.

Wow, another awesome read from Naomi Novik, but oh my goodness that ending! Be warned that you really do need to read book one, “A deadly education” to fully enjoy this book.

El, Orion and the crew are back for their senior year at the Scholomance and the school is upping the ante in its efforts to get El and her friends - or is it? An endless stream of maleficaria (monsters) and relentless assignments threatens to deplete El’s supply of mana until she receives help from an unlikely ally.

Everything is looking bright for the senior’s graduation after the successful repairs to the equipment that clears the school of mals, but will they all survive?

I love this series. Now I’m desperately waiting for, “The Golden Enclaves” to be published.

I really loved A Deadly Education. It’s such an interesting world. Most of all the strongest aspect is El, our snarky pessimistic narrator, the grumpy to Orion’s cinnamon roll obliviousness. The incredibly lengthy world building weighed down book 1 but it was also the first book. However, The Last Graduate, I felt, was even more weighed down with world building. It drove me crazy how so much time passes in sentences. There’s a lot of time jumping in this book and El just recaps events that happened between her last present you read and her current present you’re reading. I feel like El interacted with other characters less this book and the only character that really got throughly further developed was El, the rest’s developments were reduced to a few sentences. El will finally be in a conversation and then she’ll give you a pages long info dump of the world or the Scholomance. I’m proud of El this book and the end was exciting. I still can’t wait to read book 3.

I SURE DID THINK THAT THIS WAS A DUOLOGY AND THEN I WAS HIT IN THE FACE WITH A CLIFFHANGER. Fortunately the third comes out on September 27th, but JEEZ. So a fun fact about me is that I only got halfway through A DEADLY EDUCATION before I had to return it to the library, but this one kept me much more glued to the page. I also like that El finally has some friends and is getting gradually less spiky. Character development! Four and a half stars, rounded down due to …. cliffhanger.

Yep, definitely couldn’t wait until September to read this one! But I also wanted to time my review in a better manner than just randomly throwing up here three months before anyone can get their hands on it. I’m not a monster to torture you all like that! Sadly, there is still several weeks left before it’s available even posting it now. But I wanted to give everyone plenty of time to get their pre-orders in early, because, yes, it is that good.

El, Orion, and their friends have successfully helped the previous class graduate with (hopefully) few casualties. This year it will be there turn. But as they prepare, a grueling ordeal of classes and a killer (literally) obstacle course, it becomes clear that their actions last graduation are having a ripple effect on the school itself. Things are not behaving as they should, and El is frantic to find a way to save this small group of people who have, shockingly, become her friends. As her relationship with Orion grows as well, despite the warning from her mother, El begins to realize she will need to chart her own course, even if it’s one totally unexpected.

So, obviously, I loved this book. I was a bit nervous (really only the tiniest bit, since Naomi Novik has never let me down yet!) when I heard that this series had been conceptualized as a duology but then was extended into a trilogy. For further insight into my thoughts on this strategy, see my scathing review of “Blood & Honey.” Luckily, this series had a few things going for it that made this type of extension not only possible, but supremely enjoyable.

First, I’d probably be happy enough to just read a non-fiction style textbook about the world that Novik has created here, especially the Scholomance itself. The first book had some massive infodumps (I remember being several chapters in and coming up for air only to realize that practically no action had taken place), but this book proves that Novik was only scratching the surface of her imagination. Here, we get even more details about how the school was created, how it runs, and how it functions as an individual entity with “intentions” and “will” of its own. We also looked closer at the divided society that makes up those with magical abilities in this world. The “haves” and “have nots” are starkly divided, and we see how this happened, how it continues, and how it’s not really good for anyone.

The other thing that makes this “extender” book work is the characters. They’re all so very real and compelling. El, of course, is a masterpiece of a main character. She’s very human in her flaws, her only partial understanding of herself, and her will to keep moving forward and adapting even when the world, quite literally, is against her. As a narrator, she’s also hilarious, with witty observations of the world and those in it that had me cackling out loud more often than not.

The supporting characters are equally good, especially Orion himself. In the first book, he was very much portrayed as a “Harry Potter on steroids” type savior character. Here, we still have that. But we also get a closer look into how this image of himself has shaped Orion’s worldview and value of himself. There were a few reveals here that really fleshed him out. If I had any criticisms of the first book, it might have been the fact that we seemed to only scrape the surface on what makes Orion tick. But that was fully rectified here and in some truly interesting ways.

I also love the romance that continues to develop between El and Orion. It was very believable in its slow crawl of progress. Even better, it was clear that while it was important to each of them, their romance didn’t consume their attention or lives. Indeed, it’s very much a secondary consideration at almost every moment. I can’t say how much I appreciated this presentation of a teenage love story, or any love story, really. Yes, love makes the world go round and all of that. But other things, people, and important decisions exist as well, and filtering everything through the narrow lens of one’s current love affair is by no means healthy (or realistic.)

This book is again heavy on the descriptions of the world/magic and lighter on the action. But that said, there was more action in this book than the first. It builds steadily towards a very tension-filled climax. Major warning here: there is a serious cliffhanger at the end of this book. Much more so than the first. So if you’re the type of reader who can’t stand that sort of thing, you might want to hold off until the third and final book comes out. Heaven knows, I couldn’t hold out even two days, but there are stronger people than me out there! Fans of the first book are sure to love this one and now I’m back, once again, anxiously waiting for the next installment.

Rating 10: I loved it so, so much. My pre-order has been in place for months now.

Agh!! I enjoy this series so much. I love El, loved how they all worked together, didn’t love the cliffhanger ending!!! Can’t wait for the next one.

Incredible book. I didn't think it was possible to improve upon A Deadly Education, but The Last Graduate managed to do it. It should be a crime to leave us with that ending and then make us wait a year!

I feel like some chunks of the book could be edited out completely and not change anything. I understand that some parts are for making the world feel real, and lived in but in some cases it felt like pointless ramblings.



Despite its flaws, it was really enjoyable to read. I love the characters, they definitely grow on you.

This book is so interesting. The concept of a school that is trying to teach its students magic (without any teachers, so they're all self-taught) while also low-key trying to kill them was SUCH a unique concept. I absolutely love this world building, and now that I understood the magic system more, it was even more intriguing. I love watching El become friends with a whole group of people and all of them becoming a found family while trying to survive their school. Also, El and Orion have my whole heart. I can't wait for book three!

The concept of the Scholomance as a living school with the purpose of guarding teenaged wizards is fascinating. We learn a little more about the school itself in this installment. The story makes some unexpected shifts, with the characters growing and learning and developing in surprising ways. There are lots of new characters to create new revelations and twists. It's fun to see El interacting with so many of the other kids: her new close friends, but also the other students of various ages and feelings toward her, now that she's no longer a nobody. There is a lot of self-reflection in the book, and contemplation about the Scholomance itself, as well as admirable teamwork among many students. I am fully invested in the futures of the school itself, all of the world's magic folk, and the students in particular.

Something unique for me about this series is that I really think the writing is not very good, and yet I don’t want to give up on the story. The plot as a whole is very interesting, and keeps me reading, but this series honestly falls into the category for me of poor execution of an excellent idea. Somehow, despite the fact that I normally will have an overall negative reaction to such books and won’t continue the series, this one I am continuing. So I guess it’s more of “great idea, meh execution” than “poor” execution.

El, the main character, is of course still the same YA female lead from all the other books written in the past 10-20 years, so those readers who like all the other YA leads will like her. She’s mean to people, especially boys, she IsN’t LiKe OtHeR gIrLs, and she’s good at fighting. She ticks all the cookie-cutter-YA-lead boxes.

In case it isn’t obvious, I personally dislike El. She's always annoyed or angry; it's excessive and unpleasant. I've read other books of grumpy characters who end up helping other characters, and they can be written really well where you like the character and believe they are that grumpy but also believe their willingness and reasons for helping others when they do. El is not written that well. Her motivations often don't make sense, the same with her reasoning. I also don’t particularly like any of the other characters. Most of them feel sort of bland and only mildly interesting, as well as being not likeable. Despite that, somehow I really care about what happens to them. I want to know their story. The one character that I almost like is Orion. Even he feels flat and inconsistent, though, and I'd want so much more from him and of him, but we don't get to know him much until a brief part toward the end of this book. His relationship with El is baffling, given that she treats him terribly 98% of the time; he has no real reason to like her beyond his initial fascination with her for not fawning over him like everyone else.

The writing as a whole in this book and the first one leave a lot to be desired, and a lot to be guessed at. The author will write something as if it's supposed to be obvious and easily inferred, without explicitly sharing with the reader what the explanation is, and I often have no idea what I'm supposed to understand because it wasn’t explained. There are also a lot of hugely long-winded tangents taken right in the middle of some action or conversation, breaking the immersion and causing the reader to struggle to reenter the scene that was interrupted for multiple paragraphs of backstory. In addition to the abundance of vague/ lacking explanations, there are conversely several times when events are described in a superfluously repetitive fashion, or descriptions unnecessarily drawn out just to fill in space on the page; these detract from the story, rather than adding anything useful to it, and should really be edited down. So the narration vacillates between being too vague and being overly descriptive. It’s just not well-written, in my opinion.

Still, with those points bothering me, I find the overall story to be compelling enough to give this 4 stars, and to keep me coming back for more. Even though I think the writing needs to be improved by a lot, I will be back for The Golden Enclaves.

I am devastated. This second book in The Scholomance trilogy is so very terribly good.

The Scholomance is as horrifying a place as it is fascinating, full of some of the most inventive creatures and magics I've ever read. Allegories abound as we see how morality, socioeconomic status, popularity and the will to survive all churn into this anxiety-inducing nightmare. Whereas A Deadly Education laid the foundation for this world, The Last Graduate expands the scope in a way that is both organic and engaging.

El is such a funny, dry, sarcastic heroine. This book sees her making the journey toward a fuller life (Friends! Love! A future with purpose!), as well as increasing mastery over her own powers. I love that we now see her starting to trust others enough to lean on them. And I love that she continues to buck expectation, refusing to be the world’s darkest wizard in the making, and instead finds ways to work big magic to big advantage for the good of the masses.

I admit that I got dragged down a few times by lengthier exposition, but the world and its politics are so complex, and there sometimes isn’t another way to describe those concepts without, well, describing them. I imagine a lot of this is necessary set-up for book 3, as well. Overall, Naomi’s writing some of my favorite, especially in the voice of a younger character. The run-on sentences of epic proportions give me LIFE! It makes the actual reading feel so natural, the narration so authentic to the main character’s speech patterns, and just flat-out fun. Nothing overly stuffy here. And the insults El slings, primarily at Orion, are as memorable as they are creative.

But the ending. Oh, that cliffhanger is… well, in a word, heartbreaking. There’s a real sense of loss at this point, having spent two books with these characters and having absolutely zero guarantees about how anything is going to work itself out again. But that’s also how I know that this series is truly exceptional, because I care. And because I care, it’s going to be a rather miserable wait for the next book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for access to a DRC.

Picking up where A Deadly Education left off, The Last Graduate follows our characters through a stressful senior year of high school. The cast must stick together if they have any hope of escaping the Schoolomance alive.

The second book builds on what was established in the first book. The cast continues to bond with each other. El's peers finally begin to recognize and rely on her. However, as El grows stronger and more important, Orion becomes obsolete and sidelined. The story does a good job of showing the toughness of surviving in the school and the bonds between the cast. Strangely enough, I feel like El and Orion's relationship stagnated in this book.

There are plenty of ups and downs to keep the plot moving to the finale. The book ends on a cliffhanger and you will be dying to read the next installment!