3.5/5
Okay so this trilogy has some great cliffhangers.

The Last Graduate is the second book in the The Scholomance trilogy.

This was slower than the first book and I found myself thinking how peculiar the writting style is. Cause I was reading and then El would explain something in a couple of paragraphs and then come back to answer a question in the present so it was a bit tedius.

Bu I like where the story is going. I like what they did in this book. I thought I liked the idea of the first one but I liked this one more. Even though it took a while to get there it was okay.

It is a quick read even though it took me a while to get into it. When I got halfway I was reading and waiting for a few things and it even surprised me!

I love the friendships, the plans, the relationships, the magic system and the ending. Now I just want the next one soon!

Naomi Novik is incredible ! A Deadly Education was a real surprise to me, and I was apprehensive about The Last Graduate because… How do you top such an amazing book? Well, turns out I was worried for nothing: The Last Graduate was just as fantastic as A Deadly Education, if not better ! I loved the evolution of El, her relationships with her friends and with Orion. I need the next book NOW !!!!

Love Love Loved this! I could barely put it down, but what on earth was that ending??? No idea how I'm supposed to wait for the next book now, will definitely be a reread coming up in my not so distant future. Would definitely recommend to all Fantasy lovers.

Naomi Novik has out done herself.

A Deadly Education introduced us to this brutal world with its interesting magic system. I really enjoyed being back in it. The Scholomance is a magical school and it’s just as brutal as the rest of the world is. There is a lot of classism and I think that’s very interesting. You can see parallels with our world and the opportunities some of the characters had over others. 

Magical schools are a favorite trope of mine and this one doesn’t disappoint. The students have to be careful and all times or they will die. It’s high stakes all the time and that keeps the story interesting and pretty fast paced. 

I fell in love with our main character El in the first book. She might not be everyone’s favorite but she is one of mine. I loved her background, the prophecy about her and the way she dealt with it. Sure, it wasn’t all healthy and she definitely makes things harder on herself, but she’s also a very good person. Despite what others may think. 

Orion is a great character as well and I liked getting to know him more in this second book. El developed a couple of relationships in the first book and we get to see more of that in The Last Graduate. It was good to see her surrounded by some more people and by extension learn some more about the world. 

I wasn’t sure where the plot of this second book was going to go at first but I can tell you I loved it. Our main characters are working to graduation and that is hard work. It was really cool to read more about graduation and what the previous students had to go through. I was very anxious reading those last couple of chapters and couldn’t put the book down. And maybe I should’ve expected it after A Deadly Education but damn that last line…. I wanted to scream at my book and at Naomi haha. The synopsis for book 3 gives me a little bit of hope and need it as soon as possible. I plan on reading it as soon as I get my hands on it haha!

A spectacular follow-up to A Deadly Education, which I adored. I was pleased to see the characters develop, and become more fleshed out, with the emphasis on escaping school and what comes next after graduation. The snark was next level, I even liked the exposition -- I'm a big fan of Naomi Novik's writing.

With Thanks to Naomi Novik and Random House for an Advanced Readers Copy of this Book.

5*

Amazing, just like the first and the mother of all cliff-hangers! I love that it was extended into a trilogy, which means even more Deadly Education to come.

The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik is the next instalment in The Scholomance trilogy. This book picks up immediately where A Deadly Education left off, just as the newest students have arrived into the school. El and her allies are focused on getting out of the graduation hall the following year alive, but The Scholomance starts behaving out of character and El starts to become suspicious to its motives, especially as the school seems set on attacking only her. When she realises that this year the students need to ignore the rules and play their own game, she and her friends and allies need to come together for the greater good, but even that won’t be without its own set of risks.

I found this book much easier to get straight into, a lot of the world building and familiarisation with magical terms was laid out in A Deadly Education, with some recapping over the main points here but allowing me to pick up the story exactly where I left the previous book. I enjoyed seeing the main characters and their relationships with each other develop, particularly where there were new and unexpected allies formed. In general, I did enjoy the story and I am looking forward to reading the final instalment in the series, but I wasn’t as gripped throughout as I was hoping I would be especially as a lot of the foundations for the story was written in the first book, and as such it took quite a long time for me to get through. The pace picked up in the final quarter and I raced through that to the ending, which did leave me immediately wanting to find out what happens next. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a digital copy for review.

I have been eagerly awaiting this books release since I finished A Deadly Education last year (and then reread it several times) and I am happy to say this book took my hand, bit down on it and then pulled me into some kind of personal hell.

I loved every minute of it.

I wasnt sure if the second book could hold up to the first (and my adoration of said book) but though it has a slow start, the last 200 pages fly by and you end up sitting with an empty feeling clutching this book to your chest and wanting to start it again.
Which I most likely will.

Novik’s quite casual writing style is again present in this sequel but the world-building and its characters hold me captive, and I love the explorations of more of El’s relationships.

But honestly I will never forgive Novik for this cliff hanger….

This was a three star book right up until the last sentence. Then it got an extra star for Novik’s sheer audacity.
We are back at the Scholomance and El is in her final year but the school is out to get her for reasons unknown. And she has to decide who to trust if she wants to get out of there alive.
So it was my understanding that the Scholomance was meant to be a duology but has now become a trilogy and I’m not convinced this was the right decision. This is very much a Middle book. There is A LOT of waffle in this book about the Scholomance itself which I felt was all covered in the first book. There were a lot of anecdotes about the monster things and how to defend yourself and what happened to kids who didn’t. Novik is an excellent writer and it was only that that kept me interested, we didn’t need the explanations, but she was obviously loving the world she created and getting her world building geek on, fair enough. It did effect the thrust of the plot though. The relationship became a bit stretched out and thin, we didn’t get much of Orion (he was off monster hunting most of the time) so his actual personality was lost a bit. But the dude is working his thin, worn old t-shirts so that’s fine.
El remains the bright light of this book, I love her evil Queen in potentia status. I love her ruthless streak and her lack of patience or tolerance of fools. She’s a boss. And she knows how to destroy a super volcano. She also does have a heart bless her even if it is black.

Right first off!

That ending!!!! OMG!!!

So this book picks up right after the first one finished and it doesn't stop with the pace. I would suggest if it's been a while to re-read the first one as it took me a while to remember the magic system. But once I remembered I was deep in to it and it flowed again.

El is in her final year of the Scholomance, and despite her best efforts to push them away, she now has friends. They will have to work together to survive graduation.

I received a free copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
I have not read the first book in the series, A Deadly Education. I think The Last Graduate did some decent world-building on it's own, but I feel I did miss out on some of the character dynamics of the first book.

This book follows El in the aftermath of the last book.
El is quite a prickly character. She is a rare type of sorceress that can drain mana from those around her, and everyone expects to go dark. Having had to grow up with the blatant distrust all magic-users have when she's around, El has developed into an independent young woman who isn't afraid to speak her mind, and doesn't care who she hurts.

The Scholomance is a magical 'school' that likes to kill its students.
There are no teachers, no breaks or holidays. Kids enter, and if they are lucky, they leave four years later. The 'lessons' and 'exams' are all part of the magic. There is no one for the kids to turn to, except each other. But every favour has a price.

This sounds awesome, with lots of dark magic and danger... but I didn't like it. And I know that I'm in the minority here.
The main problem was - I was bored.
I should not be bored reading about a dubious school that spawns monsters to kill children.
I will note that I DNFed at 50%. But that is still 200 pages of nothing happening.

El was a boring narrator. The 200 pages I read felt like one long monologue where she tells us everything that is happening or not happening. This fashion of telling sapped the possible excitement out of any bits of action.

The plot was monotone and repetitive. The school never felt dangerous. There were little monsters - El and her co-students followed the rules, and managed to avoid or kill them.

The friendships were uninspiring. To start, I liked the idea of El's reluctance to accept that she has friends, and how that would work for someone so socially-inexperienced.
But the friends are all interchangeable, and completely void of personality.
Even the 'boyfriend' Orion... the non-existent connection between them reminded me of when 5 year olds are boyfriends and girlfriends - a title given, nothing more.

It might get more exciting in the second half, but I have no desire to continue with this book or series.

I absolutely devoured this book and couldn't put it down after I had started it! The ending was a shock as I wasn't expecting it to be more than a duology but it was very well written and emotional.

It's not often that the second is as good as the first but this really took the world to the next level and explained more about what life is like for them!

Definitely going to be reading the next book!

The most succinct way to summarise The Scholomance Series, is to compare it to a certain Magic School Series and then say 'but waaaaaay darker'. The Scholomance is a twisted magic school that traps budding sorcerers inside until they're strong enough to break out, past the monsters and mouths which spend the rest of the year feasting on those who aren't smart or strong enough to protect themselves. Created by sorcerers who wanted to create a place for those young sorcerers to learn a variety of magic practices in 'relative' safety, The Scholomance is one of the most interesting Magic Schools I've read about in a while. Part Labyrinth, part boarding school - students must navigate every stage of their matriculation, from eating to showering, ever watchful for things that go bump in the night.

El, our main character and driving narrative voice, is an incredibly powerful sorcerer - and it's her magic that draws the monsters and mouths to her. She has a particularly dry and sarcastic tone which works perfectly as she exposits through book one and two, about the world she cannot escape and all the options which could be open to someone part of a group or enclave. Which she is not. Her fellow students learn the hard way about how her magic manifests, and just how far she can push it. But the Scholomance is pushing back, and the stakes are raised considerably in book two. It's a sequel's job to develop on the world and narrative which is set up in book one, and I was pleased to see that The Last Graduate follows a completed story arc of its own, rather than following the same steps and mistakes El and her friends made in book one. I loved all the little side quest stories as she lets more people into her life, and it was fun to see the banter between El (the resident grump) and Orion, the golden retriever in human form.

The thing that surprised me the most about The Scholomance Series was the pacing and narrative drive. Uprooted and Spinning Silver (earlier works by Novik) are notoriously slow burn fantasies, with spiralling settings and narratives that sink roots deep within you before moving through the character arc. The Scholomance is not like that - something is happening on every page, every plot twist more dramatic than the last, the characters working through problems and journeying through self-discovery which I love. And the endings... Well. I said I wouldn't spoil them, so I won't. But I would absolutely recommend clearing weekend plans so that you can devour these books as I did. They're wonderful, and I can't wait to find out what happens in the next chapter of the Scholomance.

Overall, I gave both books ⭐⭐⭐⭐ as they were fun, high octane reads which explored traditional fantasy concepts in a fun new way. These books are very exposition-heavy, but perfect for fans of Urban Fantasy.

The Last Graduate is the eagerly awaited second installment in Naomi Novik’s Scholomance series. A Deadly Education was one of my favourite books of last year so I was incredibly excited to continue the series. The story follows El and her peers as they battle through their final year in the Scholomance. As graduation looms, El discovers there might be a way to help other students survive, but will she make it out alive?

Book one ended on a massive cliffhanger and The Last Graduate picks up right where A Deadly Education finished. The reader is immediately transported back into the world of the Scholomance and I was immediately hooked. The story did feel a bit slower-paced than the previous installment but I was completely engaged with seeing El and the other students work to figure out how they will survive graduation. I really enjoyed Novik’s writing style and it was so easy to get completely wrapped up in the story for hours at a time.

My favourite thing about this series is the characters and I absolutely love El and Orion. El is such a grumpy, prickly character but she’s still determined to do what’s right. Orion is also brilliant and the way their relationship developed was really well executed. Like A Deadly Education, this book ended on a massive cliffhanger and I cannot wait to see where Novik takes the final book in the series. If you’ve been intrigued about this series I’d definitely recommend picking it up as it’s definitely one of my favourite books of the year.

Before I go on, there will be spoilers but also GO AND READ THIS BOOK.

The Last Graduate is the second in the Scholomance series written by Naomi Novak. The first book in the series was A Deadly Education and it definitely ended on a bit of a cliff-hanger. With a note being given to El after her and several of her classmates defeated the Mal to allow the last lot of seniors escape, all that it says on it is "Keep far away from Orion Lake" with that ending we all screamed and wanted the next book IMMEDIATELY.

So book two The Last Graduate picks up exactly where a Deadly Education Ended. So the first two chapters slowly allows us to acclimate to Novak's writing but also jumps straight back into the Scholomance and with El now being a senior and having a year to get ready to get through Graduation and try and get through alive, you know that we are going to get some excellent chapters of her fighting the Mal and trying to come up with how best to defeat them all.

We see El grow more as a character throughout the book and I felt that us as readers got to know her more and why she behaves the way she does. I also love that throughout the book her friendship with Aadhya and Liu grows throughout the book. We got to see a more light hearted part to them and see how they worked together as a group.

The book is dark and I absolutely adored it. To me this is the epitome of Dark Academia genre, the plot is deliciously dark, the kids in the school are trying to survive until Graduation and even then they might not survive. The first book definitely explained how the school works and this book showed what the students are up against.

The plot is definitely easier to follow in book two, as you are aware of what the Mal is and what the end goal is for the School and the students its easier to follow this book. I still at times had to go back and read a paragraph as I am not used to Naomi Novak's style of writing. Saying that it's beautifully written and I love that you its so descriptive.

Can I move onto THAT FREAKING ENDING. The Ending was seriously not on at all, we were left literally with the cliff hangers or all cliff hangers. I don't think I have ever read a book with this type pf cliff hanger before. I literally gasped then continued to turn the pages to make sure I was reading it correctly.

I am hoping that after that ending that Naomi Novak is going to be kind in the next book. I am now also counting down the days until I can get my hands on it.

The Last Graduate picks up right where A Deadly Education left off and ends on another tantalising cliffhanger!

El is now in her final year at the Scholomance and graduation is fast approaching. The students have to prepare for the unknown terrors of the graduation hall including El, Orion and her newfound friends. After the events of last year there may be less monsters about but it isn’t going to be any easier for El, now it seems like the school itself is out to get her!

El is finally able to unleash some of the power she kept hidden in the first book which is a very fun development.. She continues to tackle her dark tendencies but her conviction to do good never falters. That doesn’t mean she’s a flawless character, she can be needlessly grumpy, stubborn and at points frustrating for the reader but that makes her all the more relatable. El has clearly grown as a character and it’s nice to see her recognise and learn to accept the changes. We also get to know more about Orion’s background and motivations, his relationship with El is very sweet and has just the right amount of complexity.

Now El’s no longer a complete outcast there’s more interaction with other characters too and it’s really interesting to explore how they’re experiences of the Scholomance differ from El’s. Privilege is a particularly strong theme.

Novik’s twist on the magic school continues to be a delight, she has created such an incredibly detailed and complex world particularly considering it is mostly restricted to just one building. El’s inner monologue does have a tendency to go off on a tangent which can sometimes interrupt the flow of the narrative but this wasn’t something I really minded as it allows us to learn more and more about this world.

With El graduating it’s clear this series will have to move away from the Scholomance as it’s primary setting. I’m definitely going to miss it but I’ve been really intrigued by the information we get on the conclaves and the wider magic world in this book that I’m excited to find out more about what waits outside of the school.

I’m so excited for the next book in this series!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

An enjoyable follow up to A Deadly Education however I wish the author would stop finishing these books with such a massive cliffhanger... I wanted the story to be wrapped up with maybe a few threads left dangling, but this felt like the book was just unfinished. However, I will definitely be picking up book 3 so it worked on me

A Deadly Education was gripping and entertaining,this one is epic and make you wish you could read the next book very soon.
The author delivers a complex story, adding details to the world building and developing her characters in an interesting way.
I loved it and it's strongly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

I really enjoyed A Deadly Education, so was super keen to read Naomi Novik's sequel.

El has reached her last year in the Scholomance, and it's finally time to face the terrors of graduation. With her fellow students, El works to find a solution to conquer the annual massacre of graduates by the monsters that inhabit the school. An intriguing mix of friendships, allyships, and showing how things always work out best if you work together, and perhaps don't just do the expected.

An excellent sequel, highly recommended. Could be read alone, but would be better after reading the first book.

The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik follows on from The Deadly Education, and so El and the others helped to clear the graduating hall for the year above them, and now it's their turn to plan their graduation!

I really enjoyed this book, just as I loved the first one, and have been telling anyone who will listen that this series is really good!  It's a fantasy, set in a school for magic, where there are things trying to kill the students, no teachers, but the school is alive with magic.  

The Last Graduate was published on 28th September 2021, and is available from Amazon, Waterstones (they have a special edition, if you move fast!) and Bookshop.org.

I bought myself the special edition of this book, and will be on the lookout for the third book, and hoping for a special edition again!

You can follow Naomi Novik on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and her website.

I've read the first book in this series, A Deadly Education, and you can read my review here.

I was given this book in exchange for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to Random House.