The last thing Orion said to me, the absolute bastard, was 'El, I love you so much'.

The Golden Enclaves takes off with this and is a superb conclusion to the Scholomance trilogy. The most satisfying aspect, to me, is to see El and Orion's character arcs complete and stable, making space for each other. Naomi Novik has done a few fantastic fairy tale retellings before (Spinning Silver and Uprooted), but in my head I think of this story as The Beast and the Beast retelling - where, spoilers, neither is a Beast, not really. A perfect short quote that made me think of this again - 'But they'd loved Orion only in exactly the same way they'd hated me. Neither one of us were ever people to them. He just made himself useful, and I refused to.' I loved that their character arcs started in very different places and have been complementary to each other, evolving beautifully since the first book.

El's snarky sarcastic sassy voice brings it's own unique flavour to this book, and series; her thoughts and analysis just makes her more relatable to me though the exposition might be too hyperactive for some people. Novik writes masterfully - of complex young adults in one layer, of a brilliant fantasy tale in another and of moral philosophy as the foundational layer. The premise of the series, as El finally recognizes in this book, is paraphrasing the trolley problem - is it okay to save many people by sacrificing one person? And what are the consequences of this decision?

Everyone has to decide for themselves, and El more than anyone as she's a budding dark sorceress (a tertiary order entity really). Intent and belief are more important than the words of any spell, and El finds that she has to keep deciding to not be a dark sorceress every step of the way as she races from one place to another. Because once she takes a step down that path, it'll be so much more difficult to stop. The story is paced well, weaving together action, magic and all the good intentions behind the worst politics.

The intricate magic system and the world-building also support the central question of this series; it dwells not just on the mechanics of the magic, but more on ephemeral concepts like overarching balance in the universe, hard earned mana and easily stolen malia.

Overall, a definite recommendation to pick up this series!

Scholomance #1: A Deadly Education https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4226535850
Scholomance #2: The Last Graduate https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4281576439

Thanks to NetGalley, Naomi Novik and the Random House publishing group for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[One star for the premise and the whole book; One star for the characters; One star for the writing; One star for the story; One star for the world-building - Five stars in total.]

I've heard so much about this book and have read Naomi's other books and liked them alot. I loved it so much. This series is amazing.

The last book in the scholomance series. And i have to say this one was really good. I didn't like the writing in the other two books, found them a little bit chaotic in the writing.
But this was a huge improvement.
In The last chapters where some rambling nonsense that i could be without.
It just felt like the author just wanted more words in to get more pages in the book.

I've read better books by Naomi.
So im glad this serie is finito.

DNF at 38% I just couldn't take her rambling anymore. Every single time I picked up this it truly and wholeheartedly put me to sleep. I could not for the love of me finish it in two months.

Thank you to the publishers, author and NetGalley for the free copy of this book.

Great ending to one of my new favorite series! I was completely satisfied at the ending- of course, I would LOVE more in this world but the ending was spot on for me. So glad I had the chance to finally read this series!

The pacing for this book is a lot quicker than the first two. Most of the events in this book happen within a short time frame. This one ties up the character endings perfectly.

This was such a great wrap up to this series! The first two books definitely felt more high paced but outside of that, this book was everything. Naomi Novik is one of my instant buy authors. She’s generally worth the hype and I’d pick up almost anything she writes. Do yourself a favor and read this!!

This was a beautiful end to a fantastic series. Without giving too much away, this ending was poetically perfect.
Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for the opportunity to review this book

This was a fun continuation of deadly education. This one flowed so much better. Can’t wait for it to continue

I want to start by saying I love Naomi Novik but this trilogy was not it. It seemed to drag on and on. The concept was amazing, I just think it was executed as well as it could have.

Thank You to Naomi Novik and Random House Publishing Group, for the digital ARC provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!

I admit that when I first heard the plot description for this series, I sighed. "What if Hogwarts, but evil" is a pretty tired concept, much less in 2020, when the first volume in the trilogy, A Deadly Education, was published. And with a heroine whose description seemed to suggest a genderbent Kylo Ren, the whole thing seemed very aggressively Not For Me. It was a lucky break, then, that Novik included the entire trilogy in this year's Hugo voter packet, because this series turns out be both delightful and clever. The setting—a self-sustaining, self-contained school for wizards designed to protect them from the perils of the outside world, but which becomes its own death trap which only a small percentage of students manage to survive—is elaborately worked through, and the psychological cost of attending this school, in which students scramble for survival, make desperate alliances, and weigh the consequences of surrendering to the dark side for some extra power, are explored with a refreshing lack of sentimentality. Also refreshing is the series's heroine, who resists the pull of the dark less out of an innate desire to to do good as out of a furiously annoyed sense of ethics. By the time we get to the third volume, the elaborate worldbuilding has revealed a society that has locked itself, through technological choices made centuries ago, into a series of increasingly bad options, which makes for both a powerful environmental metaphor, and a satisfying villain for the heroine and her friends to tilt against.

Was not my cup of tea sadly. Had a hard time keeping up with who's who and getting into the story. Not the series for me but I can see others loving it

Well I was wondering how she was going to get out of the ending of the last one. I have to say this is one of the most delightfully twisty series I have ever read. And Chaos at every turn. There's no point in rehashing the plot; you definitely have to read the first two before this one, but at least you don't have to wait between books like the rest of us did. You can read all three now in one giant gulp. And you will want to.
For those who read the first two, but haven't made it to this one yet: All is explained and it WILL be satisfactory. That's as much as I'm giving away. The plot is not as focused as the first two (surviving the Scholomance), but meanders a bit until things finally take off. So 4 stars instead of the previous 5. You will still be glued to the page. Well worth it. Highly recommended.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! No spoilers. Beyond amazing I enjoyed this book so very much. The characters and storyline were fantastic. The ending I did not see coming Could not put down nor did I want to. Truly Amazing and appreciated the whole story. This is going to be a must read for many many readers. Maybe even a book club pick.

The Golden Enclaves delivers a gripping and unexpected conclusion to the Scholomance trilogy. Novik skillfully navigates the aftermath of graduation, throwing the protagonist into unforeseen challenges. With a mix of humor and impending conflict, the story keeps readers engaged until the very end, defying traditional post-magic-school narratives. A fitting finale that adds depth to the series.

I LOVED this last instalment of the Scholomance trilogy! All of the little seeds that Naomi Novik scattered casually through books 1 and 2 bloomed and bore shocking, horrifying and miraculous fruit. I lost count of the number of times I groaned “Of course!” out loud as I frantically sucked in the story from the pages. (I do have to wonder whether ‘literary mawmouth’ might go some way to explaining myself and other book-devourers!)

Speaking of which, mawmouths themselves became gradually more and more horrifying as this trilogy, and even this book, progressed… to the point where they have usurped all other monsters from my nightmares! The great horror writers should be quaking at the competition in this Dark Academia fantasy novel!

I should note that you DO need to read books 1 and 2 first or none of the plot or characters in this book will have the right impact or make as much sense. The series as a whole forms a brilliantly scathing exploration of class-, economic- and power divides across societies all over the world, as well as being an entertaining dark fantasy adventure.

It was a little bit of a shame that having built up the relationship and chemistry between El and Orion over the previous two books, so that her utter devastation and grief at the start of this story is completely natural and relatable, the events in this book smash that carefully-built foundation to pieces and then the characters don’t get enough page time to forge new relationships here before the big climax. Luckily, I wasn’t here for the romance sub-plot at all so didn’t mind it taking a back seat to bigger world problems!

In contrast, I particularly enjoyed seeing how even those who hated or were cold to El at first gradually warmed to her with enough exposure to her grumpy lack-of-charms. It really highlighted how wrong she was about herself in comparison to how she feels her mum moves through the world, and ties neatly in with the overall storyline and underlying themes too.

My final takeaway from the series is that the overall moral of “It is better to ask nicely than to murderously condemn endless souls to perpetual torment to get on in life” is one that is universally applicable and we could all adopt in the real world. And also that this is a powerful story that left me reeling and book drunk… I just wasn’t ready to move on to my next read and leave the Scholomance world behind. I’m not sure I ever will be!

Before I begin this review, I want to thank Net Galley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for allowing me to access The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik. Check out this book now!
This is the third and final book in the Scholomance series, and Novik has done a splendid job building on top of the world and connecting everything. Instead of having to fight off mals in the school, we get to see El advance on to much bigger things in her return to life outside of the Scholomance. This book nicely ties everything together and made me appreciate the previous two books more!

Though there was technically more at stake in this book with the enclave's wars and many twists and turns, the stakes didn't feel as high as they were in the previous two books. With that said, I still enjoyed this book and thought it was better than the previous one in that it is much better-paced and not as obsessively long as book two is.

El has grown so much during this series. In the first book, she only has her mom, and there is no way for them to communicate with one another. As the book progresses, we see her making friends and caring for others; this expands to everyone in the school during the second book, and now, in the third book, we see her fighting to protect every wizard there is. I loved seeing how El has progressed throughout these books. She has become one of my favorite characters of all time.

With that said, the romance between El and Orion was kind of a letdown, and admittedly, I was not a fan of Leisel and El's relationship. It seemed sudden and didn't feel natural at all. I did, however, enjoy seeing her friendship with Aadhya and her protectiveness of Lui.

As mentioned before, the stakes felt lower than in the previous books, but I still enjoyed the plot and thought everything was well-paced. One of my biggest complaints about the previous books was the lack of a consistent plot throughout the books, but this book does a splendid job of giving readers a bigger picture and pinpointing a well-established plot that runs through all three of the books.

The worldbuilding in this book is fantastic! Novik did an excellent job of building on top of worldbuilding and making the books intriguingly connected.

Novik's writing style has improved in this book compared to the second book. But it is still quite wordy and redundant. It is easy to find yourself skimming through certain parts.

I highly recommend the Scholomance series to anyone who loves the concept of wizards trapped inside a boarding school with a bunch of monsters and would also be interested in seeing them navigate parts of their lives after getting out of said school. This series has a great blend of friendship, magic, and a splash of romance. The writing style may be a bit too much at times for a lot of readers.

The full review will be released on my blog on December 8th!

I've heard so much about this book and have had this on my tbr for ever and I'm so glad to have received a review copy it was amazing. I loved it so much. This series is amazing.

A stellar conclusion to the trilogy that hit all the points I had hoped for and then some. We finally see the world outside the Scholomance, and it’s weirder and more complex than we might have imagined. This was meticulously plotted from the beginning, and it shows.

Anisha Dadia does a breathtaking job as El once again, embodying her distinct voice and snark. I rarely prefer audio for fiction, but I do here.

I wanted to love this, but it was just okay. Maybe that is on me- the first two were so good I had my hopes too high. It’s an enjoyable conclusion to the trilogy but felt rushed and a little all over the place. I will say that the process of making an enclave is something that I’ll never forget- what a creepy detail. All in all, enjoyable story but a little sloppy compared to the earlier books. Thanks Netgalley, Naomi Novik, and the publishers for letting me read this book!