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!

Erhm. What happened?

I had to take some time to think about this book before writing a review, because while I still enjoyed it overall, it was rather disappointing.

The Golden Enclaves some how suffers from middle book syndrome, despite not being a middle book. I can't decide if this book was unneccessary or if it needed to be longer. SO MUCH STUFF HAPPENS. But where as in the first two books we spent a lot of time preparing for stuff to happen, we spend almost no time here and just jump from one big event to another. The pacing is kinda wild and there are character and relationship progressions that didn't totally sit right.

Weak 4 stars because I still got emotional during some scenes.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House for the ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

In the thrilling conclusion to The Scholomance series, I found myself immersed in a rollercoaster of emotions. While the main character did test my patience on occasion, I ultimately relished the journey. My only minor quibble is that I wished for a deeper exploration of the rich world and its lore. Nevertheless, the side characters shine brilliantly, stealing the spotlight and leaving a lasting impact on the story. A truly enjoyable read!

Fantastic! An excellent conclusion. It felt earned. I couldn’t put it down! This book really put events from book 1 into a new light. I’m so glad I read this series!

Thank you netgalley for giving me an arch of this novel in exchange for my honest review!

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

This was a really really good conclusion to the scholomance trilogy and I enjoyed them all a lot. It tied everything up super well and like the other books, was easy and fun to read. I can't wait to read more from Naomi Novik!

These books have been a rollercoaster of fantasy. The Golden Enclaves is an amazing adventure full of l of YA angst and self-doubt but somehow is still fun. The plan to save everyone worked almost. Enclaves all over the world want El’s help. What she wants is to save Orion. But to save him she must go back into the Scholomance.
Thanks so much to NetGalley and Del Rey for the eARC and the opportunity to post my honest review of The Golden Enclaves: Book Three of the Scholomance by Naomi Novik.
5 Stars- Pub.Date: 9-27-22 – Archive Date: October 21, 2023

The Golden Enclaves is the stunning conclusion to The Scholomance series. In this novel, El, Orion, and their allies had successfully saved the entire student body from the Scholomance, but there was one problem. There was one person left behind. El was determined to get back into the school to rescue him, and she enlisted her friends and the help of the New York Enclave to do so. Meanwhile someone was attacking enclaves and many lives were being lost. With her book on Golden Enclave spells, El and her friends found themselves racing around the world to stop more enclaves from disappearing. Who would have thought that the girl prophesied to destroy the world might actually be the one to save it? This book was so much fun. Abrasive El hadn’t changed that much despite everything she accomplished at the Scholomance, but she had good friends who were willing to support her unconditionally as she embarked on her quest to save the young man she loved and the rest of the world while she was at it. The dedication that this group of young adults shows to this selfless goal is admirable. They all continued to grow as human beings, learning to work together and use the skills they gained during their terrifying years of education. Lovers of fantasy cannot miss this amazing book and the trilogy as a whole. I suspect that no one will expect the outcome of this venture and the true story behind Orion Lake. I am voluntarily submitting this review after reading a complimentary copy of this novel thanks to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Del Rey.

This was easily the best book in the series, and I found it really tied the entire story together well! It was a well written last book to the trilogy that I found really wrapped up the story nicely, making sure all the loose ends were tied up and wrapped with a bow before the final page.

I really enjoyed it for what it was and the story, it was something I didn't focus too hard on and just enjoyed in the moment.

Thank you NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I have mixed feelings about this book being the end of the Scholomance series.

On the one hand, I feel like the main storyline was tied up nicely and we learned a lot that helped tie up any plot points from the first two books. I also enjoyed El’s growth as a character and person.

Now on to the negatives for me. While the main storyline was tied up, I feel like there were still so many subplots/potential subplots that were just left hanging. I’m all for authors leaving things a bit open at the end of a series so that readers can make their own conclusions, but I feel like we needed some resolution on certain storylines/characters. The other negative for me was the recapping throughout the book on the two previous books. A recap is all well and good but it got a bit repetitive in this one.

Overall I really did enjoy this series and it’s originality, and I’ll miss the inner dialogue of El, who really is badass!

I liked this a lot, the characters and the plot was just amazing. The way everything happened had me hooked like aaaa
thank you netgalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review

**Thank you to NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Del Rey, and Naomi Novik for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.**

Book #3 in the Scholomance Trilogy and I was here for it! Naomi Novik did a great job with this trilogy. The world building and characters sucked me right in. In the third book, we pick up with Galadriel "El" after the WTF cliffhanger in book 2. She has made it out of Scholomance, the dark magical school. Did their plan work? At what cost?

El has been haunted her entire life by her great-grandmother's prophecy that she would be the dark sorceress to bring about the destruction of enclaves. Enclaves are communities of powerful wizards scattered throughout the world. The most powerful enclaves are located in London and New York. Some of the enclaves around the world attempted to vie for El's alliance and recruit her while she was still at Scholomance.

Now that she has made it out, El's great-grandmother's prophecy is coming true. Someone is attacking and destroying the world's enclaves. However, it isn't El. Who is doing this and why? As suspicion rises, an all out enclave war is approaching, pitting very powerful enclaves against each other. El and her friends attempt to put a stop to the war. The answer to their questions are hidden somewhere in Scholomance. El and her friends must try to find a way back into the dark school that they had fought so hard to get out of. Can they save what remains of the enclaves?

I was scared of this book and able to predict most of it. But still was a great ending to this trilogy (I hope there aren't more books). But I felt that most of the book was just El and friends wandering around the world, solving things, and getting on planes again. It was a bit tedious, but I still read it in only two days and would have read it in one day only if I didn't have to work. I get why some people disliked it so much. It is the first book out of Scholomance, and some things are a little chiché for me, but still, everything worked together. And for the ending and political stuff: sometimes it was a bit too real, a bit too disturbing. The "evil" didn't have to pay for what they did, even if it was made with good intentions. And that is too real and at the same time it was what made the story very great and very truthful.

The third and final book in Naomi Novik's excellent Scholomance trilogy, The Golden Enclaves follows El, Orion, and their friends after they escape/survive the Scholomance. Unfortunately, this book didn't quite live up to the first two installments, at least in part because they have left the school--a fascinating setting worthy of much more exploration--behind. But it's still a solid story for fans of Novik. I'll read anything she writes.

"The Golden Enclaves" is the third and final chapter of "The Scholomance," a ya fantasy trilogy, with dark academia overtones, written by Naomi Novik and concluded.

I won't include the plot to avoid spoilers, but I can say that the story picks up from the end of the second book, with El and the survivors finally out of the Scholomance and busy facing new threats around the world.

I admit that of the three chapters "The Golden Enclaves" is the one I liked the least. It's not a bad book, in the end I still liked it, however I found it inferior compared to the others and partly disappointed me.

I really like the author's writing! As in the previous two books, here we have a continuous stream of consciousness on El's part, with the protagonist's various thoughts and ramblings alternating with the actual plot.

The plot intrigued me very much! The Scholomance for me remains wonderful and on a completely different level as a setting, but I enjoyed the exploration of the world outside its borders. However, unlike the previous chapters, I felt an uneven pace in this conclusion. Indeed, the narration alternates between slower moments and others that are decidedly rushed, with important questions addressed superficially and then abandoned. I don't know, some choices left me unsatisfied. I also didn't understand the reason for certain episodes! I can't do spoilers, but certain scenes seemed rather forced and inserted without any specific purpose other than to create angst and chaos! Seriously, I was so disappointed! On the other hand, I liked the ending, even though I suffered a lot!

About the characters, what can I say? I think I have already amply demonstrated my appreciation for Galadriel "El" Higgins, protagonist with her single first person pov. In this book I continue to love her, although I don't understand or share some of her choices. And Orion! I can't say anything specific about him, but I couldn't wait to see him again after "The Last Graduate"! I have loved Orion from the beginning and suffer for him! In my opinion, unfortunately, he has been worsening over the course of the series, with fewer and fewer appearances and sort of minor characterization. I feel sorry for the group of friends, scarcely present here. El has created a nice relationship with them and I was hoping to see them interact more. I honestly don't understand why to give more space to a certain character, who had little presence in the previous chapters (she basically appears in "The Last Graduate," but becomes incisive only from around the second half of the book) rather than those present from the beginning. I also expected more from the appearances of El's mother and from Ophelia!

All in all, I enjoyed "The Golden Enclaves," but in my opinion it didn't live up to the previous two books. I expected more from the finale of this beautiful series and instead, in some aspects, it disappointed me. Overall, however, "The Scholomance" remains a series that I loved and recommend to lovers of the genre!

Thank you to the Publisher and NetGalley for giving me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.