A beautiful ending for Naomi Novik's Scholomance trilogy. Everything you hope for and dread. Friendships made in the Scholomance becoming life long alliances and loyalty. I love the characters and their striving to right some of the wrongs in their world. It made me laugh and cry. I will miss this world and these characters.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC.

I have been aching for this book ever since the ridiculously unfair cliffhanger ending of The Last Graduate, and I am thrilled and relieved to report it did not disappoint. The entire book is full of even more and more satisfying twists than its two predecessors, wrapping up the trilogy in a way that feels right and also leaves the reader desperate for more.

You don’t often get a whole new world building in book three of a series, it’s a lot to unpack for an established series. I knew coming out of the Scholomance there would have to be some, based on almost no information given about the enclaves interior in previous books or how they truly operate. There’s also a lot of explaining and re-explaining, more so than normal for a third book in a established series. So it felt like the first quarter of this reads like a first book. Then the rest of the info dumps and introspective monologues (and there’s A LOT of them, like almost every other paragraph) can get tedious at times and almost felt unedited. All that aside, here is what I did like. El’s grief, trauma and ptsd were well written and very relatable. It definitely punched me in the feels and made me cry more than a few times. Once the gang gets backs together it really starts getting going on this quest that things just keep piling on top of, however it moves along quickly after that. Orion made me sad, El and Orion made me sad. All their scenes I cried. I did enjoy meeting everyone families and enclaves. As well as the differences in each enclave. I liked that people showed up for El even when she thought she wasn’t worthy of it or didn’t realize the impact she has made on them. I’ve really enjoyed El’s journey. I think I cried the entirety of chapter 16. That was a nice and tidy HEA and I have thoroughly enjoyed this entire series. This would have been a five star read for me if it didn’t have so many info dumps and inner monologues, it was just too much.

I very much enjoyed this final installment of the Scholomance trilogy. I was concerned the final book wouldn't live up to the others as it's not set in the Scholomance, but it was a fun adventure! The Golden Enclaves was quite different than the prior two, and the world-building wasn't quite as precise, but that didn't distract from my enjoyment of it. 4.5 stars

I love this series. While reading, I wondered if Naomi Novik could pull off an ending in one book, but she did. I thought I had the world figured out, but then there were twists to show how horrible this magic world is. Everything had a reason. Do a reread of the previous book(s). There are a lot of characters, and there isn’t a reintroduction of everyone.

This review is based on an advanced reader copy provided through Netgalley for an honest review.

3.5/5

I've had a great time with the Scholomance series overall. I had some quibbles with the pacing and logic in this book (it felt like the characters took some logical leaps on a few notable occasions), but I liked El's character growth and developing friendships, and the aftermath of the plan to rescue everyone from the Scholomance. There were a few major reveals that represented the climax of the major mysteries of the series--some where quite satisfying (such as the discovery of the source of the destroyed enclaves) while others felt a little convoluted (such as the source of Orion's power). Nevertheless, this was compulsively readable, and a good ending to the trilogy.

I've waited so long for this final book in the trilogy and it wildly exceeded my expectations. I love El's simmering anger at the petty annoyances and deep unfairness of life. The character and world building in this series is top notch. Naomi Novik does a wonderful job of ending this series and leaving us wanting more. If you're looking for a traditional happily ever after, read this book and you'll get something much much better. I've always recommended A Deadly Education to my book clubs and in reader's advisory programming, now I can recommend the entire trilogy!