#I can't believe this book was my accidental 6th read of the month

[ravendruidreads]

A Deadly Education - Review

Author: Naomi Novik Saga: The Scholomance Date Read: February 26, 2024 - February 28, 2024 Format: Physical Pages: 319

Characters: 6/10 Atmosphere: 4/10 Writing: 3/10 Plot: 7/10 Intrigue: 5/10 Logic: 5/10 Enjoyment: 7/10 Rating: 5.2/10 (3 stars)

I got this book from a blind date with a book at Barnes & Noble. The premises were "a gorgeous book about monsters and monstrousness"; "dark, dangerous school of magic"; and "unwilling dark sorceress destined to rewrite the roles".

The review is hidden below due to spoilers.

I went into this book completely blind because I didn't read anything about it other than what the blind date cover mentioned, so I wasn't expecting it to be a young adult kind of book (I thought it would be something more like Fourth Wing), which is partially why I gave it such a low writing score.

The writing felt... weird? I don't mind stories told in first person but in this case, the narrator felt like it was talking directly to me, as in breaking the fourth wall, and that didn't feel much like telling a story. I would have enjoyed this type of writing more when I was younger, so I guess I can say that the author is doing a good job at reaching their target.

Another thing I didn't like about the writing was that the author broke the narrative multiple times to explain details that, in my opinion, were not necessary, making it hard to keep up with the story. A lot of those explanations were also very confusing, which is also why Atmosphere has such a low score. I had trouble visualizing because the descriptions were often confusing.

The characters are fine. They are what they are: common teenagers with relatable issues (like being an outcast). Orion is the typical teenage boy that has no clue how to talk to girls, so he accidentally starts dating El without even asking or telling her his feelings until the very end. Not gonna lie, that made me chuckle a little. They are kind of cute together and remind me when I was a teen (except I was the Orion in the situation-as in not knowing how to talk to boys).

The plot is what saved the book, in my opinion. I liked the idea that the school is always moving and trying to kill its students. It gave me a little big of Hogwarts vibes.

Something else that confused me at first was the fact that this is a fantasy book set in our world. I was taken aback when I first read the mention of New York and other cities because I wasn't expecting it to happen in our world. However, I did enjoy the diversity and the importance the author gave to languages. If it wasn't for the fact that the school is trying to kill its students on a daily(nay-hourly)-basis, I would have loved to attend it just for the language learning part.

All in all, it was a fun book to read and I'm excited to see what happens next. El's mom's letter brings in the perfect cliff hanger for book two.

Quotes that stayed:

I love having existential crises at bedtime, it's so restful.

I think that after a certain number of evil choices, it's reasonable shorthand to decide that someone's an evil person who oughtn't have the chance to make any more choices. And the more power someone has, the less slack they ought to be given.

#raven's reviews #the scholomance #a deadly education #naomi novik #3 stars #this review contains spoilers #blind date with a book #<- (I really want to do more of these) #I can't believe this book was my accidental 6th read of the month #I was not planning on reading 6 books in the shortest month of the year