The Last Graduate

, #2

Hardcover, 304 pages

English language

Published Sept. 28, 2021 by Del Ray.

ISBN:
978-1-5291-0088-4
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4 stars (111 reviews)

Return to the Scholomance - and face an even deadlier graduation - in the stunning sequel to the ground-breaking, Sunday Times bestselling A Deadly Education.

The dark school of magic has always done its best to devour its students, but now that El has reached her final year -- and somehow won herself a handful of allies along the way -- it's suddenly developed a very particular craving . . .

For her.

As the savagery of the school ramps up, El is determined that she will not give in; not to the mals, not to fate, and especially not to the Scholomance. But as the spectre of graduation looms -- the deadly final ritual that leaves few students alive -- if she and her allies are to make it out, El will need to realise that sometimes winning the game means throwing out all the rules.

5 editions

reviewed The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik (The Scholomance, #2)

More delicious malevolence

4 stars

#BookReview This book, second in Naomi Novik’s young-adult dark academia fantasy series ‘The Scholomance’, starts exactly where we left off in the first book (ramblingreaders.org/user/clare_hooley/review/558898) with our two main protagonists, our narrator El and and her perhaps boyfriend Orion, now seniors in the deadly school. The end of the senior year is when both of them will face ‘graduation’ - a literal gauntlet run through a room filled with wicked hungry magical monsters (always deliciously well-described by Novik’s writing) that, in a standard year, only about half those entering survive. Of course with El and Orion both being so exceptional, we know this isn’t going to be a standard year. El has mellowed out (grown up) from being quite so whiny and angsty, although her sarcastic streak remains undimmed, and now even has friends. Owing to events at the end of book one, she also can’t be invisible …

reviewed The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik (The Scholomance, #2)

A Blast Graduate

4 stars

Ok - the previous book ends so well, and drops a huge cliffhanger in the final paragraph. I'm glad I was reading these after they were all done because I'd HATE to wait a year for the next book

This is the graduating year for El in the Scholomance, the murderous school for wizards with deadly monsters around every corner. It really starts to heighten the tension between the tenets of Realpolitik and Mutualism. The world of wizards is brutal realpolitik. Every thing is a dismal trade - no one will help anyone without a benefit because every resource is hoarded against the day of graduation, where every single advantage is needed to improve your odds of not dying or worse. Worse is definitely a real possibility. In comes El and she does not need to trade. She destroys the economics by being able to do more.

I really enjoyed …

reviewed The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik (The Scholomance, #2)

More Complete Than the First One

5 stars

I enjoyed how El continued to develop and grow in a realistic way, and it was great to see her with her friends. Some suspension of disbelief is needed to accept the logic of the Scholomance, but, hey, it's magic.

The only knock was that it dragged a bit in the middle.

This felt like far more of a complete book than the first one, and the story structure worked well to keep me hooked until the conclusion. I'm a bit concerned about how they'll top it being outside of the school in the next one.

reviewed The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik (The Scholomance, #2)

Review of 'The Last Graduate' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

I'm sorry, the last line of this book should be illegal


With this second book, I loved our main character El even more, (having a 1st person pov is good for that), but I also didnt feel as connected to the other characters. This style of writing with a lot of explaining is not as bad as it sounds, because I enjoyed reading the experience of this deadly school and her "daily life", now waiting for the final book release in september lol

reviewed The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik (The Scholomance, #2)

Review of 'The Last Graduate' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

I'm too overwhelmed to say much at this stage, except that I expected exactly this cliffhanger ending all while hoping that it wasn't coming. Very Greek tragedy in that way. Can't wait for the final book.

Otherwise I'll just say again how refreshing it is to have a main character in a wizarding school story who recognises the injustices in wizard society, and then instead of just trying to restore the status quo and feeling vaguely sorry for themselves, she does something to fundamentally make things better. (Yes, that's a subtweet.)

reviewed The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik (The Scholomance, #2)

Review of 'Last Graduate' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

I love what this series is doing. I think it works pretty well as a YA fantasy romance while also giving a nuanced analogy for power dynamics in the real world, where people have to balance their desire to be good and kind with the realities of a world where resources are finite but threats to survival are not. I can’t wait to see what the graduates of the Scholomance, having finally gained the insight the school was pushing them towards all along, do next. They have a huge task in front of them: sharing that education with the rest of the world of wizards.

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