(Scholomance, #2)
by Naomi Novik
Synopsis: Senior year is finally here which means it's time for El, Orion, and the other seniors at Scholomance to prepare for graduation - a deadly ritual that historically leaves only a few survivors. Instead of preparing for graduation by building enough mana to get through the graduation ceremony, poor El is spending all her time fighting off mals that seem to be focused entirely on her. It's clear the school is out to get her because she gets straddled with the worst class schedule, in the farthest classrooms, and is grouped with freshmen. How is El supposed to store up enough mana to graduate when she has to keep using it to fight off mals and save herself from becoming a delicious snack to all the mals?
Review: Usually second books in trilogies are the worst because they just act as a gap between the first and third books. The Last Graduate is not one of those, in fact, I loved it even more than the first book. How is that even possible? That rarely happens, in fact, I am having a hard time recalling another series where the second book was better than the first.
I'm not sure exactly what it is, but I just absolutely adore El. I have found her so relatable, even from the very beginning. She is introverted, sarcastic, and often pessimistic. You can actually see the growth between junior and senior year because the character that closes out the second book is not the same girl we met at the beginning of book one. She is so honest and raw and that makes her likable and relatable, and even though she has a prickly personality she finds friends that love her for who she is, even if she is in an inner battle with herself to not go malificer.
Novik has a gift to create vivid worlds, relatable characters, action-packed adventure, and gut-wrenching endings - wait what? Yes, you read that correctly! Seriously, what the actual f with that ending?! I'm pretty sure I just sat there staring at the screen for several minutes, slowly blinking, thinking - "wait, what just happened?"
“I think everyone else felt as I did, secretly and irrationally, that if we could only succeed, if we could only destroy the whole place, we could save ourselves from ever having been in here.”
― Naomi Novik, The Last Graduate
Overall I give this book 4.5 stars because the story is that fantastic, but don't just take my word for it, read the series for yourself.
Special thanks to NetGalley and Del Rey Books (Random House Publishing/Ballantine) for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
