A Deadly Education

I’ve loved her other works, Uprooted and Spinning Silver, so I was excited to start this one!

The good

It was a unique setting, school in the void where you learn magic or die. I enjoyed the relationship between El and her mom, I thought it was very engaging and I wanted to spend more time with both of them. The plot twist at the end was satisfying.

The bad

It was a strange book in terms of tone. Her stories have felt more like fairy tales to me, world-through-the-wardrobe style of writing, but this one really bounced off of me. It read unlike her other novels too, with Scholomance being slowly revealed as this place where young kids are sent to learn magic, with no teachers, danger every 3 seconds, and a school that has to be believed in to persist in the Void… I never felt satisfied with the reasons given why people would be sent to this school nor why I should care.

The protagonist was as unlikeable as the place, just snark every other sentence. I felt like I was reading someone’s idea of a super bratty kid. And again, the reasons we’re given for her being like that are not quite enough. It got to the point where I just didn’t want her to tell the story any more.

The danger was over-the-top cartoony - quick pull out your spellbook before you go to bed or you’ll get eaten in the two seconds from brushing your teeth to laying down.

2.5/5

I really didn’t enjoy it as it happened, and then we FINALLY got to graduation and it just wasn’t a big deal? The power of friendship overcame the dreaded monsters that kill 99% of the class every year?

The plot and setting engaged me enough to finish the book, but really didn’t stick with me like her other novels.

It’s definitely for you if you really love magical schools or stories solely because they’re unique, it’s pretty good. Or if you REALLY like snarky heroines A LOT