He’s a wealthy New Yorker with access to almost limitless magic, and as if that wasn’t bad enough, he has a hero complex.

Orion Lake is pretty much at the other end of the social spectrum from El. So, no matter how much she’s ostracised for the weird vibes people get off her, and her abrasive personality, she keeps a tight lid on her self-control.

It would be far too easy for her to destroy the Scholomance – and everyone inside it. She’s a dark sorceress: she was born with an affinity for death and destruction magic, which she has to be very careful to keep herself from using. Basically, you do the work, or you die).Įl is half Indian and half Welsh, but she doesn’t fit in for more reasons than just her mixed ethnicity. (In case you’re wondering how this school works without teachers, Novik does a great job of explaining. Every day, El wakes up, tries desperately to find someone who’ll let her walk to breakfast or the bathroom with them, and then settles down to learning all the things you need to get out of the Scholomance alive. True, the school is infested with mals, but students still come to the Scholomance because your chances of survival are even worse if you pass through puberty on the outside.

These monsters – maleficaria, or ‘mals’ – are absolutely everywhere, and they love nothing better than consuming sorcerers. Only about half a senior class ever make it. The only way a student leaves school is by graduating, and that involves a frantic race for life through a horde of ravening monsters. Like other magic wielders, at the age of fourteen she was bussed into the Scholomance, a magical school without any teachers or authority figures whatsoever. Sixteen-year-old Galadriel ‘El’ Higgins is a sorceress. But this book blows them both of out of the water. I thought Uprooted was okay, and I actively dislike Spinning Silver. I’ve never been one of Novik’s more rabid fans. So El is trying her hardest not to use it… that is, unless she has no other choice.ĪRC provided in exchange for an honest review – thank you! She may be without allies, but she possesses a dark power strong enough to level mountains and wipe out untold millions – never mind easily destroy the countless monsters that prowl the school.Įxcept, she might accidentally kill all the other students, too. Once you’re inside, there are only two ways out: you graduate or you die.Įl Higgins is uniquely prepared for the school’s many dangers. There are no teachers, no holidays, friendships are purely strategic, and the odds of survival are never equal. Enter a school of magic unlike any you have ever encountered.

A deadly education reviews