A Deadly Education
A TikTok sensation and Sunday Times bestselling dark academia fantasy
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4.4 • 209 Ratings
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- £2.99
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- £2.99
Publisher Description
The Sunday Times bestseller!
FINALIST FOR THE LODESTAR AWARD
In the start of an all-new trilogy, the bestselling author of Uprooted and Spinning Silver introduces you to a dangerous school for the magically gifted where failure means certain death - until one girl begins to rewrite its rules.
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Enter a school of magic unlike any you have ever encountered.
There are no teachers, no holidays, friendships are purely strategic, and the odds of survival are never equal. Once you're inside, there are only two ways out: you graduate or you die.
El Higgins is uniquely prepared for the school's many dangers. 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.
Except, she might accidentally kill all the other students, too. So El is trying her hardest not to use it . . . that is, unless she has no other choice.
With flawless mastery, Naomi Novik creates a heroine for the ages - a character so sharply realized and so richly nuanced that she will live on in hearts and minds for generations to come.
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'Hilarious and wild! Take any fictional magic school, make it as over-the-top dangerous as possible, and populate it with a bunch of snarky teenagers; the result is pure batshit fun.'
N.K. Jemisin, three-time Hugo Award winner and author of The Fifth Season
'Novik deliciously undoes expectations about magic schools, destined heroes, and family legacies. A gorgeous book about monsters and monstrousness, chockablock with action, cleverness, and wit.' Holly Black, #1 New York Times bestselling author
'The Scholomance is the dark school of magic I've been waiting for, and its wise, witty, and monstrous heroine is one I'd happily follow anywhere-even into a school full of monsters.'
Katherine Arden, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Bear and the Nightingale
'The wonderful cast of characters will grab a hold of your heart and you'll never want to leave this deadly school ... a fantasy that delights on every level. I loved this brilliant book.'
Stephanie Garber, #1 Sunday Times bestselling author of the Caraval series
'Eyeball-meltingly brilliant. Novik is, quite simply, a genius.'
Kiersten White, New York Times bestselling author of And I Darken
'Sharp, witty, and darkly effervescent, A Deadly Education is Naomi Novik's fresh take on the concept of the magic school. One of my favorite reads of the year.'
Rory Power, New York Times bestselling author of Wilder Girls
'Fresh, smart, and delightfully unique. It's Hogwarts with higher stakes and sharper claws, and I absolutely loved it.'
Alix E. Harrow
'A nightmare from which I never wished to wake. Savage, inventive, and soulful, Novik grasps the totems of childhood that linger in your mind-schools of magic, curses, cutthroat classmates, monsters-only to twist them into a grand new tale that'll make you believe in magic again.'
Pierce Brown, New York Times bestselling author of Dark Age
A Deadly Education, Sunday Times bestseller - October 2020
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Naomi Novik (Uprooted, Spinning Silver) has returned with a wonderful, fantastical tale of a group of magically gifted students. A Deadly Education introduces this ensemble as they not only endure their final exams, but battle the deadly creatures that lurk in every corner of their school, the Scholomance. The first instalment in Novik’s Scholomance series, it follows seniors Galadriel, Orion and their classmates as they form alliances in an attempt to survive until graduation. Novik’s creativity when it comes to conjuring stomach-churning descriptions of the creatures within the Scholomance is unmatched, and woven into the immersive worldbuilding is an intense tale of trust, friendship and courage. Novik has mastered the cross-section of fantasy and horror—the dangers that stalk the halls of the school are as terrifying as they are unrelenting.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Novik (Spinning Silver) puts a refreshingly dark, adult spin on the magical boarding school setting of the spellbinding first fantasy in her Scholomance trilogy. The students of Scholomance, a boarding school for sorcerers, must weather survival-of-the-fittest trials, fighting off the Lovecraftian monsters known as maleficaria (or "mals") that routinely break in to eat students. Graduation is the greatest challenge of all, and requires the students to fight their way through the sea of mals clustered outside the building. Dark sorceress El (short for Galadriel) has a plan for how she'll make it through the gates alive next year: she'll learn to control her affinity for destruction, make allies by impressing other students with her abilities, and stockpile magical energy. But monster-slayer Orion Lake throws a wrench in the works. He keeps saving El before she can display her talents, and has killed so many lesser mals that the ones left are huge and hungry. El and Orion must strike up an alliance to save themselves and their schoolmates from monstrous destruction. Readers will delight in the push-and-pull of El and Orion's relationship, the fantastically detailed world, the clever magic system, and the matter-of-fact diversity of the student body. This is a must-read for fantasy fans.
Customer Reviews
Another amazing book
Loved it, took my time in buying this book because of the price even though i knew it would be good, Read Noami’s standalone books and loved them
Takes a while to get going but this in Naomis style i think, lots of world building and it feels like your not getting anywhere until wow you have all the info for the story. Stick with it!
What a cliffhanger ending too and now have to wait for the next book but will probably read the series she has while waiting!
Maybe it’s me…
I’m sorry but I gave up on this book with about 50 pages left. I just didn’t see where it was going or even the point of it. To see so many fantastic ratings absolutely amazes me in all honesty.
I don’t like giving negative feedback but if I thought it was the opposite I would have said so and therefore only fair to give negative feedback if I don’t enjoy a book.
Wickedly imaginative, inventive and different
One of the best books I’ve read. The shear detail of the author’s imagination and world-building is fantastic. If there’s a fault it is that there is so much back-story that the plot can be slow to develop.
Some criticism has been levelled at the author for some racist stereotypes. Maybe it’s my insensitivity but I didn’t notice this when I read the book. Having seen the criticism and the author’s fulsome and genuine apology Subsequent I do think this is criticism was somewhat harsh given the author’s successful attempt to produce a multicultural cast of characters which surely is better than many more mono cultural books.