A Deadly Education (The Scholomance #1) by Naomi Novik

I read Uprooted early last year (2019) and really enjoyed it. Given this I ordered this book as a special box from OwlCrate. 

Working retail during the holidays cut down on my time for reading so it took me longer than it should have to read this. But also, my copy of the final book in The Ember In The Ashes series arrived and I should have paused this and went on to that and then come back because I had a hard time pushing through knowing it was there and waiting...

So what did I think of this one? I wanted to love it. I really did. The classist system of this magical school and the world it exists in was fascinating. It really was a commentary on the haves and have nots and the privilege or lack there of that ones position affords a person. 

Something I did notice here, and it took some getting used to, was the difference in how the world building was done. Most first books in a series takes some time to get the reader aquatinted with world, the language, the systems, the monsters, etc. Novil didn't do that here. She jumped right in and we, the readers were meant to catch on. There was no slow down to explain things in the traditional way. 

On the other hand the action was slow in ramping up...it got progressively more frenetic until the big action scene near the end. And then wham!! So that was interesting. And then the cliffhanger...was major...one line that could change everything that came before it. 

El (Galadriel) does change and grow some as the book goes on, but not in a way that changes her nature, just makes her open more and interesting. But it felt real and not like some overly dramatic and instant change...she is who she is, just how she handles the outside world, those around her, changes. 

Overall, this was a good story and given the way it ended I will read book 2 when it is out....If you read her other works which felt more fairytale this one will feel different, very much so. But that isn't a bad thing, it just doesn't have the old fashioned, old world field of her other work. 

(Finished December 20, 2020)