If you read Harry Potter and thought, “If Hogwarts was trying to murder you, though…” this is for you.
There’s no quiddich at the Scholomance. No holiday parties, no friendly games of chess. There are, however, monsters in the showers, in the ceiling, and in the food. If you want to survive, you have to be strategic. And no one is more strategic than El.
Unlike readers who were familiar with Novik through Uprooted or Spinning Silver, this was my first introduction (I’ve since gone back and read her other titles) and I loved it. LOVED IT. The main character, El, is a sarcastic, caustic, loner that you shouldn’t love, but somehow can’t resist while Orion’s awkward-hero (please cast Tom Holland for the Netflix adaptation) makes the perfect enemies-to-lovers pairing. So if you enjoy reading about terrible things happening to nice (and not-so-nice) people, grab yourself a copy.
“Some sorcerers get an affinity for weather magic, or transformation spells, or fantastic combat magics like dear Orion. I got an affinity for mass destruction.”
Erin Simpson 