A Deadly Education - The Scholomance #1, Naomi Novik
A+: this was a delight. Fun, a little horrifying, and great dynamics between characters.
In the Scholomance, there are no teachers, no holidays, and no friendships, save strategic ones. Survival is more important than any letter grade, for the school won’t allow its students to leave until they graduate… or die! The rules are deceptively simple: Don’t walk the halls alone. And beware of the monsters who lurk everywhere. El has astonishing destructive powers but no allies - until she forms an unlikely friendship with God’s gift to humanity, Orion Lake. (adapted from the Goodreads page)
This book has been called racist. I personally don’t think it deserves all the flak it’s getting - I explain my feelings on the matter below the cut. The mistakes Novik made were few (throwaway sentences, not plot points) and they were due to being misguided rather than being malicious.
I had such a good time with this, and can’t wait to see where the series goes next. It’s the sort of story where things get better as they go on, I think, which is one of my favourite types. Grumpy, antisocial El collects friends against her will in this book, and I can’t wait to see what those friends do in the next.
This is the one school story I’ve read that feels like how high school feels for me - which sounds like an exaggeration, with the amount of death going on here. But the constant stress, working at every second, exclusively talking to your friends about schoolwork, and worrying at every second about final exams or what you’re going to do once you get out there into the world and have to deal with real-world problems, which are somehow worse? That’s what high school is like, and I did not anticipate the story to get it right would be one in which characters are routinely killed by monsters.
While El spends a little too much time narrating the way the school and the world works and a little too little time on action, she’s such a charismatic protagonist and Novik has made such an enjoyable world that I almost didn’t mind.
Also, Orion and El’s relationship? A joy to read. It was definitely a departure from the mature, balancing-of-power-dynamics of Uprooted and Spinning Silver. It’s the perfect hero and a loser who really enjoys being mean to him, and it’s entertaining and teenage and a little bit adorable.
Plot: surprisingly little of it, but it worked well. It isn’t exaggerating to say El spends more than half of the book just explaining the world to the audience. Since the whole plot takes place in just a couple weeks, though, it works better than I was expecting it to.
Characters: excellent. El - Galadriel Higgins, a half-Indian girl raised by her hippie white mother in a peace-and-love commune, foretold as someone who will destroy worlds. I adore her. And while Orion, God’s perfect moster-killing himbo, and their relationship is pretty great, what I really loved was El making friends with two other girls. Aadhaya and Liu, who I’d love to see more of in later books because they were charming and intriguing.
Setting: this was great. And I’m not just saying that because Novik specifically mentions Toronto as home to an excellent enclave (aka small community of wizards) and I’m biased to anyone who’s kind to my home city. You can tell that Novik took inspiration from Harry Potter, but she’s made something entirely new out of it. A fully realized and slightly horrifying school, plus thinking about how the magical world works outside the school.
Prose: El talks SO MUCH. Seriously, my one problem with this book was that there’s SO much introspection. Since I liked El, I had no issues with it. Also, props for this banger of a first sentence: “I decided that Orion needed to die after the second time he saved my life.”
Diversity report: so there are two main concerns against this book - an Indian protagonist who’s divorced from her heritage, and a paragraph about dreadlocks in which El was talking about the danger of monsters nesting in long hair and called out dreadlocks specifically. The paragraph about dreadlocks was actually removed from the version I read, so I found out about it later - it’s not my place to talk about whether this was inexcusable or not, though Novik has apologized. However, I am Indian, and I don’t think that El was bad South Asian representation. First, her father’s Marathi family was described respectfully and kindly. Secondly, Aadhaya is South Asian and is connected to her culture, and El is making attempts to connect to her culture through studying languages and history. Thirdly, Novik got the microaggressions that come with being brown right - every time El mentions some white person discussing yoga with her it was very familiar. I think that Novik could very easily have made an all-white story and wouldn’t have been cancelled, but that she chose to strive for representation in her works, and was held to a ridiculously high standard because of that. She would have benefitted from her sensitivity reader giving it another once-over, but that doesn’t mean this book isn’t still a great read. And this is a fantasy series with a South Asian main character - this is still incredibly rare, and I was delighted when I found out.
A: an enjoyable fantasy adventure with a fantastic premise.
Tarisai has always longed for the warmth of a family. She was raised in isolation by a mysterious, often absent mother known only as The Lady. The Lady sends her to the capital of the global empire of Aritsar to compete with other children to be chosen as one of the Crown Prince’s Council of 11. If she’s picked, she’ll be joined with the other Council members through the Ray, a bond deeper than blood. But The Lady has other ideas, including a magical wish that Tarisai is compelled to obey: Kill the Crown Prince once she gains his trust.
First of all, the concept of the Ray is one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen. It’s like Sense8 except they all have magical powers on top of that and also they rule the world and have known each other since they were children. And it was delightful.
Also, this worldbuilding! A West African-based empire that has control over most of the world, and I admit I spent the first half of the book trying to figure out if it was meant to be evil or not because so much of the culture described was so COOL I was able to look past several human rights violations.
I think the most interesting part to me was the fantasy politics area of it: I’m in awe of the amount of planning it took to make this a world with an origin story and a religion and nuanced conversations about privilege and imperialism. And it’s all pulled off with clarity.
I think the main problem with this story, though, is that while the important places are beautifully fleshed out, Ifueko has planned out a whole world and a whole cast of characters that she never really explores but still expects us to remember, leading to both confusion and a feeling of wasted potential.
This is always a problem with the page count of a book like this, though, and I’m confident it will be improved in later books.
Plot: good. I personally love a book where you can see characters grow and develop through it, and Ifueko does this very well - making use of her page count. Pacing is good, as well.
Characters: a weak point, I think. While the main three characters are very good and fleshed out, as are side characters like The Lady, Kathleen, and Woo In, you cannot have a story about a group of people telepathically linked to each other and who all love each other and then only focus on a few of those characters. Like. There are twelve members of this ruling council/superhero team, and while Ifueko gives them basic facts of personality, I couldn’t really tell them apart and most of them didn’t contribute anything besides filling slots on this council. I think with the page count and for the pacing of the story, it made sense, but there’s still that feeling of wasted potential.
Setting: close-up was fantastic, far-off was a bit confusing. The savannah and the palaces we spend most of this book in are great. Beautifully realized, and you can tell Ifueko did her research because she made me see picture something that I knew next to nothing about with photograph clarity. But again, there are twelve kingdoms in this story, all based off of other cultures in the world. It’s expected that we draw the lines between those cultures and their real-world equivalents by picking up areas in the names and descriptions, and fill in the blanks ourselves. But I don’t think enough information was given to do that, so all these beautiful concepts hovering just outside the scope of the novel blended together in a frustrating way.
Prose: good. While not particularly poetic, it was wonderfully clear and direct.
Diversity report: this one has it all! Well-written women, Black girl magic, a cast predominantly made out of people of colour, background queer rep.
Return of the Thief - Queen’s Thief #6, Megan Whalen Turner
It’s so good, you guys. No spoilers for major plot points below the cut, but I do mention stuff that was kept secret like the narrator and new characters, so be warned for spoilers.
The culmination of one of the greatest SFF series of the 21st century - I’m not even a little bit exaggerating - is finally here, as is the long-awaited war with the Mede Empire. Can Eugenides and his buddies come up with a plan to stop them?
Obviously. It’s Gen.
Turner is so NICE to us this book - especially in the first half, there are so many conversations and jokes that are meant just to have fun, with little to no plot significance. And I ate them up - I love these characters and this is the last time I’ll see them, so I was so thrilled to have enjoyable scenes of them as well. It never crosses the line into sacrificing the plot.
I had to go to bed in the middle of reading this and then woke up at two to stare at the ceiling for an hour trying to figure out how it was all going to work out and what the twist was, because it was so suspenseful and had me so excited I genuinely could not sleep.
Characters are just - perfect. Turner advances their character arcs while still keeping them true to the people we love.
Speaking of people I love, the new narrator, Pheris, is fantastic. He’s so clever and kind and I want to squish his cheeks because he’s ~10-15 and adorable.
Three groups of people who will be pleased by this book: math nerds, gay people, and people who go crazy about the concept of deification and stories. Pheris is an adorable math nerd and the scenes where he’s being tutored are fantastic. The diversity massively increases in this one, with casual queer representation all over the place (and of course a large portion of the characters are people of colour, and have been since the 90s when this was a very impressive and progressive thing). And the themes of deification and stories? They are intense and beautiful.
Plot: so good. I’m not going to risk saying anything else. Be assured that the twists are twisty and the tricks are tricky.
Characters: so so good. Every single time one of them showed up I started grinning like an idiot. At one point when Costis appeared I had to put the book down and go tell my sister, I was so excited. And Pheris jumped the list to one of my favourite characters so quickly. Everyone has a moment to shine, everyone's arcs went to interesting and natural conclusions, and our main six (now main seven!) characters are just - so good.
Setting: so many borders were filled in this book! This series has always been special for the Byzantine vibes that you can’t find anywhere else. It’s immaculately described and researched, and time periods and concepts are blended so beautifully. But we also got to learn about the Greater Powers of the Continent this book, as well as more about the cultures of the Peninsula, and it was all so interesting.
Prose: it is funny! It is subtle! There is banter! Seriously, so much banter, and I was having so much fun. Smarter people than me will dissect the foreshadowing later, so I’m just going to say the gut-punch moments hit hard.
Diversity rating: very very good.
Bonus: look under the cast of characters to see Turner lowkey call Relius a ho.
Red Seas Under Red Skies - The Gentlemen Bastards #2, Scott Lynch
5/5 I love this book - such a fun time.
Locke and Jean are two years into conning the Sinspire, the best and most secure gambling house in the world. But the most powerful person in the city of Tal Verrar traps them into infiltrating the pirates of the Sea of Brass - and Locke and Jean have never sailed in their lives. Let’s see how they get themselves out of this one.
This book is by no means whatsoever a disappointment, though it is perhaps not as good as the previous installment - the Lies of Locke Lamora I went into not knowing anything about the series, so the twists were more thrilling because I didn’t know they were coming. I don’t think the heist of this book was quite as well-planned, either.
It makes up for it, though, with PIRATES. I love pirates, and these are pirates done fantastically - Lynch hits a really nice balance between being inventive and sticking to the conventions of the genre.
This book we meet Zamira Drakasha, a brown single mother in her forties and badass captain of a pirate ship. I love her - and her lieutenant, Ezri Delmastro - so much. There were not very many women last book so I didn’t know if Lynch could write them, but these two are a joy to read about.
Locke, Jean, and their friendship are as perfect as ever. They have this fantastic combination between hilarious banter, genuine frustration and annoyance, and being fully willing to die for each other. They call themselves best friends, but it feels a lot like siblings in a wonderful way.
Plot: the heist at its finest. I do think that Lynch is one of the best writers of heists in the genre, and this one was great as well - giving us all the pieces and finally putting it together in the last few pages. I got nervous when we were fifty pages from the end and the climax wasn’t half-done, but it got wrapped up nicely.
Characters: very very good. I thought I would miss Calo, Galdo, and Bug, but with Zamira and Ezri as stunning new characters I was more than content. Locke and Jean were great. I thought the romance progressed a little too quickly, but their interactions together were fantastic, so I’d say overall it was a success.
Setting: so much fun. Lynch has created such a stunning, original world - from the alien ruins lying everywhere to the clockwork and magical creations to the carefully thought-out food, architecture, and clothing. It doesn’t copy any particular real-world equivalent, and I loved seeing how it’s different than our own, as well as how most forms of prejudice have been carefully not included (there’s this moment when they’re picking their crew and their mentor insists upon having women, because they’re lucky and make good officers, that stands out to me personally).
Prose: A+ banter. Every single conversation Locke and Jean have makes reading the book worth it for that alone, even if the rest of it wasn’t as great as it is.
Diversity rating: lots of casual background diversity, a fat action-hero protagonist, well-written women (including older women and women of colour).
The Grace Of Kings - The Dandelion Dynasty #1, Ken Liu
LOVE a good epic fantasy. Love love love a good epic silkpunk (a genre I’ve never read before but really enjoyed: essentially, East Asian steampunk) fantasy.
Kuni Garu is a normal, irresponsible young man under the iron rule of the Xana empire. When gods start meddling and empires start crumbling, he rises to be more powerful than he could have imagined, accompanied by his friend-turned-rival, the prophecied Mata Zyndu.
The most popular goodreads review of this gives it two stars because it doesn’t mention women. I’m actually going to disagree with this, because the part of this book I found the most fascinating is the ways that women, both mortal and immortal, shifted power. This book features the patriarchal structure that’s a staple in the genre, but talks about how women made lives and existed outside of it. Jia, Kuni’s wife, was annoying but learned how to do politics really interestingly. A minor character, Kikomi, has a fascinating conversation about the role of the seductress in history. Kuni chugs respect women juice like a champ and implements it in his government, too. The women in this book are limited by their circumstances, but are present and important, too.
I also loved the different threads going - the hard politics of main plots with the stories-turned-into-myths of minor characters (there’s one particular chapter, about Jizu, that made me lose my mind) and with the machinations of the gods, who are very much present.
In a book like this, the scope of the imagination and worldbuilding is always impressive. Props.
Plot: dense at times, but well-done. It was sometimes hard to keep track of all the characters and names (thank you, list of characters and map that can be found at the front), but the story built well and the pacing was good. While it was hard at times, it wasn’t ever boring.
Characters: interesting, if not likeable. I don’t think I liked anyone in this series, but so many characters were so fascinating - especially Mata Zyndu, who was just an eight-foot-tall walking pillar of repression and rage. Every time he appeared I got excited to see which war crime he’d commit next. I freaking hated Jia, Kuni’s wife, though - for no particular reason I just found her SO annoying.
Setting: props again! Seriously, the detail on this is fantastic, and so unique - pantheons! Food/drink/clothing! Languages and history! Several cultures! So many places and characters being juggled at once!
Prose: contributed a lot to the setting. Sometimes you read something and can tell from the style that the author is used to forming sentences in another language. The characters in this book talk like they’re being translated from Chinese into English, and I loved that.
Diversity rating: very good. So much racial diversity - not just East Asian, but black and brown characters, too. Blink-and-you’ll miss it queer rep. What was, in my opinion, a good portrayal of women.
Paper and Fire - the Great Library #2, Rachel Caine
3.5/5 - not as good as the last one, but still an enjoyable time and I can’t wait to see what happens next.
The Great Library has captured Jess Brightwell’s best friend, Thomas, for daring to invent a printing press. Jess and his old classmates and teachers have to come together again and work under the library’s nose to get him back.
I think the characters in this series are so great. They weren’t quite so much a focus of this book, because friendships had already been formed, but now that I cared about them I enjoyed their interactions more. They’re all so much fun and I care deeply for them.
Especially the incredible hijabi librarian/mathematician Khalila, who I have a little bit of a crush on, and Scholar Christopher Wolfe, who is gay, brown, and an asshole, and I get so excited every time he shows up.
The worldbuilding wasn’t as much of a priority this book (which is a shame, because it was my favourite part of the last one), but what we did find out was excellent and filled out the world so much better.
I think the plot was a bit of an issue: especially in the second half, it kind of ran from one high-stake scenario to another without any time for the characters to reflect or exist. And the book ends on a cliffhanger without any plot threads tied up, which I wasn’t a huge fan of.
Love a found family, and this book is the one where the found family dynamic of the core group gets firmly established. Sometimes a family is six classmates, some of whom are dating each other, their teacher who doesn’t want to be part of this family, and their teacher’s husband, who wants to be part of it even less.
Plot: please let these characters have a moment to fulfill their character arcs. We keep jumping through plot-points, and even when the characters do have time to rest, they use it only for resting, so that none of them really experience the development in themselves and their relationships that I’d enjoyed so much about the previous book.
Characters: love an ensemble cast. Seriously, I get so excited about every member of Jess’ little group of people against the library (with the possible exception of main character Jess and love interest Morgan, who are both perfectly nice but aren’t nearly as interesting as the rest of them). I don’t think as much time was spent on the friendships and relationships between characters, though, which disappointed me.
Setting: worldbuilding! There was one moment that stuck out to me - when Jess prays to ‘his own Christian god’, and reflects he must have stored up some goodwill for his prayer to be answered in a country ruled by other gods. Because of course in a society where Egypt and its old gods were most powerful, Christianity wouldn’t be as widespread - but it still shocked me. Or the information we learned about the automata (which I love), or the Obscurists, or even where electricity went in this steampunk-flavoured world.
Prose: the gut-punches hit well. There’s a scene between Jess and Dario near the end of the book that was excellent with the emotional consequences, and the scene right before that made me physically horrified to read.
Diversity rating: lots of background diversity, the aforementioned hijabi mathematician, middle-aged married gays who are the VERY reluctant parental figures of Jess’ group.
