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Jan 21, 2021VaughanPLRachelP rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
As you may have guessed from the title, A Deadly Education is another entry into the 'magic school' genre, but with a few twists I very much appreciated. Scholomance is, quite literally, a magic school. By which I mean the school itself is actively magic. There are no teachers at Scholomance, the school is responsible for teaching students. Oh, and it is absolutely infested with monsters (called 'mals' in this book). As such, half of the students education is learning how to survive. It's a very strong incentive. The main character, El (short for Galadriel), is the subject of a prophecy that dooms her to becoming one of the most dark and destructive witches of all time, leaving her fellow students to avoid her at all costs. But Scholomance isn't a school you can survive without allies, as El quickly learns. El is smart and snarky and while being a good person doesn't come natural to her, she mostly tries her best. This book is guilty of a bit too much exposition - pages and pages of info dumps about the school and the wider society as a whole. And while it's told in El's charming, sarcastic voice, these passages can still go on a bit too long. But the story sets itself up well for future installments, ending on a cliffhanger that is compelling but not frustrating.