A Deadly Education: A Novel

A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik  320 pages

This is the first book in Novilk's new series, The Scholomance, about a school of magic. However, this is no friendly Harry Potter world.  Indeed - "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."

I had really been looking forward to this book. Reviews made it sound amazing and I really enjoyed Novik's Temerarie series.  Unfortunately, I just didn't like this book. While I don't mind the idea of a school of magic where many things are dangerous, and I don't mind unlikeable character, this story felt exhausting to read after a while.  The main character is unlikeable, relentlessly so --- and while there's some explanation later in the story, and a bit of character growth, I found her to be tiring.  I liked some of the monsters, and I loved the description of the library (of course), but the bits of dark humor in the story weren't enough for me to find it enjoyable. Instead, it's a bit of a slog . . . there's almost never any letup of the monsters, of the danger, of the endless explanations (which aren't always full explanations) of the danger, the horrors that await students, etc etc.  I wanted to like this book more than I did.