Book Review: The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik

The Last Graduate
by Naomi Novik (Novik)

This is the second book in the Scholomance Series, stories about a school for wizards, but much darker than the Harry Potter series. In this school, there are creatures within the school trying to kill the students. As the students make alliances with other students to prepare for graduation, the young wizards learn spells that give them a chance to survive — all without teachers or online instruction. Another way of looking at the stories is to think of taking all the student wizards, locking them into a giant prison and tell them that only the fittest (or luckiest) have a chance to survive. I enjoyed the book but felt that the author was making the story too complicated by adding too much jargon — words that mean something in this world she has created, not unlike Tolkien with Lord of the Rings but not done as well either. The latter part of the book was better than the earlier section because there is more action as the students rush to complete their tasks before graduation. Be prepared for a cliffhanger ending — hopefully another book is in the works!

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Uprooted and Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik, or The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling.)

 

( official Scholomance page on the official Naomi Novik web site )

 

Recommended by Kim J.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

Have you read or listened to this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!