Whitney Writes…

For some time, I have not experienced a book – let alone a series – that has grabbed ahold of me quite like The Scholomance Trilogy books by Naomi Novik have. From the opening line of “I decided that Orion needed to die after the second time he saved my life.” of the first book, A Deadly Education, I have been hooked. I ploughed through that first book almost entirely on my week-long vacation in April, finishing it the next day when I returned home. I found myself frantic to order the following two books of the series. And I devoured them just as quickly as a maw-mouth devours a freshly graduated wizard from the Scholomance.

Naomi is one of the first authors I have come across that manages to conduct Environmental Storytelling via writing. Being a typically-visual-storytelling mechanism, this impressed me to no end. One of my biggest pet peeves in reading is when the author tends to lay things out as “First there was A, then A led to B, which also brought around C. And because of A, B, and C, then D, E, and F could occur.” It just feels so… unnatural. I love that in the first book, you learn about the world and wizard-eating maleficaria right along with the main character, Galadriel.

And now, for my true love of the series, the narrator, Galadriel Higgins. Yes, named after that Galadriel, and yes, the story does acknowledge it. And once you get to know Galadriel, it is a beautiful play on the name. Galadriel is a girl after my own heart: a self-described loner. She’s snarky and hates everyone, and yet, despite a prophecy made about her by her great-great-grandmother that she shall be the destroyer of worlds, she strives to not fall into becoming that person. Because despite hating everyone and everything, and having spells of unimaginable horror, she desperately wants to be a good person. The entire series balances on her internal battle of what she is and the power she holds, and it is truly amazing to behold the moments in which she uses these spells meant to destroy and slaughter, but manages to manipulate them for good.

Book One: A Deadly Education

This book was like a breath of fresh air for me. I had two books already on my reading pile when I started A Deadly Education. One I had been struggling with for two years to get through, the other since last August. They’re both good books, in their own right, they are just not grabbing my attention and holding it. When I began A Deadly Education, it grabbed on and refused to let go.

As previously mentioned, I began reading this book in mid-April while on vacation in Pittsburgh. I quickly found I was thinking about it all day, every day. Counting down the hours until I could go to bed and read my book until ungodly hours in the morning. The night when a maw-mouth – one of the many mana-eating monsters, known as maleficaria, or mals, in the series that resembles a giant glob of gelatinous Jell-O with squid like tendrils that eats it’s victims by just absorbing them, then using said victims’ eyes and mouths for itself, forever muttering, forever wailing in despair – made my skin crawl in a way I have never experienced. Partly from my irrational fear of Jell-O – yes, really – but also because the way Naomi writes about this particular monster. Because her wizarding world does not know much about these terror-inducing beasts, neither do you, as the reader. And the first time Galadriel takes one on, you’re left reeling in the same manner she is afterward. Because what even was that…

One of my favorite parts of this book, besides the entire thing, is you see this girl, who as said before, hates everyone and everything (for good reason, by the way), slowly begin to soften. You see her make some actual friends. And you just melt for her. I had actual tears in my eyes at the moment she realized she had friends. Because it was a thing she had never expected to have in her life. See her great-great-great-grandmother’s prophecy, and as much as Galadriel wants that prophecy to be wrong, it does not change the fact that people see that dark potential within her and flinch away. Fear her. Avoid her. For things she hasn’t even done yet.

Book Two: The Last Graduate

Book Two started right where Book One left off. There was no cliff hanger, just an ominous note from Galadriel’s mum. Stay away from Orion Lake. Which, the chemistry those two had… not possible.

Over the course of the book, you really see Galadriel start to come into her own. You really start to see her mega-death spells she has, and how she manipulates them to work how she wants them to. Simply because she believes she can. Many of the things that occur in this book are strictly because she makes them happen.

The comradery of all of these teenagers learning to work together, to trust in one another. To see Galadriel believe in herself. The relationship that grows between herself and Orion – see, she didn’t listen to her mum. It’s all so beautiful and organic, and it’s all written in a manner where you can feel it. Galadriel has a second encounter with a maw-mouth, and because Galadriel’s confidence in herself has grown, it’s not as terrifying as the encounter in Book One.

For as long as I can remember, I have had this habit where I read the last line in a book before I start it. While I will not be divulging what that line is for Book Two, I will say it gave me the warm and fuzzies for where the story was headed. However, as I read the last chapter, the last pages, the last paragraphs, the last sentences, and then that last sentence again… let me tell you, the context of that last line changed dramatically. I would have been beside myself if I had had to wait the year between the publication of Book Two and Book Three. Thankfully, I was late to finding the series, so I could just roll straight into Book Three…

Book Three: The Golden Enclaves

The last line of Book Three gave me hope once more for where the story was headed. Which the first few lines and paragraphs ripped back away from me. Being an incredibly anxious person, I flipped through the book. I do not make a habit of purposefully spoiling the story for myself, but that’s what this series has done to me. I was willing to stoop incredibly low to get answers. Quickly. I saw a few glimpses of things that looked promising, so I once again returned to the beginning of the book.

And it did not make me feel better.

Instead of allowing myself to partake in further shenanigans, I made myself just read the damn book. And it was a roller coaster. Galadriel was growing into her own completely, defeating maw-mouths with little preamble now. All while dealing with recent traumatic events. The way she manages to just… carry on while internally is awe-inspiring.

Golden Enclaves is a bit of a slow burner – you’re suddenly over half-way through, and it feels like not a lot of big stuff has happened. Do not get me wrong, things are happening, they’re just not the big, plot-moving archs of the previous books. Instead, Golden Enclaves is carried along on the back of it’s heroine’s emotions. There were so many moments where she makes a discovery, and I found myself in near-tears, having already pieced together what this means for her. Because I was that invested in seeing her get the ending I so wanted for her.

The final chapter was a back and forth, will-it-won’t-it rip my heart out. It saw the final maw-mouth battle of the series. And this one was terrifying in an entirely new way. It was like a gut punch, knowing how efficient Galadriel had become with dealing with the monsters and the newest piece of devastating information you learn with her just before the fight.

When I finally turned the page and was greeted with blank paper, I realized the end had come. It is one of the first book series in a long time, maybe in forever, that I felt completely empty after finishing it. And not because I had not enjoyed it, but because I knew I could no longer exist within that world. I miss it like a loved one I have lost. I feel as if, in some way, I am mourning it.

Final Thoughts…

I have said this multiple times, but I loved this series more than I can remember loving any other book or series in recent memory. It was terrifying. It was endearing. It was uplifting and encouraging. It was the perfect awkward love story. It left a hole in me that I do not know if I will ever be able to fill.

I know it is styled as a trilogy. That the story of the Scholomance has been tied up with a nice little satin ribbon. But it feels like the world Naomi created has more stories to tell. And if she were ever to choose to return to it, I would run to it with arms wide, like Galadriel and her friends reuniting.