Welcome to Litsy!

My first Naomi Novak novel. In the Scholomance, survival is the only way to graduate and in a school trying to kill everyone, El is the scariest thing in it. When Orion, the school hero saves her life, 1,2,3…times (who‘s really counting?), El needs to figure out how not to kill him in retribution. It would look bad, especially if they are dating. A Deadly Education cast a weird wonderful spell on me. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#BookBinge

I really like #DarkAcademia but I seem to buy a lot of it & not get it read.🤷🏻‍♀️ These 11 books are mostly loaded on my Kindle with a few in my physical #TBR stacks.

Hoping to get to the tagged book & Babel soon but are there others here that I should bump up the TBR line for my fall reading plans? 🍂

I went into this with low expectations as I've tried many Novik novels and never care for her style. This one did keep me entertained, I enjoyed the school and all of the evil creatures, even if she didn't entirely explain the world. The whole novel is written in a telling rather than showing style internal dialogue, which does make some of it tedious. I'm curious enough to pick up the next book.

I was not expecting to enjoy this as much as I did. It is dark, but absolutely gripping. El is such a reluctant hero it‘s hard not to love her and root for her.
Naomi Novik is now firmly one of my favourite authors.

Happy Tuesday everyone! Here are the #Two4Tuesday questions. Everyone is welcome to play!

My answers:
📘 School started yesterday for most. Not sure when Clamson classes start. I do know the athletes involved in fall sports are already on campus.
📘📘 Tagged.

Want to play? @Eggs @dabbe @Read4life @Gissy @ozma.of.oz @AmandaBlaze @Cupcake12 @Kshakal @OriginalCyn620 @JenReadsAlot @Vansa @BookwormAHN

Unpopular opinion: I found this incredibly boring.

There was just A LOT of internal dialogue and info dumping about the world. I kept reading/listening in hopes something would happened but it just dragged.

Oops, I meant to post this a while ago! My April #bookspinbingo board. No bingo of course but I MIGHT be able to manage one in May?! 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻

I really enjoyed this, a YA that does without the teen angst and concentrates on action and character. The school the kids are tossed into is indeed deadly, although being outside it is even worse. It's all about survival.

No surprise, I loved this! El is a great narrator due to her inner conflicts and the amusing dichotomy of her ability to read rich subtext into anything about the school while entirely missing more interpersonal stuff. The setting is a great deal of bloody, exciting fun. Though I really don‘t know how anyone learns anything at this school! Glad I was able to get the sequel right away.

My April #bookspin @TheAromaofBooks

Woof, what a powerhouse of a book! Somehow covering only a couple of weeks of actual time, there‘s an unbelievable amount packed into a small space. I loved how the world building unfolded with the story, and the narrative MC may not be MEANT to be particularly likeable, but IS — determined and feisty and sympathetic. The magic is splendid and the plot is zero to one hundred. Definitely going for books 2.

Galadriel is an outcast at the wizarding high school, Scholomance…despite having incredible magic powers. How does she navigate a school that actively tries to kill their students, her social life, and the golden boy, Orion Lake, who has suddenly taken an interest in her? A great fantasy debut!

I have read quite a bit in March and not really talked about any of it…so it's time for a review catch-up! This book was a reread - one of my favorite series at the moment. The pacing, the character work, the plot development, it all really works for me.

While this read has amazing world-building, the stand-out bit for me was how our isolated narrator finds and deepens connections. I love a character arc focused on community.

I don‘t know how to start something new after Piranesi, which I think I‘ll be getting over for a while, but when I do, it will be this. TBR diving ftw!

I remember this one receiving such flack. I'm going to love it anyway. It has the best first line that pulled me in from the very start: "I decided that Orion Lake needed to die after the second time he saved my life." It has everything you'd want from a story set in a magical school, deadly magical creatures, enemies and allies, and a snarky but likable protagonist. I'll definitely read the whole trilogy, an anomaly for me.

I forget where I am in the pattern, how many stitches I've done, which kind of stitch I'm on, what I'm trying to make, why I haven't stabbed out my own eyes with the hook yet. It's brilliant for building a truly frothing head of rage.
🤣🤣🤣

She says it's too easy to call people evil instead of their choices and that lets people justify making evil choices. Because they convince themselves that it's okay because they're still good people overall inside their own heads. And yes, fine. But I think that after a certain number of evil choices, it's reasonable shorthand to decide that someone's an evil person who oughtn't have the chance to make any more choices...

Well this was a fun one! Had a bit of trouble grasping the world it is set in for the first chapter or two but by the end I had a very clear picture of what was going on. I liked the character development within the book and am excited to see where the story goes with the subsequent novels.

Thanks so much @monalyisha for organising and @Larkken for the reading list! I love this idea and will be continuing reading throughout the year! I'm currently reading the tagged book on kindle, and bought the top 4 this month :-) I didn't have a great reading month, so just ended up re-reading (and buying as my previous read of it was via audiobook) Bunny which I love! Thank you again #auldlangspine

Well, that was fun.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

#NaomiNovik #Fantasy #TheScholomance

The #Jolabokaflod package is here 🎉. Thank you so much @galueth28 for the lovely book (what a beautiful cover!) and the chocolate. I love KitKat. And many thanks to @MaleficentBookDragon for organizing this #Christmas book swap.

#HappyReading #holidays #catsoflitsy

January #Bookspin #Doublespin @TheAromaofBooks

Oooh, I‘m so so excited this is being adapted! It‘s probably my favorite fantasy series of the last few years. I hope it actually happens and that they do it justice!

https://deadline.com/2022/11/meera-menon-to-helm-a-deadly-education-film-for-uni...

I just couldn't get into this one. It felt like we're thrown into a very weird world and the narrator is too aloof to actually explain it. People compare it to HP, but it is more like Holden goes to a magical school that kills its students.

✈️Layover Meal : breakfast tacos and tagged book (safely out of sight to keep it clean)

Reread via Libro.fm audiobook! With the third and final volume of The Scholomance Trilogy coming out this month, I had to revisit one of my favorite series! Through Anisha Dadia‘s pitch-perfectly sarcastic narration, I was just as hooked as I was the first time. The prickly, heart-of-gold reluctant heroine, the exciting magic system, and the adorable, funny, delicious slow burn romance got me all over again!

I loved this book so much and I can‘t wait to read the next of this series. I would definitely recommend this to someone who wants magic in their life. Novik made a fantastic setting and I really love how much work she put into the school.

Finally got to try out the Libby app. Although I still prefer physical books, I‘m getting used to and appreciating kindle reads more. Anywayyyy, I didn‘t know what to expect from this book, it was just recommended. It did not disappoint and the cliffhanger at the end had me diving into the sequel. Enjoying the characters and their development alongside the creative, fantastical and magical world that Novik draws you into.

📩 February 5th, 2022
I already knew some of the work of Naomi Novik, and this book is FRESH! It's really the hint of realism and darkness that the Harry Potter series lacked for me.
I will continue reading the saga :)

This was okay but fell a little short for me. It had a lots of elements I really liked but the pace felt too rushed for me and I needed a little more depth from the characters. I may give her another try with book 2. It may also have been that I #listened on #audio. #authoramonth @Soubhiville #BookspinBingo @TheAromaofBooks

I was lukewarm on this and wasn‘t planning on continuing the series until I got to the end. Now I need to know. Overall I think I prefer her fairy tale retellings though. #AuthorAMonth2022

I‘ve read (and loved) most of Novik‘s other books, but I had been skipping this mainly because I saw some bad reviews and maybe a little because it‘s YA. 😳 But #AAM made me listen and I really liked it!

Really good world building, which I expect from this author, solid writing, delightful snark, and an awesome main character. Could have done without the surprise ending, but since the series is almost finished, I‘m not mad. 😂

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

What is with this ending??? Three other audiobooks on loan and all I want to do is read #2 The Last Graduate.

#didntseeitcoming

#AuthorAMonth
@Soubhiville

I‘m finally starting my #AuthorAMonth book. I‘m looking forward to discovering a new-to-me author.

@Soubhiville

This was huge fun. It gave me Carry On vibes (Rainbow Rowell) but this takes itself much more seriously and there are Way. More. Monsters. God I loved the monsters and the complicated architecture of this hellish school which is like a demonic Hogwarts 😂 If you don‘t do YA definitely try Novik‘s fairytale retellings instead which are gorgeous. And if you liked this but could go much darker may I recommend Gideon the Ninth 😍

I absolutely loved this book. I imagine some people may dislike the main character‘s attitude, but I thought she was hilarious. I jumped to the second book right after listening to this one, so they blur a bit story-wise - but I seem to remember a good plot with a good ending in this book as well as the next. As a side note, it‘s a lot more YA than Uprooted or Spinning Silver.

While I am not a huge fan of complex world building, I do appreciate some type of explanation for the new terms being dropped casually into the story. I almost disliked the main character as much as all of her fictional contemporaries. She kept expressing a desire to live while doing everything in her power to ensure death. Atmosphere was great and enjoyed the humor. On the fence as to whether to continue.

A fun, snarky dark academia novel.
#SeriesRead2022 @TheSpineView

I listened to this on audio and at first I loved it; it was funny and sarcastic, and really quite clever. After a while, though, things started to grate on me; typical YA angst, but with added magic. So instead of who is friends with who, it was about who was in which magic enclave, repeated ad infinitum.

Still a pick though, but not sure I‘ll read any more by this author, even though she‘s the #aam later in the year.

#pop22 #abookaboutwitches

WOW! I don't even know what to say. This box was too heavy for one book and I open it and see all these amazing books! Your kindness is too much. Thank you so much. I am seriously so grateful. I am very very excited to read all of these @Avanders

I loved the dark humours aesthetic of her writing. Its the ultimate source of magic apart from the monsters that can it you for breakfast.

Deadly Education\Scholomance would be a fun pick.
@KateReadsYA

Finished A Deadly Education. I rarely say this, but for me this was a novel that should have been a novella. The world-building was interesting but a bit repetitive, while the story was slight. If this was pared down to a hundred or so tight pages I think I might have liked it quite a bit more.

Fills Dark Academia prompt for #booked2022 and Blueberry prompt in #pantone2022
 @cinfhen @BarbaratheBibliophage @4thhouseontheleft
 @clwojick

I quite enjoyed this book and found that I couldn‘t put it down, it was full of thrilling adventures and missions with amazing characters. I really liked the narrative voice and the way it was written though, this might not be for everyone. I do highly recommend this book and can‘t wait to start the sequel!
4⭐️