Wednesday, May 8, 2024

Book Review: The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik

 


Goodreads Summary: Saving the world is a test no school of magic can prepare you for in the triumphant conclusion to the New York Times bestselling trilogy that began with A Deadly Education and The Last Graduate.
The one thing you never talk about while you're in the Scholomance is what you'll do when you get out. Not even the richest enclaver would tempt fate that way. But it's all we dream about, the hideously slim chance we'll survive to make it out the gates and improbably find ourselves with a life ahead of us, a life outside the Scholomance halls.

And now, the impossible dream has come true. I'm out, we're all out—and I didn't even have to turn into a monstrous dark witch to make it happen. So much for my great-grandmother's prophecy of doom and destruction. I didn't kill enclaves; I saved them—me, Orion, and our allies. Our graduation plan worked to perfection: we saved everyone, made the world safe for all wizards, and brought peace and harmony to all the enclaves of the world.

Ha, only joking! Actually, it's gone all wrong. Someone else has picked up the project of destroying enclaves in my stead, and probably everyone we saved is about to get killed in the brewing enclave war on the horizon. And the first thing I've got to do now, having miraculously got out of the Scholomance, is turn straight around and find a way back in.
Goodreads Rating: 4.14 stars with over 75,000 ratings
Genre Listing: Fantasy, Young Adult, Fiction, Magic, Urban Fantasy, Romance
Goodreads and StoryGraph Challenges: 13/60 (I'm back on StoryGraph! Follow me here)
2024 Reading Challenge: #9 Read a book with a color in the title (find the entire challenge here)

Book Review: 

Hello, readers! As always, I hope that everyone is doing well. I'm on the mend from COVID-19, which I caught while at the convention (or traveling to/from). I'd probably feel 100% better already, but I'm also allergic to the state I live in. Ah well, at least this second time around wasn't nearly as bad as the first time. Anyway, on to important things like my thoughts on books. 

I started The Golden Enclaves in April, but I feel like I have been reading it forever. I don't know if it was all the stuff I had going on or something else, but I couldn't get interested in the book and stay interested. It just didn't have the sense of danger the first two books had, where Mals were lurking around every corner. The first part of the book was about El mostly feeling sorry for herself. I understand why she felt this way, but it made for a very dull start to the book. I finally started to get interested around 140 pages, but it didn't hold my interest.

There were pockets where I was fascinated, but overall, I just wanted to be done with the book. The last 60 pages or so had a lot of interesting turns, but I was still ready to be finished. I was considering not finishing it with 40 pages left to go. 

The book was all right; it just didn't capture me like the others did. I don't know if it's the book or my headspace. I liked that the story finished in a way that indicated there wouldn't be additional books. The ending seemed well-rounded. I may eventually reread the trilogy and see if I like The Golden Enclaves more, but for now, I'm pretty indifferent to it. I don't feel strongly about the book one way or another.








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