Published: 2022
Series: Teh Scholomance
Author: Naomi Novik
Genres: Science Fiction, Coming-of-Age, High Fantasy, Contemporary Fantasy
Audience (Grade Levels): Grades 9-12; Adult
Number of Stars: 5-Stars
Goodreads Link: The Golden Enclaves
Triggers: Violence, dark magic, death, systemic corruption
Review By: Lisa McPherson
Publisher’s 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 enclavers, I saved them. Me and Orion and our allies. Our graduation plan worked to perfection: We saved everyone and made the world safe for all wizards and brought peace and harmony to all the enclaves everywhere.
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. And the first thing I’ve got to do now, having miraculously gotten out of the Scholomance, is turn straight around and find a way back in.
Review:
The final book in the series follows a young “outcast” El, formally known as Galadriel Higgens, as she exits The Sholomance school after fabulously shutting it down with all the evil maleficaria inside. The problem? She was supposed to leave with her “boyfriend” Orien, only he shoved her out the portal at the last minute and stayed inside to die with Patience, the biggest maw mouth in the school.
If you are a lover of contemporary Science Fiction and coming-of-age stories, then El is the hero for you. She is unapologetically rude about what she wants and who she is. (Her grandmother shared a prophecy about her when she was young which said, “she will bring death and destruction to all the enclaves of the world”). At the same time, she is amazingly powerful and all those around her NEED her to save them and their Enclaves (different territories inside cities – ex London, Shanghai, Dubai, New York, etc). El manages to find a way to help those and still remain true to her own inner compass. The results are impressive to see.
Classroom & Curricular Connections
- ELA / Contemporary Fantasy: This novel provides a masterful study of the “hero’s journey” archetype through a subverted lens. It is an excellent resource for high school classrooms to analyze narrative voice, anti-hero characteristics, and the structure of a trilogy’s resolution.
- Social Studies / Political Allegory: The conflict between the elite enclaves and the independent “outcast” wizards serves as a brilliant allegory for class divide, resource allocation, and systemic inequality. Students can explore how communities self-segregate and construct power dynamics.
- SEL (Social-Emotional Learning): El’s journey explores complex themes of self-actualization, staying true to one’s inner moral compass despite societal pressure, and overcoming inherited expectations or negative labels.
Readalikes
- A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik (Book 1)
- Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo
- The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake
