The Last Graduate - Naomi Novik

[goodreads]

Title: The Last Graduate (The Scholomance #2)
Author: Naomi Novik
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 4/5
# pages: Audiobook ~13hrs
Date read: November, 2023


At the Scholomance, El, Orion, and the other students are faced with their final year—and the looming specter of graduation, a deadly ritual that leaves few students alive in its wake. El is determined that her chosen group will survive, but it is a prospect that is looking harder by the day as the savagery of the school ramps up. Until El realizes that sometimes winning the game means throwing out all the rules . . .


It's difficult to think of anything to say about this book that I didn't already say about the first one. We're still at the Scholomance, but now instead of trying to get the seniors out safe, El wants to get EVERYBODY out safe.

The book begins the very same day the last one ended, and not much has changed, except that people are slowly starting to accept El, and trust that she might actually know what she's doing. There's still a lot of telling rather than showing going on, but for some reason it just works! It fits with the atmosphere of the book, and I was completely drawn in from the very beginning. It didn't seem as much as the middle book in a trilogy as I had expected it to, so I'm very curious as to how the third book will be handled. Alas, there's a 7 week waiting list at the library if I want to continue with the audiobooks (which I do - the narrator is awesome!), so I'll have to stay patient for awhile longer.