Naomi MiddleName Novik! I'm still basically struck speechless by that ending, but I've had days to rally, so I'll try my hand at a coherent review.

This is book 2 in the Scholomance series and it picks up right where book 1, A Deadly Education, left off. The massacre of a graduation ceremony has possibly been temporarily fixed, El's class has shifted to seniors, a new group of first years are in, and El is about to get far more acquainted with them than is normal by Scholomance standards or any other. Despite dire warnings, she's also about to get more acquainted with Orion Can't-Keep-His-Beaky-Nose-To-Himself Lake, the Scholomance itself, and the world of wizard alliances.

For a closed-door, boarding-school story, this is an impressively expansive tale. Book 2 expands the scope of the action, the cast of characters, the depth of intrigue, El's perspectives... But it doesn't expand it into a different kind of story. If you liked the first book, you'll be happy with this one. Except the ending. No one is happy with that ending, Naomi MiddleName Novik!

(The audiobooks for these are also great. Narrator Anisha Dadia perfectly captures El's snarky dark humor.)

My thanks to #NetGalley, Del Rey, and Libro.fm for digital ARC and listening ARC.