As someone who loves Uprooted and has a decent respect for Spinning Silver, I'm surprised I didn't really gel with this book. Novik has a way of creating compelling plots with rich character dynamics and worldbuilding, but this one just felt a bit...much. The first handful of chapters are major exposition dumps, which would have been fine if that information was more evenly spaced out with dialogue or more action. There were many times where my eyes just glazed over and I couldn't for the life of me take any more input because so much was being thrown at me, to the point where I had questions about the world that were probably answered but I couldn't remember them because it came along with so much other information.

One question being, and I'm sure this was answered somewhere, why the hell would anyone allow their child to go to this death school? I think there was a bit about the survival rate being higher in the school than learning magic outside where mals could get them even easier, but seeing as the school is in a constant state of disrepair and the other students are just as ready to kill you as the mals, does it even really matter? 

I thought El was an interesting character, she reminds me a lot of Sarkan from Uprooted in a way, extremely grumpy and acerbic, but a little bit more amiable to those she eventually cares about. I wouldn't say she's completely unlikable, more like her personality makes sense once you consider her background and possibly destiny. 

Orion, on the other hand, feels so much like milquetoast in comparison. He's your standard hero who feels like it's his duty to save everyone and I don't know, he just felt a little shallow. Maybe he'll get a little more development in the sequel. 

The themes of classism were interesting and I think I may pick up the sequel just to see where that particular plot thread goes. Personally, I'm hoping for anarchy. 

On the whole, this may be the weakest Novik book I've read, just because it seems so much more dense than the others. So much time is devoted to being in El's head, given her solitary nature, and with the first person perspective it really bogs down the pace of the story. Here's hoping the next installment is a bit more evened out.