I really wanted to love this book, and in truth, I almost DNF’d it. Naomi Novik is an incredibly diverse writer and I’ve really enjoyed all her past books, but I really struggled to connect with this one. 

 

Galadriel “El” Higgins is a great morally grey protagonist, but I found that much of her internal monologue (and in some cases, diatribe) distracted me a lot from the initial world-building and plot. And when there was some world-building, it came in the form of massive info-dumps; it felt like Naomi had spent so much time and effort into this world, she just couldn’t unpack it in an easy to consume fashion. 

 

The story really comes into its own in the last 100-150 pages where there are more character interactions and a more definitive plot. That said, I still have some issues with the design of this magical school (like, why does it have to be this cut-throat? and why are there no teachers?). The cliff-hanger definitely has me reeled in; I’ll still read the sequel and hope that the writing improves with now that we’ve gotten past the info-dumping and the worst of El’s ramblings!