This was a low 4-star read for me. It was my first experience with Naomi Novik, and from what I heard it is different than her usual writing approach. It's a difficult book to bond with. I had heard prior to reading that it was heavy on info dumping and that CANNOT BE STRESSED ENOUGH. I have never read a book with so much info dumping. That being said, the world and magic specifics are intricate and interesting, very creative and unique. I have to give Novik kudos for being able to come up with it all. However, as a reader it can make the book a bit of a slog and at points the amount of sheer description and spewing of magical mechanics made it feel almost like a textbook. This does take away from the intensity of the plot, making the stakes feel somehow lower.

The writing, to her credit, was still quite good in these sections, but the content organization in this way really held back the pace, especially in the first half. I very nearly DNF'd, but I stuck it out. It did get better in the second half, but the info dumping tendency does continue from beginning to end, be forewarned.

My other difficulty with bonding to the book was the protagonist herself. El is an acquired taste. She is quite snarky, which I loved, but she can also be quite whiny about her loner status. She did admittedly get on my nerves on occasion. I did enjoy the supporting characters and found them much more palatable overall. The choice to create a school where there are no instructors was an interesting choice. I do think there could have been potentially more depth added to the plot had some kind of administrative presence been included.

This all makes it sound like I didn't like the book, so you must be wondering about my rating. Well, I do enjoy this world and I think it does serve as a good introduction to a potentially great series. There was a lot to understand in order to comprehend the universe at work, so I can somewhat give a pass on some of the info dumping nature. I would have preferred more of a show over tell approach, but I'm hoping that now that the basics have been established, the second novel will build on the movement rather than returning to the technical style of delivery. The last third or so of the book really had great action and character interaction. This sucked me in and made me very interested in where this series could go. It demonstrated that Novik does maybe have it in the works to give a more traditional approach from here forward. And the ending...slapped me right in the face. Did not expect that one. Curious to see where this all goes.