I am finished and I want MORE. After a rocky first chapter, I couldn’t put A Deadly Education down. I absolutely adore books set in magic schools and this one was so unique – I’ve never read anything like it before. No teachers, death around every corner and a cast of characters that I just loved, I’m already greatly anticipating book 2, especially after that ending!
Star rating: 5 stars
El Higgins is an outcast in the Scholomance. It’s a school with no teachers, where being a loner can get you killed. But now in her Junior year, El has worked out what it takes for her to survive on her own – she’s meticulous, cautious and slightly paranoid, which along with the power she has kept hidden from her classmates, has kept her alive.
That is until Orion Lake is drawn to her. The gifted kid in the class who has kept way more students alive than in any year, Orion is special. El treats him with the same casual rudeness she treats everybody else, which Orion finds refreshing. The two form a unique friendship in a system where kids that grew up in Enclaves, like Orion, have greater odds than those that don’t.
In the mix of all the monster-fighting madness is a whole lot of emotional depth. El is lonely, she is angry, she is craving real friendships. Her affinity for mass destruction isolates her, and it was heart-warming to see her from real friendships for the first time in her life.
This book is so unique – its setting, its magic system…they are brilliantly creative. I love El so much, I just want to protect her from all the manipulative Enclave kids that reside in this school. There are so many conflicts that had me on the edge of my seat, I couldn’t stop reading until I got to the end. And the end…there’s a suitable time period for calm before what I can only imagine will be a dramatic second book.
Overall, this was one of my most anticipated books of 2020 – and after I got through the first chapter it really didn’t disappoint.
Have you read A Deadly Education yet? You absolutely should!
Other reviews you should check out:
Toastie Books 
My friend recently bought this and I think I’m going to have to be borrowing it from her when she’s done! It sounds fab!
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It’s so brilliant I can’t wait for the next one.
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Omg wow, this sounds even better than I thought it was! Will def try and read this sooner rather than later.
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Hope you enjoy it when you get to it!
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Thank you! I’ve just gone and added it to my Wish List so hopefully it’ll be sooner rather than later
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This sounds really good! I’m super intrigued by El’s “affinity for mass destruction.” And a magic school without teachers? Consider me hooked!
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Haha it’s such a good plot device for this world I’m so excited to see where it goes next
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Thank you for this review! This sounds so good. I love it when a book focuses on building relationships that will carry over into book 2. Can’t wait to read 🙂
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I really liked this one, but there were too many info-dumping-sections within it to make it a five star-read. Still, I LOVE the main character. The way El behaves towards everyone else is so refreshingly sarcastic and rude.
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Yeah the info dumping was definitely a bit much, I’m just easily pleased 😂
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I was also pleased as hell, but I’d read “Addie LaRue” just before it and that was better, so maybe that’s why I was so critical about it 😂
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Addie LaRue is my fave of all time
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