I initially had trouble getting into the first book, A Deadly Education. But as El battles the mals and her own dark nature in order to save herself and her friends and yes, random freshmen, the scope of her concern for others starts to grow, leading to changes that are unprecedented in Scholomance history. “You’ve got to be joking,” I said with revulsion …El is in a constant battle against her innate affinity for massively destructive and violent spells, and the Scholomance seems to be pushing her to make selfish choices, saving her mana or magical power for her own needs instead of helping random freshmen who mean nothing to her. There wasn’t so much as a sophomore among the lot. I opened the door expecting to find something really horrible inside, and I did: eight freshmen, all of whom turned and stared at me like a herd of small and especially pitiful deer about to be mown down by a massive lorry. Instead of working toward graduation, she’s spending most of her time fighting mals that all seem to be focused exclusively on eating her, and perhaps the group of brand-new, hapless freshmen that the school has inexplicably thrown El in with in one of her classes. Which makes it difficult when El’s clairvoyant mother sends her an urgent message to keep far away from Orion.Įven more upsetting for El is that now the Scholomance seems to have her personally in its cross-hairs. And Orion Lake, the best mal-killer in the school, has progressed from mere annoyance to occasionally still aggravating but valued friend. Now El is in her last year at the Scholomance and has achieved her goal of becoming part of an alliance of fellow students (albeit a very small, less powerful one) who will protect each other when they run the gauntlet of ravenous mals that line the hallway leading to the graduation exit. The Last Graduate completely sucked me in from start to finish! Galadriel has managed to survive three years at her deadly magical school, the Scholomance, with her junior year capped by an epic battle against a fearsome assembly of maleficaria (magical creatures that feast on wizards, especially youthful ones), as related in the first book in this fantasy series, A Deadly Education. If you haven't, read both!! Here's my full review, first posted on : But STILL! If you've read the first book, definitely read this one, even if you weren't so excited by A Deadly Education.

okay, maybe except for the jaw-dropping ending. On sale now! I can't even say how much I loved this book.

The last graduate series