Book Review: The Golden Enclaves, The Scholomance Book 3, Naomi Novik
Book Review: The Golden Enclaves, The Scholomance Book 3, Naomi Novik
El has managed to do the impossible. She has saved all but one of the children of the Scholomance, the magical school which was partially sustained by feeding on the students it was supposed to protect. She has unmoored the school from our reality and it is barely hanging on for a short while before it is completely cast into the void.
Which is why she has to go back. Her boyfriend, Orion, is the one person she couldn’t save, the one person left in the Scholomance, the one person she would do anything to rescue. Before she can do so, she has to confront a threat to the magical enclaves in our world. Someone or something is destroying enclaves around the world, killing all of the witches and wizards who live in them. Suspicions abound, fingers are pointed, and the enclaves are on the verge of going to war with each other.
From Wales to London, New York to China, Dubai to Mumbai to Portugal, El and her allies from the Scholomance travel to save enclaves and gather strength needed to return to the school. Along the way, they learn more about Orion’s darkest secret, more about their own strengths and weaknesses, and more about the prophecy that has shaped El’s life for years. Sometimes you learn that you are not who you think you are, that those you love are not what they seem, and those you oppose may not be entirely wrong.
I absolutely love everything I have read by Naomi Novik. Whether she is rewriting fairy tales, going to war while riding dragons, or sending children to a school that eats them, Novik writes every page with love for her characters and a feel for their predicaments. El is a fully-fleshed out protagonist, sometimes abrupt and judgmental, sometimes rebellious and wild, sometimes thoughtful and caring. Pretty much the description of every young adult I have ever known. She is terrified of becoming the evil witch that her grandmother prophesied, but she might burn down the world to rescue Orion if that’s what it takes. The Golden Enclaves may mark the end of a series, but the world Novik created and the characters which populate that world will stay with me for some time to come.
Book Review: The Golden Enclaves, The Scholomance Book 3, Naomi Novik