Book review: ‘A Deadly Education’ by Naomi Novik… Again (is it Dark Academia?)
Have we ever reviewed the same book twice on the blog? ‘A Deadly Education' by Naomi Novik might be making history here… It's all the acclaim it's going to get from me in this post, sadly. Because the second time around? I probably like it even less.
Ah dear. This book was huge on Booktok and I know that with the subsequent releases of sequels, it still ranks very highly and features often. It's a shame, because on the outside it looks like everything that I'm into. It's just that when I got to reading the inside… I was disappointed. Again.
Why did we read, and now review, ‘A Deadly Eduction’ again? Well, it features as our season 7 premiere on The Dark Academicals. Which, if you're new here (welcome), is our Dark Academia podcast! We take a stack of books each season and hold them up against our Dark Academia tropes and essentials, and see if they can truly be called “dark academia” reads.
If you don't already know about ‘A Deadly Education', here's the summary:
“Enter a school of magic unlike any you have ever encountered.
There are no teachers, no holidays, friendships are purely strategic and the odds of survival are never equal.
Once you’re inside, there are only two ways out: you graduate or you die.
El Higgins is uniquely prepared for the school’s many dangers. She may be without allies, but she possesses a dark power strong enough to level mountains and wipe out untold millions - never mind easily destroy the countless monsters that prowl the school.
Except, she might accidentally kill all the other students, too. So El is trying her hardest not to use it...that is, unless she has no other choice.”
I don't dislike this book, and having read it physically and listened to the audio now, I will say that it's easy to follow and if I had to read book two, I wouldn't throw it back at you. I was just so underwhelmed by it and left wondering what the heck all the hype was about.
A real case of the hype monster ruining something, I think. Because this book comes with high praise, and between the twee narrative style, the unlikable protagonist, and a convoluted plot, I just don't get it.
El isn't particularly likeable. And whereas I can like unlikable characters, there was just nothing to her that I could properly appreciate. I found her persistent snarky tone really tiresome, and she's just awful to everyone around her, and personally I'm not sure it's justified at all.
In the episode we discuss the potential Dark Academia elements including: the setting, character motivations, and murder. And while ‘A Deadly Education' ticks many of the boxes, it lacks one of the most important things, and that's the tone. If me or Sophie can't “feel” the Dark Academida, then it's going to struggle to pass the test.
I just wish it was more. And I hope that there are others out there that understand exactly what I mean. Because I can't quite put my finger on it, but it's a swing and a miss.
I would have liked more time existing within the setting. The setting is explained, but it hardly gets any real page time, and as a reader you are forced to fill in all the blanks.
It's one of those marmite books, and sadly we've had many of those on the podcast lately.
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Written by Sarah
