Josh

This book had a couple things working against it from the start for me. I really enjoy historical fiction, but there are some time periods and settings that don't pique my interest very much. The early 1800s American frontier falls into both categories. The other hurdle was that I typically don't resonate with revenge stories across most genres.

There are exceptions to this, but they usually need either a great story or great characters. This story doesn't quite hit either of those marks. Still, it was interesting to watch Glass try to survive such a dire situation and see the lengths he was willing to go to. That strong will to live was compelling enough to keep me reading, even if the novel didn't strike any other particularly strong notes for me.

That being said, a lot of my issues with the book come down to personal preference. If you're a fan of frontier era historical fiction and revenge stories, this one may land much better for you than it did for me. 2.5 Bears out of 5.

It's a good conclusion to the trilogy, albeit not completely satisfying. I really enjoyed the twists and in hindsight, it made a lot of things make sense that I was unsure of before. I think there are a few small things that don't add up with said twists and some pacing issues especially in the first half, but overall I enjoyed how it played out.

I say not completely satisfying, not to indicate anything negative per se, but because I really wanted to see one character in particular get what I felt should have been coming to them, but alas it wasn't meant to be.

I had a pretty good time with this book. I enjoyed the characters, the worldbuilding, and the magic system. El's sarcastic narration was especially enjoyable, as I've always been a sucker for witty banter and sarcasm.

I thought the premise was interesting, and the author did a good job explaining why anyone would willingly attend such a dangerous school. Combined with a magic system that has clear rules and enough depth to make the setting feel believable, which helped maintain tension throughout the story as the constant dangers of the Scholomance never felt far away.

While I wouldn't say the writing is particularly flashy, it does its job well and lets the characters and setting shine. All in all, it was an engaging read that consistently held my interest and that I moved through fairly quickly. It's an easy 4 reluctant doom mages out of 5 for me.

So why not 5? The biggest weakness to me in the book, is the diversity. It just feels more stated than realised. The cast is drawn from a wide range of backgrounds and we're frequently told where characters are from, but those different cultural backgrounds rarely seem to meaningfully influence how the characters think, act, or interact with one another. In most cases it just doesn't seem like something that genuinely shaped them. The only thing that did seem to hit that note, was whether they were from an enclave or not, but everything else felt somewhat cosmetic.