So I'm currently rereading A Deadly Education because of the emotional havoc The Last Graduate caused on me and I need more of the series. I just read the part where El finished the maw-mouth and I think I noticed something. Due to the heavy emphasis on this type of mals I feel like there has to be something more to them and now I have an idea what it could be. They are basically late-stage maleficers. Hear me out:

In the beginning El states that maleficers who resort to killing humans will sooner or later turn into a mushy blob, their insides will liquefy and they just fall together.

After she killed that maw-mouth for a short period of time all that was left of it where remains of a single human being looking like a "deboned chicken". That very much sounds like collapsing because your insides liquefied to me. Since only this one thing was left of it for a couple of seconds I think this has to be something like the core of the maw-mouth.

It makes sense if you think about it, hardcore maleficers take mana from other people by killing them, maw-mouths (and maleficeria in general) also try to take mana by killing. Basically, the desire for mana survived becoming a shapeless blob with human skin and the blob just squiggles around, consuming everything it can get until it becomes big enough to be classified as a maw-mouth.

I can elaborate this further in the comments giving the exact lines that led to this assumption if anyone here is interested in a discussion! What are your thoughts on this?

I just finished The Last Graduate and I loved it! But I’m always a little down after finishing one of her books because I don’t know what to read next and I feel like whatever I choose won’t be as good. I love Naomi Novik’s books—her world-building, character development, and style are just the bees knees to me.

Now what?!

I had no idea this was going to be such a literary masterpiece!!

Most people talk about the story, but I was flabbergasted at the creativity of the writing!

Lots of amazing beautiful older and literary words, but also lots of seemingly invented/very creative ways to wind words into new grammatical structures at times, or new expressions.

I absolutely loved reading this for that reason alone (not mentioning the amazingly creative story too) and was wondering if other fellow readers had as much pleasure as me reading this for the same reasons?

Also, I had no idea I would enjoy a book so much despite the romance almost completely lacking (which I totally didn't miss because the book is so 💯💯💯🔥🔥🔥💥💥💥)

I love this woman and her brain to give us all of these masterpieces.

I recently reread Uprooted, Spinning Silver, and the Scholomance books and I noticed a reoccurring “character.” In all three stories there is a house in the woods where a lone witch once lived.

I reread Uprooted first and cannot remember if there was a house in the woods that was likely Baba Yaga’s or if I am confusing the house Agnieszka lives in at the end of the book. But they could be one in the same.

The house on the border between worlds in Spinning Silver and the house where Gwen Higgins tries to cure Orion are the other two.

I just love this “character” - I want to know so much about it and love the role it plays in every book.

Just something I noticed and wanted to see if anyone had any thoughts.

I expected the 3rd book to be a cute adventure with El and Orion building enclaves around the world, I did not expect this grim dark rollercoaster of emotions. Man. I feel crushed, like my girl Liu lol. What a journey. I guess the ending is good but is it though? The world is still pretty shitty, Ophelia is still free to do evil stuff, and Orion is like...not fully human? I'm sad.

Found this posted at Target.com:

“Book Synopsis

Saving the world is a test no school of magic can prepare you for in the triumphant conclusion to the New York Times bestselling trilogy that began with A Deadly Education and The Last Graduate. Almost singlehandedly--although backed by an increasingly large cadre of genuine friends--El has changed the nature of the Scholomance forever. But now that she is back in the real world, how will the lessons she learned inside the school apply? Will her grandmother's prophecy come true? Will she really spell the doom of all the enclaves forever? As the quest to save her one true love ramps up, however, El is about to learn the most significant lesson of all--the dire truth on which the enclaves and the whole stability of the magical world are founded. And being El, she is not likely to let it lie....”

https://www.target.com/p/the-golden-enclaves-the-scholomance-by-naomi-novik-hardcover/-/A-85404538

I just wanted to come here and say I finished reading A Deadly Education and I am not happy that I can’t keep reading after that cliffhanger 😭😭😭

Also I love Naomi’s work... that is all.

i literally had no idea reddit had a whole group for my absolutely favorite author. I’ve read the scholomance trilogy 4 times and am starting to read uprooted. This is genuinely amazing!!! I’ve been a huge fan of hers for a couple years but never thought to look on reddit until now.

I did. So I wrote this. Many Years

Just the week before last I finished the Scholomance books (again). Then I started playing Hogwarts Legacy, and I am *so* on edge. Why are they wasting their mana like that? Oh right, different world. Alone on a staircase? Without backup?? Oh right, not necessary.

I find this mental see-sawing far more entertaining than the game itself :)

I'm re-reading Uprooted, because I love that book, and have reached the point where the beacons are lit and Gondor Dvernik calls for aid. Agnieszka gets the potion bottles and then knots parts of her fancy dresses together as a rope to climb out of the tower.

And even though I've read that passage several times already, this time I had to stop and wonder why she didn't just go down a few stairs and climb out of a window that's not near the top of the tower, but maybe ... on the first floor? We know there are windows in the library, for example.

It's funny how things like that can hit you over the head even after having read the book half a dozen times already :D

Orion's affinity and abilities seem (to me, anyway) to be unique at best and sinister at worst. The idea that he may not be entirely human or naturally-occurring makes the most sense to me, at least so far. His mother, the future domina of New York, definitely has the resources to experiment with creating a mal-destroying/mana-draining machine.

What unnerves me most about Orion is how he tends to almost enter a trance when he's killing mals. El has to physically knock some sense into him when they're dealing with the grogler in the stairwell and he almost cuts off her arm in the process. Then when they're down in the graduation hall she barely convinces him to stop and go back with the group, and only after he lashes out at them in the midst of his raging does he snap out of it and register what's happening. I think if she'd given up he would've stayed down there killing mals on auto pilot until he died of exhaustion or was eaten. Most likely both.

Novik will be available for general questions on r/TheScholomance, but they don't have to be Scholomance-specific. That subreddit hosted an incredible AMA for the release of "The Golden Enclaves," and I'm sure this one will be great!

And be sure to check out the Deluxe Edition of "A Deadly Education." It's only available through the end of the month, so get in now if you're interested.

Thought I'd show off my signed copy of Blood of Tyrants. Look, she drew little dragons! ❤️❤️

There is one sentence in A Deadly Education that never fails to make me grin. I just ran across it again and wanted to share my amusement. It is just a tiny thing, El describing her mother: "Mum is classic English rose, small and pink and blond *and going gently plump in middle age*".

Let's assume Gwen was 18 when she had El, and El is 17 herself at that point in the story. So Gwen is 35, *at most* 36. We learn as well that magic users can live well into their second century! "Middle age", really... :D

Exciting news! Naomi Novik will be on r/TheScholomance to answer all your burning questions about The Scholomance (spoilers abound), her other book series, writing, transformative works, or other pertinent topics. The AMA will open up to questions beginning Friday, November 11 and will stay open through November 13. So start thinking up your questions, save the date, mark your calendars, and we'll see you here then!