The Last Graduate: A Novel (The Scholomance)

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - The specter of graduation looms large as Naomi Novik's groundbreaking, New York Times bestselling trilogy continues in the stunning sequel to A Deadly Education.

"The climactic graduation-day battle will bring cheers, tears, and gasps as the second of the Scholomance trilogy closes with a breathtaking cliff-hanger."--Booklist (starred review)

WINNER OF THE LODESTAR AWARD - HUGO AND LOCUS AWARD FINALIST - ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Polygon, Thrillist, She Reads

In Wisdom, Shelter. That's the official motto of the Scholomance. I suppose you could even argue that it's true--only the wisdom is hard to come by, so the shelter's rather scant.

Our beloved school does its best to devour all its students--but now that I've reached my senior year and have actually won myself a handful of allies, it's suddenly developed a very particular craving for me. And even if I somehow make it through the endless waves of maleficaria that it keeps throwing at me in between grueling homework assignments, I haven't any idea how my allies and I are going to make it through the graduation hall alive.

Unless, of course, I finally accept my foretold destiny of dark sorcery and destruction. That would certainly let me sail straight out of here. The course of wisdom, surely.

But I'm not giving in--not to the mals, not to fate, and especially not to the Scholomance. I'm going to get myself and my friends out of this hideous place for good--even if it's the last thing I do.

With keen insight and mordant humor, Novik reminds us that sometimes it is not enough to rewrite the rules--sometimes, you need to toss out the entire rulebook.

The magic of the Scholomance trilogy continues in The Golden Enclaves

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416 pages

Average rating: 8.51

61 RATINGS

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6 REVIEWS

Community Reviews

Anonymous
Jul 23, 2024
10/10 stars
I liked this book even better than the first. In my opinion it did not suffer from middle book syndrome and kept the plot moving. The themes from the first book about privilege were deeper and the roots of the privilege were explored for the magical world. There were parts of the book that made me laugh out loud and parts that were deeply profound. If I read read I will be tabbing those parts.

El also had a lot of character growth in this series as she finally gets to experience what it means to have friends and friends who care about you and your well-being. We also see El become confident as a leader and also forging her own path. I also appreciated her continued budding romance with Orion.

I will say that the ending makes you want to immediately go into the next book and I am glad that I waited to read the series until all the books were published.
Anonymous
Mar 13, 2024
8/10 stars
I enjoyed this book more than the first.  It was compelling and entertaining.  I finally found a place where I understood and liked the MC. IT LEFT ME IN A PLACE.  I hate where the story ended.  
Ellaida
Dec 04, 2023
9/10 stars
In this second book in the Scholomance trilogy, we follow El's senior year before she and her friends graduate. I love her character arc in this book, how it shows her relationships developing with other characters and her true nature coming out - all in spite of her great-great-great grandmother's prophecy. I didn't fly through it as quickly as I have with the first book but I still enjoyed it. With Galadriel's character and sense of humour so similar to mine, I feel like we could be friends. Can't wait to read the final book.
Corvus_Libri
Sep 18, 2023
10/10 stars
A phenomenal sequel, with such a scream worthy cliff hanger that I will keep checking the third book for a release date weekly, possibly daily.

Dark academia, hogwarts meet hunger games, nature vs nurture? Wonderfulness.
Anonymous
Jun 01, 2023
8/10 stars
I want to give it 5 stars but I'm still seething at that cliff hanger ending so for now it gets 4

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