The Last Graduate

A Novel (The Scholomance, Book 2)

By: Naomi Novik

Narrated by: Anisha Dadia

Length: 13 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's Summary

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.

HUGO AWARD FINALIST • LOCUS AWARD FINALIST • ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Polygon, Thrillist, She Reads • “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)

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 will continue in The Golden Enclaves.

©2021 Naomi Novik (P)2021 Random House Audio

Critic Reviews

“[The Last Graduate] rips along like a force of nature. In the abstract, this is a story about relying on others—but in the concrete, it is about how to survive when the odds are against you. As she did with [A Deadly Education], Novik changes the game again with the very last line.”—Locus

“[The Last Graduate] is as compulsive a read as [A Deadly Education]. As a warning, it ends on another killer cliffhanger.”—BuzzFeed

“Truly one of the best fantasy series out there right now, and it’s not close.”—Culturess

Second book in a trilogy.

I dont want to give any spoilers. This book does hold up in comparison with Deadly Education, which I was worried about. The ending was a bit of a cliffhanger though. I assumed from the title that this was going to be it for the Scholomance books, but a search online showed that it will be a trilogy.

Great

No spoilers but sheesh this author and cliffhangers! I need the third book immediately.

Pure fun.

This is one of those incredibly rare examples of a good YA novel. It continues the criticism of capitalism from the first book, with a healthy dose of a coming of age narrative and people coming together in a crisis, all mixed with plenty of powerful mages blowing things up in spectacular ways. So yeah, it’s pure fun.

Loved it!

I was worried the second book would not live up to the first, but it does.

This was an exciting sequel and the stakes are raised. The main character with the rich inner life grows a lot.

I hope the writer does not leave us hanging for ten years for the final book in the series like some other authors.

That cliffhanger of an ending! No Spoilers.

This series has a wonderfully dark sense of humor while retaining an optomistic view of society that gives you the warm fuzzies. A pleasant, enjoyable read if there ever was one.

I'm excited and angry about the ending, in a good way. In retrospect, I should have seen it coming from a mile away. Novak invests the reader in the lives of her principal characters so well; the last sentence made me jump out of my chair to express my frustration.

I highly recommend this series/Novak's writing in general. Her work centers around friendship and working together for the greater good. One can't help but feel rejuvenated after reading it.

I need to lie down for a few years

This book was incredible. Better than I expected, and I expect the world from Naomi Novik. She delivered and then some.

This book is fun, engaging, terrifying, hilarious and heartbreaking, all in less than 400 pages (13ish hours). It broke me and I will be lying down for 5-7 business days.

Anisha Dadia once again did a spectacular job with the narration. She captured not just El’s voice and persona, but that of the world, the other characters, and even the school. I could listen to her read the phone book, but I’d rather listen to this again.

Congratulations to everyone involved in this book and this production - it was spectacularly well done.

Not much new in this.

I love Noviks work, but not this book. It felt like it might have been better at half the length. With no more worldbuilding or interesting reveals, it's just a slog.

a little too much coming of age for me

a little too much coming of age for me. really enjoyed the wizardry parts throughout, less so sex stuff

waiting for the third in the series...

Anisha Dadia was excellent. I really enjoy her work.
In a non-spoiler way.. the plot has some weak points. If you felt the first book had some, this one has a few too. The series will really be defined in how the next book comes out. This was a fun listen. very entertaining, as I find most of Novik's books. this is probably an even better book because I I've read her others. Maybe try Uprooted before this book. I really enjoyed this.

Great book ruined by an awful reader

The reader is abysmal. She emphasizes the wrong word in every sentence. I adore Naomi Novik's novels and was SOOOO looking forward to this one. I'm giving up on the audio version and reading it with my eyes instead.