Spoiler-Free Review
If you’re on the hunt for a YA book that actually caters to teenagers and doesn’t shove in unnecessary love stories, then you might just enjoy A Deadly Education. And if you’re a fan of all things dark and twisted (dark humor, dark magic, dark setting), with supernatural mischief thrown in, then this gem is definitely worth a peek.
What’s A Deadly Education about?
At the Scholomance, half the students won’t survive to graduation. El is doing well enough – except her magic is powerful and inconveniently primed for evildoing, so she has to be careful not to raze the whole place down.
Surprisingly funny and overall enjoyable, if a little expository
El is a junior at the Scholomance, and the book opens with the resident “hero,” Orion, saving her from a monster. Which El decides is a good reason to hate him (as she feels he’s interrupting the balance) – something Orion finds suspicious since everyone else tends to fawn over his heroism. So now El finds herself with a goody-two-shoes trailing her around the school waiting for her to prove that she’s a dark magic user. Which she isn’t.
“I decided that Orion needed to die after the second time he saved my life.”
In many ways, El is a sort of anti-hero – given it was prophesized that she would basically one day be a powerful dark villain. This is a fate she’s working to avoid. Orion, the white guy who tries to save everyone all the time, is the one whom these books tend to feature as the main character. It was refreshing that he wasn’t.
“Some sorcerers get an affinity for weather magic, or transformation spells, or fantastic combat magics like dear Orion. I got an affinity for mass destruction.”
There was also a witty, direct narrative voice that was interesting to read. In many ways, El addresses the reader directly. The only downside here is that it left room for lots of exposition, which is something that was getting old for me by the end. I found myself skimming. However, there was a lot of humor in this book. It served as a great counter-weight to the doom and gloom that the school liked to serve up to the students.
“I love having existential crises at bedtime, it’s so restful.”
This book also analyzes privilege thoughtfully. It compares El’s day-to-day plight for survival against Orion, who doesn’t have to work as hard for his own survival. Plus, the enclaves serve as a sort of rich kids’ club, where those within have more support and resources. Those without get attacked by monsters more frequently and have to work much harder to get half as much.
“It’s too easy to call people evil instead of their choices, and that lets people justify making evil choices, because they convince themselves that it’s okay because they’re still good people overall, inside their own heads.”
I appreciated that the main character’s arc was about making friends and accepting help, rather than a romantic arc. It felt true to both the characters and their survival situation.
All in all, I just think this book was perhaps a bit young for me personally, so I don’t think I will continue the trilogy. However, I definitely recommend this to teen readers. I gave it 3 stars, but I think many younger readers would give it 4 or 5.
Should you read A Deadly Education?
I recommend this to teens and other YA enthusiasts. Especially those seeking a blend of dark magic, perilous fantasy schools, and an original magic system. It does have an expository writing style that isn’t for everyone, but can be good if you like irreverent storytelling with a bit of humor. It’s a very inclusive story as well, with characters from all over the world.
