The Scholomance Trilogy was FUN

A few months ago, a mutual (shout out Corey) recommended I read the Scholomance trilogy, by Namoi Novik. I'd heard of Novik, I actually had read, Uprooted, (a classic fairytale-style novel heavily inspired by Polish and other eastern European folk tales) a few months before. The Scholomance trilog was quite different.

If you are a fan of the Hunger Games, Divergent, HP, Percy Jackson, and a lot of other stories we grew up reading where kids went to some super scary type of school or training facility and had to spend years getting strong to make it out alive or learn how to just "be", you will probably like this trilogy.

The main character, Galdadriel "El" Higgins is secretly a super powerful witch with an affinity for dark magic, in her Junior year at the Scholomance, a school for witches and wizards from around the world. Kids attend this school because monters are drawn to witch and wizard children. I'm not going to get to heavy into the details, the book does that but basically, the school gives them much better chances of surviving into adulthood, than growing up on the outside. There is just one thing, the monsters are getting into the school and have been for about 100 years.

So basically, there is about a 25% chance of you surviving graduation at the school, compare to a 12% chance of surviving outside. So of course, that means prominent kids (from enclaves, gorups of established wizards communities) have a better chance of surviving the school, compared to independent wizards who do not belong to an enclave. This series covers class divides and injustice way better than the other series with a school set in Scotland.

Here is why you should read The Scholomance trilogy his fall, instead of your yearly HP re-read and watch. Novik has a series that bears some similarities to HP; magic school, magic, commentary on social classes (surprise, Novik's is better), global magic school, loneliness, friendship and a variety of other themes. Novik has a diverse group of characters as the school is a global institution. Children come from all over the world to attend. El is Welsh/Indian and other characters have backgrounds from Jersey (Indian immigrants), Chinese, German, Emiratis, Jewish, and so many other backgrounds.

Other themes I really enjoyed are the feelings of loneliness, which is explored through El's journey. People have always tended to stay away from her, think the worst of her, and ignore her outright. That changes when she gets saved by Orion Lake for the third time her junior year. Orion is the opposite to El in almost every way. he's popular, people like him, and he's pretty much a hero because of all the kids he's saved from monsters that break into the school.

El and Orion are an enemies to freinds to maybe more situation. Grumpy x Sunshine to the max. Later on in the series, there also ends up being a queer relationship that I liked a lot as well, it was very surprising (its supposed to be) and I loved those dynamics.

Books 2 and 3 take place in the school. Book three takes place outside of the school. I can't say too much more for fear of spoilers, so I'll say this. El is destined to change the wizarding world. Her great-grandmother prophesied that she would bring ruin and destruction to the enlcaves, which are the source of wizards security and protection from monsters, so its kind of a big deal and something El has kept secret her whole life.

I can't recommend this series enough, it really was so much fun to read. The aspects of friendships, loyalty, love, and justice are all not only entertaining but thought provoking and moving.

This series made me feel like a teenager again, in the best possible way. For context, I'm 27 years old. The last time I felt this way was reading one of the last Heroes of Olympus books.