Review: "A Deadly Education" by Naomi Novik

This one was recommended to me by an aunt of mine, and I was a bit skeptical, because it seemed...sort of strange? But I decided to give it a try, because I had really enjoyed Spinning Silver by the same author, and so why not? *cough* So. Yes. Well. I loved it.

I decided that Orion Lake needed to die after the second time he saved my life.

Everyone loves Orion Lake. Everyone else, that is. Far as I’m concerned, he can keep his flashy combat magic to himself. I’m not joining his pack of adoring fans.

I don’t need help surviving the Scholomance, even if they do. Forget the hordes of monsters and cursed artifacts, I’m probably the most dangerous thing in the place. Just give me a chance and I’ll level mountains and kill untold millions, make myself the dark queen of the world.

At least, that’s what the world expects. Most of the other students in here would be delighted if Orion killed me like one more evil thing that’s crawled out of the drains. Sometimes I think they want me to turn into the evil witch they assume I am. The school certainly does.

But the Scholomance isn’t getting what it wants from me. And neither is Orion Lake. I may not be anyone’s idea of the shining hero, but I’m going to make it out of this place alive, and I’m not going to slaughter thousands to do it, either.

Although I’m giving serious consideration to just one.

Worldbuilding/Writing Style
Okay, so, for everyone who might be tempted to critique this because it's "just another British school of magic story"...nope. There is a lot of uniqueness. For one thing, the school is kind of sentient, and will actively kill the students if they don't do their homework. (Hence the "no teachers" thing. Because death is pretty motivating.) Not exactly the fuzzy "oh it's so magical" of Harry Potter. But even aside from the semi-sentience, the setting is really unique, albeit very dark-academia-esque, with weird voids in every room, and monsters that pop out of ceiling vents, and mysterious libraries where books will occasionally just appear out of nowhere.

The overall "wizarding world" worldbuilding is also cool: monsters are extremely attracted to wizards, so many of them have built enclaves where the best and the brightest can come and be safe. Hence, lots of politics are the enclaves.

The magical system is neat, I thought--it's based on an inherited ability to hold power, or "mana", which the holder can then use in various spells or constructions, or other things like that. There's a lot of drama around who has mana, and where it's from, etc. 

The narration is from the POV of El, our MC, and is halfway to stream-of-consciousness, which I really enjoyed. Although, given, I don't have many problems with that style AND I like El. So I know that it might not be everyone's thing. (There were a few spots that could be construed as a bit info-dumpy, but I didn't mind those.)

Plot
The plot starts out rather slowly, but gains speed and twists and turns as El tries to navigate not only surviving the Scholomance, but also figuring out what on earth is going on with the people around her, and what to do with Orion Lake. It's a good balance of the day-to-day and the big events, and I thought the pacing was excellent.

Characters
Okay. Here's where the shrieking starts.

Our main character, who is named Galadriel (YES REALLY), but prefers to go by El, is my favorite. She's a crusty ball of "I'll do it myself", and she hates it when other people rescue her, and she distains people who suck up to other people for power, and she is the absolute queen of sarcasm, and she doesn't know how this weird thing called a "social situation" works, or how these things called "friends" work, but she is expert at protecting herself from monsters, and GAH.
Also, part of the worldbuilding is that different people have affinities for different types of magic, and her affinity is for mass destruction, which...I just love for some reason? It's hilarious, because the school keeps trying to get her to develop her affinity, and she's like, "no, I'd prefer not to reduce my classmates to dust, thanks". And she hates being selfless, but she absolutely has a very stringent moral code when it comes to magic (I think she's a One?) that she adheres to strictly. (Can you tell from my run-on sentences how much I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS CHARACTER?) I also love that she's sort of an unreliable narrator...but also not. It's an excellent balance.
(I think she's supposed to be unlikeable? But I like her. I don't know what that says about me.)
Additionally, she reminds me of Captain America in that she knows deeply the sort of evil that she's capable of...but she's doing her best to try to keep it in. And it's amazing.

Orion is such a cinnamon roll with a "saving people thing", and a longing for someone who will treat him like a real person. And I liked him a lot, but have much less to say about him because #spoilers.

BUT THE BANTER. The banter between the two of them is absolute gold, and I laughed out loud on a number of occasions.

The other characters (Liu, Aadhya, etc.) were also excellent, and each had a motivation, and overall had all the things you'd want from side characters. (Including diversity! I love how diverse the school is.)

Romance
There might be some? Can neither confirm nor deny. Especially since I'm not entirely sure myself.

Content
Lots of death (some of it gruesome, but generally not graphic), mention of people getting pregnant before marriage, along with a wee bit of innuendo, and some swearing (generally British swearing (e.g. "bloody"), but with a few (3-5, as far as I can remember) f-bombs in there as well).

Overall Rating
I think I'm going to have to go with four stars--I absolutely adored this! 

Reminds me of...
*draws a blank* *thinks harder* *draws a complete blank*

Have you ever read anything by Naomi Novik? Do you find characters who are supposed to be unlikeable engaging, ever? Have you ever read any other books set in magical schools?