Review: "The Last Graduate" by Naomi Novik

So! I got NetGalley! And it is amazing. I am over the moon that they accepted my request to review The Last Graduate, the second book in the Scholomance series (the first book of which I reviewed here)! And I am here today to tell you what I thought.

Oh, and if you should like to purchase it, it releases on September 28!

*Warning. There may be spoilers for book 1, A Deadly Education. You probably don't want it spoiled. Proceed with caution.*

*Also. I read an eARC which I received for free from NetGalley. I was not obligated to give a positive review; all opinions are my own.*

Worldbuilding/Writing Style
The worldbuilding and writing style are 100% just as good as in the first book! I love the Scholomance so much--top-notch dark academia right there--and it was great to be back! And the El-does-monologues-and-is-sort-of-a-reliable-but-also-unreliable-narrator things...absolutely love. (But also, I feel like this whole thing has given me an unrealistic idea of college. So far there are no monsters, I can't change my schedule just by manufacturing conflicts, and no one is following me around thinking we're dating. (Actually, not sad about the last one AT ALL. Not a whit.)

Plot
Again, the plot, it is great! Twisty! And with logical distortions and un-distortions that made me have to think hard while I was tired from packing for college! (Which. A good thing, just to be clear.) The ending was again a cliffhanger, actually with the cliffhanger from book 1 still not all the way resolved (halp) but in such a way that I'm not rabidly clamoring for the next book, just low-key waiting for it to come out. (Which will be WHEN?)

Characters
So! El! Was! Great! HER FREAKING ARC IN THIS BOOK WHAT. I just...love it. I love her sass and sarcasm and the sheer amount of tired energy coming off of her at all times. *Highlight for spoilers* The way she just takes that entire freshman group under her wing even though she doesn't want to...<3 <3 <3 *end spoilers* I just...love this girl very much. The whole not-going-to-be-a-dark-sorcerer-sorry thing? Still amazing.

Also, Aad and Liu are cool. Underrated, probably, but cool. *nods*

The way Novik deals with large groups of people, i.e. the entire senior grade of Scholomance, was very, very impressive. Enough people were developed enough for you to feel like you knew them, but not so much that you were overwhelmed by the huge cast.

My one disappointment here was Orion. It seemed like Novik was *trying* to do stuff with his character, and it kind of succeeded close to the end (more or less), but he really wasn't on page all that often, which is fine--he's not my favorite character--but you can't have a character off the page most of the time and then expect to grow them in the last few chapters. 

Romance
Okay, here's where it gets controversial. And/or just disappointing, so there's that. Even though El herself had a whole lot of growth through the book, Elrion or whatever you want to call the ship had v e r y little development, with El avoiding Orion for very little reason, and then suddenly towards the end they're like 'welp, might as well get in bed together before graduation', and ??? did I miss something? Because that is Not A Well-Written Romance, and I Do Not Approve. Just saying. (Disclaimer: for anyone who hasn't read my blog before, I am a romance curmudgeon with strong opinions. And also a romantic. Very Chestertonian--seemingly paradoxical but really not.)

Also, there were a couple of same-gender romances (with side characters) which I did not appreciate.

And one weird moment where El is commenting on the absolute starvation it is to have no (shoot, how do I say this without actually saying the word on my blog which I want to avoid because of s p a m) um, physical relationships with other people. And?? Not starvation, El. Sorry to break it to you. Chastity and continence and celibacy are all very do-able.

Content
A graphic-ish kissing scene, a graphic-ish bedroom scene (I did not actually read that part, so I have no idea how bad it is. XD), some swearing including a couple of f-bombs, a couple of characters in relationships with people of their same gender. 

Overall Rating
So, I love the Scholomance, and I love El, and I love the entire aura of these books, but I didn't love all the content added in this one...I'm going to say 3.5 stars.

Reminds me of...
I mean, obviously the first book. XD 
And...I honestly can't think of anything else!

Have you read the first book in this series? What are some of your favorite dark academia books? What's a book that you like that's based around a school?