#scholomance

[elizabysmal]

I’m about a third of the way though the third book in the scholomance series and I’ve been rotating these two at 350 degrees in my brain for two weeks

#el higgins #orion lake #the scholomance #hARTcore #wanna draw more but I gotta finish the got dam thing like!!! get me my fucking boy back!!!!!!!!! #scholomance

[emily-e-draws]

wip of the faves... at any given moment I am thinking about the scholomance trilogy

(preview from the latest batch of sketches going up on my patreon!)

#a deadly education #orion lake #galadriel higgins #naomi novik #scholomance #i've read this book several times but every other week i'm like wow i should read deadly education again i love that book #just barely finished the temeraire series and now i'm in the middle of a spinning silver reread lmao #naomi novik the chokehold you have on me...

[ace-and-ranty]

MORE SCHOLOMANCE. MORE SCHOLOMANCE!

ATTENTION EVERYONE, MORE SCHOLOMANCE!!!

#BE READY FOR MY BLORBO BLOGGING ALL OF YOU #Scholomance #The Scholomance #Naomi Novik #I DON'T CARE THAT IT'S JUST A SHORT STORY. I'M FUCKING HERE FOR IT. #Have never read Temeraire but I will check those out #AND NEW BOOK PREVIEEEEW #IT'S HAPPENING EVERYONE KEEP CALM #IT'S HAPPENING!!

[hatepotion]

so i read a deadly education

#a deadly education #the scholomance #scholomance #el higgins #orion lake #my art

[kaetor]

You're already dead. But stay anyway

cried while reading the end of the golden enclaves so obviously I immediately got to drawing. everyone go read the scholomance series by naomi novik

#a deadly education #the golden enclaves #the scholomance #el higgins #orion lake #scholomance #naomi novik #pleasepleaseplease reblog this i spent so long on it and I Know its gonna get like 10 notes #cos paintings i spend time on always inexplicably get less notes than my shitty sketches & its for a book most ppl haven't read #k-art #cleb art

[nepttunnee]

i just finished a deadly education and let me just say i adore el and orion. i love how they fall for each other but for the exact opposite reason of the way other ppl see them. el looks at loved for being a knightin shining armor who can do no wrong orion lake and goes. hes actually cringe and fail. i like that in a man. and orion lake looks at weapon of mass destruction knows multiple languages to roast you galadriel and goes shes actually kind of nice. she shares her food with me. i want to marry her i think. thinking abt them

#elrion #a deadly education #galadriel #orion lake #scholomance

[hmslusitania]

JUST REALISED the conclusion of the last graduate is very intensely “alright gang to save this school we’re gonna have to put on the best talent show the Scholomance has ever seen”

#scholomance #a deadly education #the last graduate #the golden enclaves #was on sale on Libro.fm so I’m rereading

[tanoraqui]

I’ve started reading the Scholomance books—okay, I’m 2/3 of the way through the first one—and my favorites parts so far are

How utterly completely fucking bizarre El and Orion’s relationship and every single interaction in it looks to every single outsider

Aadhya’s “fuck it, we ball” attitude toward El

#the scholomance #scholomance

[cucurbitapuella]

I think I loved El Higgins so much bc she really digs deep into a core character trait I find so powerful and fascinating and that's selfishness as fuel for selflessness. The ones who look around and tell the world, don't you dare touch that one, They're Mine, and pour all of that and all of themselves into protecting what's Theirs, and also btw fuck off that one is Also Theirs, in fact, Everyone Is.

(See also: Tiffany Aching, Beka Cooper).

The Last Graduate is most obviously about this (El has her alliance who are Hers and then despite her best efforts she has her pack of freshmen who are, ugh, Hers, and eventually must grudgingly open up to realizing that now absolutely everyone is Hers and she's getting all of them out there, fuck you very much), but then. Then! The Golden Enclaves shows the struggle of that kind of selfishness, of saying these ones are mine and fuck the cost, I will pay it (off of the backs of those ones). Because the modern enclaves ARE paying it, because their children are Theirs and what wouldn't you do? (A lot, actually, it turns out, if you had to do it with your own hands, eyes open and ears unblocked)

The way that most of the contributors to an Enclave need the wool pulled over their eyes (literally!!) so they cannot even register that the gift horse HAS teeth, because then they might see what horrible gore is stuck in them. They just want to save their children, and the cost is so high - but it's so removed, so, is it really even real? And El's the cosmic foil to that, the one who looks at it and goes "no, that's real. You have to pay it yourselves you can't defer the cost." Even before she works out that the price is higher than the first sacrifice (which is. Horrifying enough on its own), she's desperately trying to get to one of Hers and she can't pay the cost to save Liu on her own, she needs them all to buy in, and she taps into everyone's collective selfishnes and gives them an out and they have to work for it but they take it and they do the work! They pay up front! They try to make some fucked up reparations!

And that selfishness, of El's audacity to even dare question the system, but also most people's basic selfishness (wanting to keep yourself and your children safe and to do it without all the blood on your hands) - that's what's going to see them all through, together.

#scholomance #el higgins #scholomance spoilers #the scholomance #meta #the golden enclaves #the last graduate #apparently this has been sitting in my drafts for months but i stand by it i'm still reeling about this story tbh

[shrikeseams]

Thinking about fiber arts within the scholomance. Iirc the only time we see it within the school is El doing crochet, but like. I cannot buy that everyone is primarily mending their clothes with magic. Fiber crafting is such an incredibly old and incredibly basic and pretty universal activity for humans. And those kids all have extremely limited access to new clothing, which makes all kinds of mending a very useful basic skill, especially considering kids could learn it early. Teaching your kids to mend by hand is one more bulwark parent can give them against the various hazards of the scholomance. And we know that spells can be woven into fabric, so there's also potential applications there, above and beyond 1) basic safety and quality of life from well-tended clothing and 2) potential to build mana via hand work that you're going to have to do one way or another no matter what.

But apparently nobody is darning socks to build mana? They have access to shit like platinum, but not wool? C'mon. A drop spindle is straightforward enough to cobble together. Wool *should* be an accessible material, either as artificer workshop materials or supply room stuff. There should be at least a handful of kids in each year spinning fiber (and building mana), and then doing darning/mending on commission (and also building mana again). And that goes tripply when it's established that magical mending doesn't actually replace the shed/worn away fibers!

Plus, fiber craft is ancient. No way there aren't a dozen traditional embroidery /weaving / knitting designs that act as spells. Protection against harm, but also things like preventing damage in the first place. Magic may provide an expedient quick fix, but there should be plenty of space in the scholomance economy for more traditional options.

I know El's whole deal is supposed to be non-representative re: mana budgeting and use, but also. If people are already weaving magical cloth outside the school, I cannot conceive of a situation where mending-for-hire or, idk, tablet weaving or knitting/crocheting to spec isn't considered a normal and desirable supplemental 'income ' source.

#Scholomance

[whetstonefires]

Do you have any opinions on Scholomance?

I do! I like it a lot. I really enjoyed all three books, blitzed through them easily and was much more excited to see how the plots unfolded than I'm used to these days, as a jaded adult, and I also really appreciated them as works of craft.

Especially the first one, I spent the whole time being all 'wow!' at how simple it was. So easy to read, but no waste. You really need to know what you're doing, to get that kind of pared-down elegance of form to work and still fit so much content in.

Like these are dense, there's a fantastic stylistic minimalism that allows El's character all the space it needs to breathe by making absolutely every other thing and person in the whole novel also do character work for her, which is exactly where the first person voice shines.

Also great use of character perspective to make the pacing feel really natural, so the fact that the first book takes three weeks, the second book takes one year, and the third book is like. Five or so incredibly stressful days spread out over the course of a few weeks? Doesn't feel imbalanced.

I actually got distracted from the story a few times by noticing the strength of Novik's technique. 😂 This is a me problem, in itself it's the opposite of distracting. Very low-profile.

I think the Scholomance is a great example of how far you can go in specfic when you aren't cringing from the label 'derivative,' because the Scholomance books feel very fresh ad clean specifically because nothing in them is concerned with standing out as 'original,' whatever that's supposed to mean, only with being well-executed and suitable to its task.

Hm, maybe that's where Liesel was born, the intersection of the efficient narrative style and the vast proportion of the story that concerns the maximization of utility and the instrumentalization of persons by themselves and others, and the forces that incentivize these behaviors. Or maybe she's just the narrative counterweight to Orion 'Head Empty' Lake lmao. How's that for a principle of balance, Galadriel?

I really did enjoy how beautifully it was laid out, over and over, in dozens of shades of humanity, how no matter where you go in an exploitative system almost everyone is being driven by the same survival instincts.

Because I don't think I've ever seen made so cleanly clear why you just can't expect any person or small group of people, no matter their level of goodwill or status, to unmake one of these systems from the inside; how it's not a matter of people being bad but of every single person being very...small.

And then not retreating into the idea of a person who is Big coming and breaking the cruel system from the outside as some kind of panacea, because 1) that is terrible, even if it's necessary and done in the best way possible and 2) that's not a sustainable answer to anything. Getting a balance between the protagonist being able to effect change and not subscribing to the great man theory of history can be really tricky!

Also did I mention, I love El, and I love most of the cast, even the dreadful ones. How am I going around with this many feelings about Li Shanfeng who doesn't appear until the actual climax?

The romance murdered me a bit, but it took up no more space than it absolutely needed to do its job, and I respect that. Also I appreciated Orion as a love interest; Novik has a slight record at this point of a version of that style of male love interest who's like a caricature of Mr. Darcy but old, which was shaping up to be my least favorite thing about her body of work.

...Orion is kind of like if you took the human king from Spinning Silver and gave him an alignment flip come to think of it, so he's not coming out of nowhere. Lmao.

Which reminds me (re: romance character typing) I've heard Novik didn't want it to be known she was astolat, which this series has renewed my sympathies if so. Because if I were a published novelist I wouldn't want people going 'you know, that resolution was really emotionally satisfying! reminds me of that fic she wrote where optimus prime and megatron get stuck in a hole underground and hatefuck about it.'

I don't even like Transformers. That fic almost made me cry. Actually I suspect it reads better if you don't like Transformers because I'm sure it does not give a shit about canon.

Anyway, whoever pointed out that one of the things El has going on is she's Enoby (and we're going to sit down and explore what the true reason to put your middle finger up at preps is, and what are some constructive ways to channel that socioeconomic wrath, and what it means that there is no ethical consumption under capitalism) was right and I'm not entirely over that either.

Fucking love El's mom as a character. Spectacular level of parent relevance and usefulness. A+.

Aadhya and Liu are also characters who fucking delivered.

Re: minimalism though, I laughed at the start of The Golden Enclaves when I realized that none of the enclaver characters who'd gotten development in the the first two books were from London, the enclave El was theoretically shooting for when we met her.

#ask #hoc est meum #Anonymous #scholomance #my sister's biphobia made an appearance when i was reading the second book and tried to tell her about this thing i was enjoying #still mad at her about it #anyway though #good! #wish i could ask novik what she was thinking by making a single-cell abortion work as human sacrifice #like is it just because magic works on intent so if you think the newly fertilized egg #that you couldn't know about without magic #is 'your baby which you are killing' #then it is? #for purposes of hole in reality making? #or does this story have a spot where its politics sharply reverse and human life begins at conception #spoilers #scholomance spoilers #especially in the reblog #lakjfaldkfs seanan mcguire has granted this rambled Circulation oh dear

[emily-e-draws]

postgrad studies at the london enclave 🌱✨

#scholomance #a deadly education #the golden enclaves #el higgins #orion lake #liesel #alfie #naomi novik #got commissioned to draw scholomance fanart.. what an absolute delight

[feyarcher]

Muderbot El Higgins

🤝

Doing the morally good thing but being mad as hell about it

#why yes i am rereading these two series simultaneously #murderbot #the murderbot diaries #the scholomance #scholomance #el higgins

[a-vague-yet-menacing-agency]

In an alternate universe where Liesel's alliance plan had worked

*El and Liesel, busying somewhere making out* Alfie, just happy to be here, turning to Orion, twiddling his thumbs: do you think they'll be a while, mm? Orion: *shrugs* Alfie: Should we....? Orion: No.

#scholomance #orion lake #the scholomance #a deadly education

[softness-and-shattering]

Scholomance as a musical.

Im imagining a maw mouth song. Some good-dreary introduction song full of different maleficaria. Orion and El have themes that strongly hint to certain spoilers if you pay close enough attention. Something peppy and annoying for the enclavers. Mals having their own hints and themes so you can *hear* them creeping along in the background.

What does horror high school *sound* like?

#the scholomance #scholomance #mine

[aridotdash]

I think too often we forget that besides being incredible powerful magically, El has to be fucking JACKED. Like, her primary form of mana building was exercising and she's had to do more crochet because exercise is too damn easy. Like, she's doing literally hundreds of push-ups just to get ANYTHING mana wise.

In conclusion, El can, should, and does bench-press Orion on a regular basis and you can't convince me otherwise.

#also liesel #also both at the same time because she is powerful and deserves to #scholomance #(minor) #scholomance spoilers #but just in terms of shipping really #a deadly education #the last graduate