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The Last Graduate, Naomi Novik -- still good, and prepared me to have theories about what was going to happen in The Golden Enclaves.
Bastille Vs. the Evil Librarians, Brandon Sanderson and Janci Patterson. Long-awaited final book of the Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians series, which is Brandon Sanderson having fun writing middle-grade fiction with a snarky fourth-wall-breaking narrator. Sanderson is a troll who misled his readers into thinking that the series would have 5 books, and then ending book 5 on a depressing cliffhanger with a hidden note saying that there would be an additional book from the point of view of Alcatraz's sidekick/bodyguard/love interest Bastille (yes, there is a worldbuilding reaon why the characters have prison names). Which would be cool if that extra book had come out shortly after -- but instead it took 6 years to come out, both because Sanderson is busy and and because part of the way in he realized that he was having trouble writing Bastille's POV, so he recruited Janci Patterson as co-author to get him out of this hole. A pleasant and entertaining conclusion to the series, and I'm glad it's done, but couldn't really live up to the level of the Scholomance.
The Golden Enclaves, Naomi Novik -- an excellent ending to an ambitious series, I was absolutely engrossed and pulled in emotionally. There are things to quibble about -- I won't right now, but the fact that there are is because it's a book that takes its themes seriously, and is worth discussing. As usual for Novik the romance is one of the weaker aspects of the story, but there's so much else going on. The series continues to explore privilege, power, morality, empathy, cooperation and communities as it breaks out of the school to give a view of the global magical community. A and I were able to guess at a lot of what was going on with the worldbuilding reveals (along with some wild guesses that were off base), but it was still satisfying to get them.
Bastille Vs. the Evil Librarians, Brandon Sanderson and Janci Patterson. Long-awaited final book of the Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians series, which is Brandon Sanderson having fun writing middle-grade fiction with a snarky fourth-wall-breaking narrator. Sanderson is a troll who misled his readers into thinking that the series would have 5 books, and then ending book 5 on a depressing cliffhanger with a hidden note saying that there would be an additional book from the point of view of Alcatraz's sidekick/bodyguard/love interest Bastille (yes, there is a worldbuilding reaon why the characters have prison names). Which would be cool if that extra book had come out shortly after -- but instead it took 6 years to come out, both because Sanderson is busy and and because part of the way in he realized that he was having trouble writing Bastille's POV, so he recruited Janci Patterson as co-author to get him out of this hole. A pleasant and entertaining conclusion to the series, and I'm glad it's done, but couldn't really live up to the level of the Scholomance.
The Golden Enclaves, Naomi Novik -- an excellent ending to an ambitious series, I was absolutely engrossed and pulled in emotionally. There are things to quibble about -- I won't right now, but the fact that there are is because it's a book that takes its themes seriously, and is worth discussing. As usual for Novik the romance is one of the weaker aspects of the story, but there's so much else going on. The series continues to explore privilege, power, morality, empathy, cooperation and communities as it breaks out of the school to give a view of the global magical community. A and I were able to guess at a lot of what was going on with the worldbuilding reveals (along with some wild guesses that were off base), but it was still satisfying to get them.
