Controversial opinion, but I really liked this book and found it super engaging. I had a lot of time for it, and found it easy to read. I didn't mind the info-dumping. I sort of noticed it, but was intrigued enough to want to hear the information and see what happened next that I didn't mind. I thought the plot was sort of basic, just getting through the school year, but the second half with the seniors felt more like the consequences of the first half and a culmination of plot rather than a surprise. I also liked El's and Orion's relationship. It's a bit like a big friendly dog deciding the mean old cat is his friend now, and El's so unused to friendship and normal human relationships (because everyone avoids her because she 'feels like it's going to rain'/gives off bad vibes) that she didn't realise he liked her. And maybe I'm a bit easily led, but I was already excited to see El's senior year before she got her mum's letter. It didn't feel too left-field because she'd had that dream where her mum was in the forest looking concerned, and I definitely thought something was up with that, like El had gotten the wrong end of the stick from her dream-mum, and she was all happy after but her mum still looked concerned. Maybe it just needed a few more breadcrumbs leading up to it to make it work. I did definitely check my privilege after watching your video though, because all of those problematic bits sailed over my head - even with the Arabic bit I just thought it was El being sardonic/doing that negative humour thing of going to the worst possible instance with the car mowing people down. Like I was imagining a picture just of a car and people standing near it and she was just going 'he's probably going to mow them own because life sucks and nobody can have anything good'. But definitely, after your video and reading the comments I can see how completely inappropriate that is. I know literally everyone here disagrees with me, but that's cool, we don't have to like the same things, I thought I should just give a shout for the book because I actually thought it was great!

@lyrabelacqua8102

Жыл бұрын

Yes i think that too!!

Wow that's so weird... I read this book because I love Naomi's books and to be honest, I absolutely loved it. I didn't read any reviews beforehand about it being racist or whatever and am shocked that a lot of people didn't find it enjoyable. I literally couldn't put it down and the main character's chemistry felt really great to me! I really recommend people try the book out first, I enjoyed it just as much if not more than her other books!

A school without teachers sounds like a zoom class 😂

@JessOwens

3 жыл бұрын

Honestly, a mess 😂

@rimbluebooks

3 жыл бұрын

@@JessOwens I'd rather teach from home myself ngl 🤷🏻‍♀️ for the past 4 years I spent 4 hours each day going to and fro work five days a week. Thinking about catching an early/late taxi is always on my mind. I drop around 20 to 25 kgs in a semester. I look haggard my face dull my eyes sunken. If my students had technology at home I'd be teaching from home but unfortunately they don't.

@susant4589

3 жыл бұрын

It was more like independent study via worksheets, which doesn't sound like much of a school.

@GrandFactor

4 ай бұрын

Magic runs the school and the motivations are survival so only hard workers get to live. No teachers needed for motivation, good luck for learning disabilities tho I guess. The school is also not big enough for all the worlds wizard kids so they don't waste space for teachers.

When it came to the modern Arabic portion passage, I understood it to mean that the car, a piece of modern technology, gave it away as modern. She saw the lettering, knew it was Arabic, and then the car gave it away as modern Arabic. Every spell the school gave El was a destructive spell or had to do with murder, so it would stand to reason that this one would be about killing as well, like the others. That’s just how I understood the passage though and I understand how people would take offense to how it’s worded. I agree that it is too expensive and it should have been YA, but I’m wondering if the rest of the series will be more “adult”?

@it.comes.around

3 жыл бұрын

I was thinking the same thing about the car. But also, putting that type of violence next to Arabic was very questionable. I think Arabic was used for the aesthetics it brings to mind, which is a whole different discussion to have, and not necessarily because the author equated it to violence. I think that was something editing, even just by author, could have caught.

@JessOwens

3 жыл бұрын

It will be interesting to see if the rest of the series be comes more adult. I'm torn on if I will read the next book or not LOL. With the modern Arabic, I agree with the car giving it away as modern. But adding in the car driving into the pedestrians? Unnecessary.

@caesuracrossing5473

3 жыл бұрын

Its so YA I never like read it as an adult.

@books_with_clementine

3 жыл бұрын

I think she added the car running over pedestrians to drone on the fact that El always gets mass destruction related spells... but I completely agree that it is unfortunate as a whole...

@barlogirl

3 жыл бұрын

I uderstood it as such as well. Like how whatever language she is studying er cubby always tells violent stories to help with pronounciation. Probably that's it was a bit of an oops didn't even occur to the writer as she honestly didn't mean anything other than El's affinity.

Hey👋🏻 1. The reason people don’t like her is actually mentioned in the book, El has a really dark aura-vibe and people feel it and end up avoiding her. 2. The school wasn’t supposed to be like that. It is also mentioned in the book. 3. I really enjoyed the story, if you look at every character Individually you will see the growth. I love that they come from different countries, status etc. Thank you for the review🙏🏻

“I’m old and tired.” Big mood. Curtis IS looking good.

@JessOwens

3 жыл бұрын

Curtis is THRIVING

@TheAquamarine4

3 жыл бұрын

It took me so long to realize curtis was the plant lol

We must have been reading different books. I loved this so much I've read it twice now lol

I listened to this one as an audiobook from my library, and all the time spent in Elle's head felt more natural in that format, so I didn't hate it half as much as you did. That being said, I could see why this would feel like an info dump if read on the page; I really enjoyed the concept of the book, though.

@JessOwens

3 жыл бұрын

I love the concept of the book. I’m maybe willing to try the next one but reading it physically was a task 😂

@KathyTrithardt

3 жыл бұрын

@@JessOwens Yeah, I've been told it feels much more info-dumpy on the page.

@oliviaormsby7114

2 жыл бұрын

@@JessOwens the second book is out please review it😁

Not sure if someone said this already but people don't like El because she has an evil aura. Her friend explains this to her midway thru.

@JessOwens

3 жыл бұрын

Hmmmm maybe I missed that. Thanks for letting me know

@GrandFactor

4 ай бұрын

She feels like its going to rain. XD

While I disagree with your opinion, I really appreciate your thorough take on the issues people have had with the novel. My take on the Arabic worksheet is she knew she was going to get it in Arabic because she had the book in Arabic (there was extensive backstory on how if you even looked at another language, the school would add it to your lessons). She knew it was modern Arabic because of the car. It was hers, and the school is always trying to get her to do deadly things, so probably a spell that would kill people. However... it was a poor choice to leave it in. There were a lot of different ways it could have been handled.

@JessOwens

3 жыл бұрын

I understand why she got The Arabic worksheet and car for the modern part but the driving into the pedestrians part just didn’t sit right with me. The other things mentioned that were controversial were less jarring to me than the Arabic part. But again, my opinion

I cannot believe this is being sold as adult when the main POV read like the most insufferable 16 y/o

@JessOwens

3 жыл бұрын

EXACTLY!!! The publisher had the AUDACITY

@oliviaormsby7114

2 жыл бұрын

Lol 😂 I just finished the book and thought it was ya. It was in my high school library and I would not have known the difference tbh if it was in the adult section.

@gabym.t6635

2 жыл бұрын

As a younger reader I’m confused as to why so many people find her insufferable. I think we’d all be a little bit annoying if we were in that freaking school and forced to be in survival model 24/7 AND completely alone because having a community to help you is a privilege you didn’t have. I feel like one of the make or breaks for this book, especially because it’s in first person, is that if you can’t find something to relate to when it comes to the main pov, you probs won’t like it.

@mahoganyk

Жыл бұрын

My mom loves it and she's certainly and adult lol

I've been waiting for this video! A followup on the BookCommuniTea, like a reporter going in the field to get to the bottom of the case😍😂😂🍵🍵

@JessOwens

3 жыл бұрын

HAHAHAHAH YESSSSS

I actually love the way you explained your review ☺️ your criticism was enough to convince me to be wary if I ever do see this book. I feel like dark academia is very popular rn so it's nice to see a raw breakdown of the issues with this book for people like me who love the genre

@JessOwens

3 жыл бұрын

I want to love dark academia, but so often I don't feel the books that are popular in the genre are that good 😂😂

@sjhylandsjhyland4826

3 жыл бұрын

@@JessOwens I agree with you there, it can be overhyped. Also I ended up dnf-ing deadly education after the first chapter 😹 you were so right about that info dump

"BIG YIKES!" sums it up perfectly.

@JessOwens

3 жыл бұрын

RIGHT

i read the book in one sitting. it reads as young adult its a coming of age story of how a kid can learn to make friends. the book is more an analysis on the privilage of the world. the world is more explained than built just like u said. its annoying how many times the author explained things. it was explained tho why the school was made and i liked the theory of balance. as a poc i liked the take on classism it really showed what it was like to have privilege in a different way. woah i didnt notice the arabic worksheet part tho i just thought it was cuz in that world the enclave has a lot of malificers oof.

I saw this while I was looking for something and remembered you were reading it. So glad I didn’t grab it. I get so annoyed at Stories that go absolutely no where and seem long but aren’t. Have a great weekend!

@JessOwens

3 жыл бұрын

It's so annoying. Like we're just being told what the world is and no story to go along with it

wait??? this is adult? based on the sheer number of ya book boxes that had this book, i guess i just assumed it was ya

@JessOwens

3 жыл бұрын

RIGHT!? It doesn't make sense! It should not be considered ADULT

The cartoon of a car about to hit some pedestrians is obviously just an illustration for the first words you need to learn in any language in Scholomance, i.e. "Look out!" and "Behind you!", and you need these phrases so you can warn people about monsters about to bite their heads off

In my country it was fully marketed as a YA book, so I expected that going in, and it was exactly what I got. I enjoyed it very much though, didn't mind the info dump style, though I did indeed immediately recognize that plenty of others would not like it. As for the diversity issue, I wonder how you would like to have seen it done in a book? Or examples where you really like how it is done. I mean, I often hear commentary that people would like to have books with a character of diversity (race/sexuality) where the story doesn revolve around the fact of said diversity. So in this case I would think, El being mixed race but in all other aspects a pretty standard basic teen girl would be a good thing. And Novik did in my (basic white opinion) a good job in creating a racially and culturally diverse and interesting magical community inside the school.

@JessOwens

3 жыл бұрын

I think if she wanted to include an aspect of her culture, she could have had more history/relationship with her dad’s side of the family

@barlogirl

3 жыл бұрын

@@JessOwens True, but I'm low key expecting that to perhaps be explored more in the next book(s). Bit of a checkov's gun situation. They mention him, his death and his family to often not to delve into that further imo

tbh can’t get past the price point 😅

@JessOwens

3 жыл бұрын

SO EXPENSIVE for such few pages

The way you describe the writing style of this book sounds similar to how I like to brainstorm my worldbuilding -- I put characters in a situation and add a worldbuilding element, then sort of discover and explain to myself how the element works in that situation with those characters. Sometimes in this process I end up going on a long infodumping tangent. So I get that style of writing. But .... those are the first draft, practice, exploration scenes that I write FOR ME. I don't think that would work very well for a finished, polished, published book.

Thank you for your honest review and spoilers! I got 60 pages into this book and I was like... WTF??? I decided to come check out some reviews and I’m SO glad it’s not just me! Your thoughts perfectly summed up what I was feeling and your honest review helped me make the very easy decision to DNF this one. The writing style was atrocious. All of the run-on sentences and sentences within sentences and weird thought boomerangs within sentences was just too much. I would have to re-read some things 2-3 times to figure out what the hell she was trying to convey. And on top of that, the lack of explanation for ANYTHING made me feel like I was jumping into book FIVE of a well established series. I felt like I missed something because I should understand the world.... but it’s BOOK ONE! 😳🤷🏼‍♀️😤 Again, thank you for the honest review and spoilers. You saved me hours of confusion and frustration.

@JessOwens

3 жыл бұрын

It was so weird for the FIRST BOOK. And needed so much more editing

@Thegoodlyfediaries

2 жыл бұрын

Yes! Agree with everything!

You saying “I’m upset” is a mood LOL...I want to see you review everything now!!!

@JessOwens

3 жыл бұрын

🤣🤣🤣🤣 I’ll work on more reviews LOL

I loved this review! I can’t wait for the next one. This is very quickly becoming my favourite channel. Congrats on 2 thousand!

@JessOwens

3 жыл бұрын

omg thank you !! 😭

I think this is the best video I’ve ever watched that reviewed this book because I agree with 100% of your ideas and as an Arab it dropped from two stars to one star for me because of that problematic scene. I just loved how you would always say “then there’s El” at the end of every comment that you have because literally nothing happens with El and suddenly we’re just forced to see things from her point of you which really doesn’t add up to anything. Thank you so much for your review I loved it and have a good day.

100% agree with the review. This book felt like a huge infodump and yeah, it wasn't plot or character driven, it was info driven!

I really think this is just proof that we need more diverse writers, publishers, and editors, because if there were different perspectives reading this book I don’t think it would have been published. If you like really cute school settings you might like to try the ‘Nevermoor’ middle grade series by Jessica Townsend

@JessOwens

3 жыл бұрын

Definitely. And she said she added in some things after it had been edited and read by sensitivity readers 🥴 bad idea. I just read Nevermoor and LOVED IT

okay so i’m arab(egyptian) and what you said about the car part did not make sense to me. if i’m understanding it correctly, you said that she saw a man in a car swerving into pedestrians and assumed that meant it was arabic. in the passage she says that it’s arabic first then only remarks on the car to say that it’s modern arabic. and if it were still offensive to include an arab person doing something violent, no where does she say that it was on purpose. and even if it was on purpose, driving a car into pedestrians has never been a stereotypical terrorist thing. she didn’t say he was wearing a bomb about to disintegrate. plus the violence of the spell is on par with the rest of literally every other spell she’s given because of her affinity. the rest of the issues that you have with the book i mostly agree with and see where you’re coming from tho. especially the choice of the word “dreadlock”.

My face when you read the part about the Arabic lesson: 😬

Regarding the Arabic section: El knew it was Arabic because it was written in Arabic, and she knew it was modern Arabic because there was a car in the illustration, you know, a modern invention? The person being a terrorist isn't mentioned in the book, and while I can see how you'd make that leap, the character in the book doesn't make that connection, at least not as obviously as you make it sound. Besides that point, there was a lot of other stuff you just missed. Many of things you specifically called out about not understanding were pretty overly described in book. I did appreciate your comment on the "El is dirty" controversy. I also think that was a cherry-picked complaint that a wider understanding of world the book is set in would normalize.

Trust me - your video review skills are great! This was a DNF for me, so I was really curious to see what you thought about it.

@JessOwens

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks !! If I didn’t plan to do a video, I would’ve DNFd after 2 chapters 😂

Thank you for saving me time and money.

@JessOwens

3 жыл бұрын

Just doing the Lord's work 😂

@caesuracrossing5473

3 жыл бұрын

Man I wished I listened to all the reviews 😢

@krampus5068

3 жыл бұрын

I spent $32 on this book... should’ve watched all these reviews first 😭

Excellent review! I read Naomi Novik’s Uprooted and liked it enough that I thought I might try something else by her. Based on your review, it won’t be this one. I also thought Uprooted was basically a YA book with a few mature moments inserted in it, sort of like you were saying about Deadly. Thanks for the great video, and congratulations in advance for surpassing 2k subs!

@JessOwens

3 жыл бұрын

Thank you !!! I've heard good things about Uprooted and Spinning Silver, I may give them a chance in the future lol

@hXbradshaw

3 жыл бұрын

Spinning Silver was one of my top favorite reads of 2020. I feel like even though that book is also fantasy, at the same time she’s writing what she knows. She’s a Jewish author writing about a Jewish character (and non Jewish ones too) and turning an anti-Semitic fairy tale on its head. As a Jewish woman myself, that was so amazing to see in the fantasy genre.

@PhilipChaseTheBestofFantasy

3 жыл бұрын

@@hXbradshaw That’s very cool - I didn’t know about that angle on Spinning Silver, which I think I’ll be giving a try. Thanks!

Enjoyed the review! Also gorgeous hair !!

This review was every single thought I had PERFECTLY ARTICULATED! I've read 2 other books by Novik that were infinitely better then this, genuinely not sure how this one went so wrong...

@JessOwens

3 жыл бұрын

I want to try her other books but I’m nervous

@anix670

2 жыл бұрын

Agree, her other 2 amazing books, Uprooted (best😍) and Spinning Silver are really different. Please give them a try!

Loved this review! Can always count on you for honesty. And yeah BIG YIKES on that passage! I can not believe that was missed by the earlier reviewers. It does make me sad that this was your first read by Novick because I loved her other two books so much. I’m not sure I want to read this one now and be let down.

@JessOwens

3 жыл бұрын

Thank you! I won't say that I'm totally put off from Novik because I hear such good things about Spinning Silver and Uprooted, but this was a let down.

@MarysiaKosowski

3 жыл бұрын

@@JessOwens I hated this book too, didn't like Uprooted for entirely different reasons, but LOVED Spinning Silver so much I rushed out and bought a hardcover copy. Go figure. XD :P Maybe you'll like one of her other works too. I now have faith in Naomi Novik if she can ditch Scholomance and go back to writing folkloric fantasy. Everything you touched on in your review was exactly what I didn't like about A Deadly Education.

Her books make me feel exhausted every time I read one. I feel like I'm drowning from the inner monologues and info dumping.

KZread notification of video title: OH SHE DID IT 👍👏👍👏 This is beyond perfect, I just started my book and was hoping to get through it this week.

@JessOwens

3 жыл бұрын

I want to hear your thoughts!!!

The info-dump of it all turned me off. Throw me into the world and snatch my wig with the strangeness. Give me information through DISCOVERY, not a wall of text. I put it down, twice. Safe to say I’m done and so glad I didn’t finish it! Cheers, Jess!

Bravo on an excellent review of this book!!! I just finished this a few days ago and it was my first experience reading from Naomi. Unfortunately I didn’t care for her writing style at all!! It just didn’t flow! I would be rereading long sentences over and over again! I thought I might not of been smart enough to read this! You’re so spot on with everything you said! Just when you thought you were getting somewhere in the story the author would go off on these history lessons that seemed to last forever then when she would come back to the situation at hand I would almost forget what was about to take place! Ugh so frustrating! I seen your review go up and I had to push my way through because I couldn’t wait to hear what you were going to say! And you are so right it is very info dumpy! Unfortunately I don’t think this author’s writing is for me.

@JessOwens

3 жыл бұрын

Omggg same ! I would have to reread sentences so often. It was such a drag! I’m so disappointed

@Thegoodlyfediaries

2 жыл бұрын

Yas!! Me to!! First time as well and I just thought maybe in dumb… haha. I read a lot and a lot of different genres but I just couldn’t understand what was happening half the time. Agree with everything you said!

These were all of my thoughts exactly. She spent SO much time dumping information on us that you don’t care about the characters or the “love story” at all. None of the characters were expanded on at all. And even with all that info dumping, I still don’t understand why people send their kids to this terrible awful school. I feel like if you spend 75% of the book dumping information, I should at least finish the book without confusion.

@JessOwens

3 жыл бұрын

OMG, I WAS SOOOOOOOOO BORED. All the characters were cardboard cut outs.

This may be a wierd thing to say but I'm always really happy to discover more and more of my fellow black people in the book tube community and especially the fantasy community. The representation and voice is very beneficial for the culture and that fantasy genre in particular. When I read the rage of dragons I almost cried 😂😂

@JessOwens

3 жыл бұрын

It is ! I love discovering other Black booktubers

Thank you so much for this! 1. Every time I thought something was going to happen, it fizzled. 2. My brain is completely broken after the Red Rising series. 🙃

@edsparkable

11 ай бұрын

Ooh also, I noticed the scythe series on your shelf. Great read! ❤

Thank you for this thorough review. I was reading a sample of the first few chapters and I thought the writing style to be very strange, and not my typical style and I wasn’t feeling like this was a book I would enjoy, and your explanation confirms my theories on it. :)

18:17 : So, she gets the Arabic worksheet after finding this really valuable spellbook in Old Arabic. And it’s a double punchline about how the school wants you to suffer, making her translate Modern Arabic into English to prepare her for the task of making this uber valuble spellbook worth anything, and her affinity for ‘Dark Magic’ and how everything with her school projects has to do with evil or human suffering… Admittedly, that second line of thought is a little too sideways for me, but in the moment, in its context, it’s more snide character for El.

Thank you for this review. If I do read it I definitely will stick to the library rather than buying it now. With the Arabic worksheet part ; I think she was just trying to say the car showed it was modern rather than ancient. Still that was such a bad way for the author to show it. 0.0

@JessOwens

3 жыл бұрын

I agree the car part shows that it's modern, she could have left out the part about them driving into pedestrians 😬

I listened to the audiobook and loved it, I think sometimes the narrator really can make or break a book, especially when it comes to character voice and pacing, I’ve read books physically that I couldn’t stand the audiobook of and vice versa. Also as someone who graduated high school during the pandemic, the lack of teachers didn’t phase me at all 😂 if you replace the monsters with covid outbreaks/lockdowns, and the graduation gauntlet with trying to actually finish the year after two years of madness, this book actually captures a lot of the experience of my last years of high school 🤷‍♀️ I agree that it’s weird for it to be labeled as adult, this definitely read as YA to me, and I saw that “shock” ending coming a mile away so it didn’t bother me much when it happened.

i personally didn’t like it. i despised the main character and she was extremely annoying, i wished the writer wrote her better bc she had a lot of potential. there was so much of her thoughts on each page and it just bored me- i grew so tired because i wanted to learn more about the school itself.

I appreciate this review! It’s going to be a trilogy so I’m gonna wait for the series to complete to start this. You and many other reviewers seem to have the same issue with the info dumping though, so I’ll take that into consideration when I get to it! ☺️

@JessOwens

3 жыл бұрын

Oh, good to know! I for some reason thought it was a Duology. A trilogy gives her more time to develop the overall story. I'm hesitant about reading the next one tho lol

Pretty sure the "modern Arabic" part was a reference to how the current society is racist about it, not the author. The fact the cartoon points to it being a modern Arabic worksheet is her pointing out that the current society believes in the racist stereotype. The whole book is supposed to be a commentary on relations between different countries and cultures in modern society. She's Jewish. She also has dealt with negative stereotypes, and that influenced her to write a book commenting on them. (I'm not saying Jewish people can't be racist. I've just met Naomi in person, and have read most of her books. She usually has some political or cultural commentary in her books. Spinning Silver was about her Jewish heritage and Uprooted was about her Polish Catholic heritage). She usually writes in a broadish way where her stories almost read like Grimm Fairytales; dark and vague. I know a lot of people are going to go in with the same expectations because it's about a magic school, and that makes me kinda sad because I love her writing but a lot of people don't vibe with it. Uprooted and Spinning Silver both had quick and vague romances, but I honestly enjoyed them so much! I'm sorry this one bummed you out. :(

@JessOwens

3 жыл бұрын

I'm going to disagree. I don't know how to word this but for her to go as far as to put the person in the car driving into a crowd of people, why? She could have left it as a person in a car, car for modern and then the script is noticeable as Arabic. Bam, modern Arabic. I'm not saying she had intentions to be harmful to anyone who speaks Arabic, but it came off as something internalized that she didn't even realize it. So for it to be a comment on society, I don't think so. I think it's an internalized prejudice that she doesn't realize she has. That should've been cut from the book.

@ashes3622

3 жыл бұрын

@@JessOwens I see where you're coming from for sure, but I don't mean modern as in the current time with cars. I mean modern as in this is the current harmful stereotype this world has. It's a tad to obvious to be something internalized she didn't notice, imo. It was put there purposefully as commentary. Novik has always tried to educate herself on these matters, so I find it hard to believe that she wouldn't catch her own prejudice if that was the case. I guess we have no way to know for sure, and I definitely am biased because she is my favorite author. I literally drove 10 hours in one day to get my books signed by her. But she struck me as such a genuinely nice person tbh. She went out of her way to read us an unpublished short story with a sapphic couple at the center. And the way she spoke about other things came out as educated and thoughtful. I just really have this faith that she wouldn't publish something so obviously harmful unless it was purposefully commenting on it being harmful/part of the society. I'll for sure be keeping an eye out on her future books for evidence that may go against what I feel, but I'm desperate to hope this won't be another JKR.

@AlsadiqZ

3 жыл бұрын

Hi I’m actually glad I found a Novik proponent here because I’d like to see your perspective since this passage makes no sense to me So I’d appreciate it if you can help me understand what is meant by: 1- “modern Arabic”?? 2- the whole passage, and if there is any supposed commentary I’m just ?????? Appreciate your help!

@Primenumber19

2 жыл бұрын

@@JessOwens the way it’s framed in the context of the book made it made total sense. The issue you an everyone seems to have missed is the blatantly ableist line in the book. Even so I liked it fine.

You are very good at reviewing books! Also, beautiful plant!

@JessOwens

3 жыл бұрын

Oh thank you !! I’m very proud of Curtis ☺️

Completely agree with absolutely EVERYTHING. You couldn't be more precise and to the point. Was really pumped about this book and ended up being a huge flop for me, or more politely not quite my cup of tea. I went through the entire book in about 2 days just because I was running through pages waiting for something I can get hooked on (which never happened). Oh well...

@JessOwens

3 жыл бұрын

I AM SO UPSET STILL! This premise is so awesome and she did not execute it well at all!

When you read the part about the Arabic worksheet, I had to actually pause and say "What?!" 😐BIG YIKES is right! I'm glad you did this review. Now I know I won't need to rush to read it and miss out on any fun 😆

@JessOwens

3 жыл бұрын

I just can’t find anyway to justify that part

@TKDDLJ09

3 жыл бұрын

im usually pretty stupid and ignorant when it comes to racist undertones, simply because i believe the best in people. but when that passage came up I also had to pause the video because 😐 That was not subtle AT ALL!!! BIG YIKES is correct.

@kim-hendrikmerk4163

Жыл бұрын

@@JessOwens she knew is would be Arabic because she just started reading a book in old Arabic. Old Arabic does not have cars. She has an affinity for mass murder. So her getting an Arabic worksheet with someone running people over is totally reasonable with the context that the school loves giving her murder spells and whispers about violent death and destruction to her.

Interesting. So I don't usually watch or read book reviews just out of principle, but apparently KZread has access to my Audible and recommended your videos to me as soon as I finished listening to the book several months later. While I agree with most of your points about info dumping (especially towards the beginning of the book), I think the Audiobook just gives it a different feel to it. I must have listened to the version after the deleted the part about the dreadlocks because I don't remember it, but the part about Arabic was still there. I agree with a lot of people in the comments that I think the author's intent was to convey that the mc recognized Arabic and assumed Modern Arabic because of the car. The phrasing by the author was very poorly thought out and so easily misconstrued that when I heard you read it, I also gave a big "Oof." But I think listening to the audiobook gave me a more positive perspective on it, largely because the VA put a lot of emphasis on the word "car" and then read the part about mowing down pedestrians in a quick, sarcastic, and dismissive tone to give the impression "Violence is just so common from all my assignments that I'm not phased anymore, and the only really interesting part is that there's a car so I can discern the era." The line even made me chuckle a little bit when I first heard it because as someone studying linguistics I kind of get that mentality of "Yeah yeah, his reign shall last a thousand years or whatever, but why is this written in such a weird dialect?" If I had read the book, maybe I would've been less understanding, and I probably would've had to have reread the sentence at least a few times to make sure that I understood it because of its poor wording. And if I had a Twitter account or heard someone bring up this line, I might have given an incredibly uncharitable interpretation of the line. I think it just goes to show that when you have someone like an actor or reviewer intercepting the text and interpreting it for you, the results can be very different and color your experience. edit: Also I am an international student in a pretty tight-nit international community, and I just really felt the whole introducing someone by their name, nationality, and study interests. It felt very real and familiar.

Wow, that is disappointing. Naomi Novik is one of my favorite authors (though she does tend to have problems with pacing and infodumps. Less so in Temeraire series, because it is a looooong series and it allows her to spread the infodumps evenly). Also surprised at the bits that lack racial awareness, because again, Temeraire handled it much better

@JessOwens

3 жыл бұрын

It’s shocking to be because she’s a seasoned writer. Idk that she did it on purpose but adding in things after a sensitivity read and edits seemed like a bad idea

I enjoyed your review. Very entertaining and I feel like you were very fair.

@JessOwens

3 жыл бұрын

Thank you ! I try to be

I decided a long time ago that Naomi Novik’s stuff is just Not For Me, and almost all of your complaints here are exactly why (and I’ve always felt very alone in that lol): she infodumps like whoa, her stuff relies waaaay to much on prose and not enough on characters and character development, and her stories are always slow AF without a lot of cause to be. So given all that, I haven’t read this (and don’t intend to), but I really appreciated your perspective. It sounds like this one suffers a lot from how the publisher positioned it (how is this adult??? $28?!) on top of the issues from the writing and the plot development.

I wasn’t going to read it based on the controversy but this review has shown that I didn’t need to waste my time not money on this based on the writing. Great review 🙌🏾

@JessOwens

3 жыл бұрын

Thank you 😆

This is a book that I didn’t even hear about until the controversy hit, and it’s also not one that trips any of my “must read” triggers, so I’m giving it a pass. I’ve been looking forward to hearing your thoughts on it though. Of your three examples, I hadn’t heard the Arabic one either. I’m a white woman, so I can’t weigh in too heavily on this, but the thing that gets me on that example is there’s no plausible deniability. The other two the author can make excuses for and at least TRY to side step the racism accusations. I have NO CLUE what her defense of that Arabic bit could possibly be. More importantly, congrats on 2k! I just noticed and you totally deserve it!

@JessOwens

3 жыл бұрын

I feel the same about the issues with the book. The statement around the Arabic is just wrong to me and I don't know why she had to add in driving into a group of pedestrians instead of just leaving it as a person in a car. and THANK YOU!

You’re good at reviewing. Please do more. Love to know what you think about sci-fi. Perhaps something by Octavia Butler or Rivers Solomon.

@JessOwens

3 жыл бұрын

Thank you ! I want to read both of those authors soon !

Thank you for sharing. I have a quick question: do you have a different adult dark academia book that you would recommend?

When I read the synopsis of Novik books, I get so excited... then always end up getting disappointed by the execution.

@JessOwens

3 жыл бұрын

😭😭 I’m not sure if I’ll try her other books or not

@ingridschmitt4391

3 жыл бұрын

I didn't read this one and now feel no desire to, but I loved her Temeraire series with a passion - read the German translation though, so I can't comment on the prose. I was also a few years younger - they didn't seem racist to me at the time, but I've become a lot more aware in the past few years and I might have missed things back then. I really hope not, because they are still a favourite - I just love those characters so much!

It is kinda explained why she isnt liked from the start.. one of El's friends says that she feels like rain.. so its basically the vibe she gives off.. or something.. i do wish this was touched on more in the book.. it was a very slow read for a start then it seemed rushed after

@JessOwens

3 жыл бұрын

I do remember that now that you mention it. It just had so much potential ..

I'm two hours into the audiobook... great so the info dump is the whole thing.... awesome... Naomi Novik is a great author and I loved her other books like uprooted and spinning silver. This one is BAD, and not for the reasons people are tweeting about. It surprised me when you said this was under Adult, it's 100% YA and teen angst!

@JessOwens

3 жыл бұрын

10000% YA. Did you finish? Did it get better to you ?

@Panda_Roll

3 жыл бұрын

@@JessOwens I stop around midway when the "Dubai coven" and "this must be modren arabic" came in... I'm an arab and ironically from Dubai. It felt like someone was using me like a prop with surface level knowledge. To me the book just got worse as it went, EL's personality just got worse and because there is zero dialogue the book in nothing but exposition dumps intruded by a mini battle here and there. Thankfully I got the audiobook so I refunded it, I'd feel bad about listening to the whole thing just to say "nope, hate it, I want my money back" but this one... this was broken, I'm not supporting an author that goes out of her way to insult my entire race wholesale!

I didn't really get why there were no teachers in there either, other than they have to keep the school sealed to keep the monsters out, but obviously that doesn't really work since the school is full of monsters anyway. I think it was mostly just an excuse to keep from having to develop those characters. Overall, I thought the book had potential to be so much better than it was. I actually like El as a character, and the concept of a magic school full of monsters is great. It's so frustrating, because she could have easily shown the monsters attacking students instead of just telling us about them. Definitely not her best work.

@JessOwens

3 жыл бұрын

Yesss, so much potential. I love the concept ! And teachers would have added to the story

Your opinions have never been wrong before & we read kinda similar, so the fact that I already bought this book 🙃

@JessOwens

3 жыл бұрын

👀👀👀👀 ok but read it though and we can discuss

So, it's basically Ninth House 2.0.

@JessOwens

3 жыл бұрын

That's a fair statement 😆

Hi, quick question where is the bit about the lock leeches? I read this book twice and I can't find it in my copy.

I'm so glad that I clicked on this video when YT recommende it to me! This review was very helpful to decide for me if I want to read it (I finally decided I don't now). Thank you for sharing it with us! :D

@JessOwens

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks for watching !! Glad I could help 💜

Haven't read this book, have no intention to but I am subscribing to you! I really loved this video and the way you spoke and such ☺️

@JessOwens

3 жыл бұрын

Oh thank you 🥰

"That's it" at 21:24 had me laughing 😂😂😂😂

@JessOwens

3 жыл бұрын

😆😆

Sad to hear about this. I've read Uprooted and Spinning Silver and gave both five stars, but it seems this one is a no 😬 I don't know if you've read the Morrigan Crow series but you'd LOVE it! It's middle grade but it's so good!!

@JessOwens

3 жыл бұрын

I have not but I will look it up, I want to read more middle grade! I may still give her other books a chance

@BEATRIIIZOLAAA

3 жыл бұрын

@@JessOwens It's one of the best series I've read, very imaginative and never boring. And it has the school setting you were craving.

Thanks for the review! The book sounds somehow unfinished. I will gladly pass. Regarding the Arabic worksheet passage, is there further context at all? It sounds .. weird to say the least.

@JessOwens

3 жыл бұрын

Some people say that because her affinity is mass destruction that’s why she got that worksheet with the cartoon. She’s learning Arabic because of a book she got out of the library. But I don’t think there’s any further context for why the author decided to add in that the person in the car was driving into a crowd of people 🤷🏾‍♀️

@AlsadiqZ

3 жыл бұрын

@@JessOwens thanks for the response! In a world of monsters and magic, her idea of mass destruction was running ppl over by car? ok lol For my sake, I’ll also purposely disregard whatever she thinks “modern Arabic” is

It’s an excellent, entertaining book for smart people.

I just have to say the scream in the background after you read the Arabic text thing was perfectly timed.

Congratulations on 2k subscribers

@JessOwens

3 жыл бұрын

thank you !!

I totally agree with much of what you said here- but just one point of dissent. I think it's explained quite clearly why no one likes her.... the references numerous times that people see evil when they look into her eyes. she's naturally gifted to be like, this horrible murderous witch and other magic people can sense it when they look at her for more than two seconds. that's why no one likes her. that's why her grandma made that prophecy within 2 minutes of meeting her that made her grandpa try to steal her. am I wrong? I thought that was pretty clear. and also I assumed that's why she was bitchy- cuz no one likes her so why not just give up the whole "nice" thing.

This was a fantastic review and my goodness I’m glad I saw it before picking this book up, yikes! 😬

@JessOwens

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks ! It had such potential .. maybe the next book will be better ??

I still haven't touched my ARC because I'm having a reading slump. However! I did try a chapter a few weeks ago, and it literally took me 3 hours to finish ONE chapter just because the info-dumping was too much for me. I couldn't focus. I'll still eventually pick it up again and give it another go. But I'm wary now because I've heard rumors that A Deadly Education is repurposed Drarry (Draco x Harry) fanfiction that's essentially been straight-washed. El is Draco. I don't know if there's evidence backing that, but oof, I'm wary.

@JessOwens

3 жыл бұрын

YES, THE CHAPTERS TOOK FOREVER TO READ 😫😫. Omg, I had not heard that it was Drarry fanfic

"NAOMI WHAT THE FUCK" made me laugh so damn hard 🤣🤌🏽 Bc this was me after I endured the trauma of reading Verity 💀🤣

Man the passion in how much you don’t like this book has definitely convinced me not to get this book. Thanks for saving me time and money! Great review!

@JessOwens

3 жыл бұрын

🤣🤣🤣🤣

it's actually going to be a trilogy

@JessOwens

3 жыл бұрын

That gives her more time to get better 😂

@jordanreadsalot

3 жыл бұрын

@@JessOwens i'm reading it right now and I almost want to DNF it cause I can't take the main character

@JessOwens

3 жыл бұрын

She’s AWFUL 😫

i've watched a few videos on this book since i can't decide whether or not i want to read it, and yours is the first where that Arabic worksheet is mentioned...know she's planning to remove the dreadlocks line from future editions, but she should absolutely cut that bit with the car too.

i heard a lot of hype for this book (or it might've just gotten promoted to shit) so this was super interesting. thanks! also neither here nor there, i'm so sorry i haven't been commenting. i don't remember if i told you but i got a puppy a month ago and she's been demanding all of my attention and i'm just rehabilitating her and socializing her LOOOL so i haven't been online much at all~ i might just have to have your videos running, but i can't comment as often (i feel sooo bad) x_x i am so sorry~ thanks for keep up the content!

@JessOwens

3 жыл бұрын

Do not be sorry! Thank you for watching and commenting when you can 🤗🤗 yay puppy ! What kind ? What’s her name !?

@heyimsasa

3 жыл бұрын

@@JessOwens haha thank you 😊 we don't really know the breed. on the adoption listing, she was listed as a "shepherd mix" but when we look at her, she actually looks like an american pit bull terrier mixed with a little shepherd so 🤷🏻‍♀️ LOOOL we'll have to see when she grows older.

The Arabic comment did it for me. Any interest I had went out the window.

I've listened to the trilogy 4 times now and I absolutely love the books. I can see the info dumb point I suppose though I found it really interesting it's possible the narrator carried it for me maybe? The book has a very interesting humor that may be lost on people who don't get it because of how they read it. Like reading a line in your head fast without the the sarcastic attitude and just moving on to the next line in other spots the need the comedic pause. Also she knew the book was Arabic because of the rules of the school. The book had terrible things in it because of her problematic affinity and the car meant it was modern, because cars are a modern thing. I think you may change your mind if you tried the audio books. If you like audio books that is. I can't get enough of them because I drive crazy amounts. Some weeks audio books are my only possible entertainment.

Hey there I Just came across your Account because i was looking for a book Review. Love your voice and Video. Greetings from Germany

I am also soo Bad at Reviews, even my Reviews in my mother tongue Sometimes aren't very eloquent😂

@JessOwens

3 жыл бұрын

reviews are hard 😂😂

I came to this video because I am 140 pages into the book and don't find any motivation to continue; I don't care about anything on it 🙈 Thank you for this; I now can DNF it feeling good about it 😅

I mean...Arabic script is recognizable. The same was Cyrillic is, or Chinese characters, or the Korean alphabet, or Hiragana... You can ostensibly say you recognise the writing as Arabic. And that a cartoon of a car next to the writing clues you in it's a more modern worksheet. The cartoon itself is not a good look tho. I think the sentence should have been axed regardless.

@JessOwens

3 жыл бұрын

I totally get Arabic script is very recognizable. The part that gets me is the man in the car driving into pedestrians. Why add that??

@whywherewhenhow

3 жыл бұрын

@@JessOwens i agree. If anything it just casts her other blunders (that could have been attributed to context) in a much worse light.

@gizmofox5995

3 жыл бұрын

I think this is another thing that can kind of be explained with a little more context. She spends a lot of time talking about how the school assigns work suited to each student's affinity. Because El's affinity is for mass destruction/world domination her assignments tend be geared toward violence and destruction. I got the sense that this was just another instance of the school trying to steer her in that direction, rather than the author trying to stereotype.

Thank the gods I'm not the only one who didn't enjoy this - agree with you on all points! I've found it really difficult to get into Novik's work :/ SOOOOoooooo glad I DNFed this one

It’s the fact that the the pedestrians get run over and that the Arabic worksheet was “predictably” given to her. Like it sounds like she was hinting at the main girl facing racism without actually calling it racism. Cause if there is no reason why people hate her then???

Gosh, I thought I was the only one struggling with the writing style. The excessive use of em dashes were so distracting and the british slangs didn't help at all. LOL

@JessOwens

3 жыл бұрын

It was a serious struggle

i really loved the book :( cant wait for the last graduate!

@TLex-em5bh

3 жыл бұрын

Same

I was personally never interested in reading A Deadly Education but it was on my radar because my sister was very excited about it. I knew there were controversies when the book came out but I never got the full story beyond the hair thing. After watching your Book CommuniTEA video and this one I think the only problem I'd have is with the Arabic part. The dreadlocks comment is also kind of sketch, but it sounds like Naomi Novik edited that part so at least there's that. I completely get you on books that are super boring but then their final few pages make you want to read the next book. I had A LOT of those in 2020. When that happens I usually just skim the beginning of the next book so I can see if the ending was just a fluke. If it seems like it'll actually be good then I'll give it my full attention. If not then I won't waste my time.

@MarysiaKosowski

3 жыл бұрын

She did edit the hair part (it wasn't in my library copy) and she issued a sincere, heartfelt apology on her website. I think she genuinely messed up, didn't think that one through, and then apologized for it when it was brought to her attention, so I'm willing to give her the benefit of the doubt and say she's not a racist, nor did she write that hair passage with malicious intent. The Arabic thing really bothered me though, and I can't think of any good reason why she would write such a thing. This after the beautiful way she examined prejudice and antisemitism in Spinning Silver. The blatant Arab slur just baffles me.

Speed read up to around 60 pages and decided to look on KZread for other people’s opinions and I already agree with you. Thank you for giving me the reassurance to stop reading it! 😂

@JessOwens

3 жыл бұрын

LOL!! It just wasn't it. The premise was so promising and she dropped the ball

This is the first book review I've enjoyed in a long time! I was put off from reading it because I saw a lot of people on Twitter and Goodreads were accusing the author of being racist in the book, but I didn't delve too deep into it. Now I REALLY don't want to read this book.

@JessOwens

3 жыл бұрын

Thank you ! It was such a disappointment

THANK YOU! For this honest review of this tedious book. I only endured listening (library Audible loan) to the first four chapters patiently waiting for a plot to develop...then I came upon your vid discussing this book...All I can say is, “ Thank goodness I didn’t buy this book!

@JessOwens

3 жыл бұрын

Yesss- I’ve done my job 😂😂😂 it was soooo blah and boring

You hit the nail right on the head. I was sitting here watching this video yelling, “Yes! Exactly!”. I’m just baffled that it has 51.5k ratings on GR and still has an average of 4.03. Did we read the same book, people? Also (*Spoiler*) you mean to tell me that a bunch of misfit kids who’ve only known each other for 48 hours managed to fix a broken part of the school in an hour that full fledged adult wizards have been unsuccessful in fixing for generations? You expect me to believe that, Naomi? *shakes head…

Great review! its a shame bc i really enjoyed uprooted and spinning silver but i dont think this book is my vibe tbh, the main reason is probably because i can handle a slow book with minimal plot IF its really focused on characters and worldbuilding (not just in infodumps) but if i dont get that at least then im not sure ill be interested. its wild bc i feel like this book had the potential to be really interesting

@JessOwens

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks!! I think in the future, I may still give her other books a try. But to not have a plot or good characters?!?!?! NO THANK YOU