last graduate

Part two of the Scholomance Trilogy is called The Last Graduate. Naomi Novik is pretty well practiced at multi-novel story arcs, she has a series called Temeraire, that has 10 books in it. You can find more about that, and Naomi Novik, as well as some kind of web interactive trip to the Scholomance on her website.

I had to wait for this book at the library as it was reserved by someone else, but I banged out a few others while I waited, but now that this one is done, I've started on the third book, as I bought a surplus copy at my library's book sale. Unlike a lot of middle books in trilogies, The Last Graduate is really the second part of a longer story, and it really does pick up right where the first book left off. And sneak peek: the same is true between the second and the third. I'm not sure if these books would read so well if taken alone, or out of order, but then, I don't think any writer assumes that will be the case, and any subtle summarizing of the earlier book is probably done to catch up those who have had to wait a year, or however long its been, since the earlier book was published.

Book two develops the main characters in more detail, and we watch them grow in this book from the juniors they were in Book one, to the seniors they are now, getting ready to graduate from the Scholomance. This story took some turns I wasn't expecting, but I guess that is the plan. I don't normally spend any time while reading trying to work out the ending, but in some cases I'm not surprised, and in others, I am. This was one of the latter type, which is always fun. Novik does a pretty good job of convincing you of one thing, along with the protagonists, only to then change your mind, and win you over about something you didn't think you'd ever change your mind about, taking you on the same journey as the characters. That's tough to do, and can sometimes seems clunky. The worse of which is just the explainer, whether to a supporting character, or even worse, in inner dialog.

I reserved judgement on this when i wrote about the first one, because I wasn't sure where this was going to go, but I'm going assume the third book is going finish this story up nicely, and say Read this Book.

 

On a side note, this series has the backbone that I think people look for in a movie premise, or more likely a TV series. I can imagine something with a fair amount of production value that might be pretty good on the small screen. Diverse cast, international scope, and enough intrigue to pull in various types of viewers.