2.5/5

The whole trilogy was painfully average. The snarky main character; a painful gen z written by a gen x, the most interesting character absent for much of the novel, the rest of the cast being two dimensional, intellectual plot armor for most of the book, the tangential narration style. There was room for a more nuanced take on classism, which was the undercurrent theme of the entire series and yet our snarky galadriel resolves herself to....helping the capitalists??? Sure i guess. You could argue that the theme resolves with "cant get rid of it entirely, can only do our best" which would feel satisfying if El was not so anti-enclave-capitalism the whole time.

Honestly the whole thing was so average, my eyes glazed over until Orion was mentioned. This entire series would have been improved if written from his perspective, he is a painful reminder of the untapped potential.

A glorious concept wasted with mediocre execution.

Oh boy. So this third installment was a very disappointing read. I just reread my reviews for books 1 and 2, and that made it even worse, as those were both 5-star reads for me. I was really excited for book 3, but basically everything I loved about books 1 and 2 was gone in this one. For this review, I’ll cover the major issues I had with this book in an effort to give potential readers an idea of how this differs from books 1 and 2.

Outside World - I loved the school setting in books 1 and 2, and I’d hoped that moving the story outside the school would give more insight into the world Novik created and push the story further. This switch just didn’t work for me though. Instead, there was suddenly too much going, and there was no main setting. The setting in books 1 and 2 was its own character, but the setting in book 3 isn’t even remotely developed.

Exposition and Inner Monologue - There’s way too much in this book, and so much of it is just incredibly boring. Like it’s so boring that it couldn’t even hold my attention, which was not at all what I was expecting. In the first 2 books, there was quite a lot of inner exposition and monologue, but I honestly enjoyed all of it. I wanted to know all about the school, characters, and world, so I was fully engaged regardless of whether there was dialogue or action at all. Unfortunately, in this third book, the majority of this exposition and inner monologue was about stuff or people I just didn’t care about.

Characters - I won’t say much here as I don’t want to get into spoilers, but if you were a big fan of certain characters, just be prepared for the possibility that they may not have much screen time in this one. There were minor characters from the previous books who played larger roles here and honestly some I didn’t even remember who had more time than some major characters from the first 2 books. For example, I hope everyone likes Liesel because she is now a major character.

Portrayal of Sex - Again, I won’t get into specifics, but if we’re talking about portrayal, I think Novik was taking her own experience and putting that perspective into El’s and the other characters’ attitudes towards sex. If I remember correctly, El was a virgin prior to book 2, so realistically, she probably wouldn’t be to the point where she’s hooking up with people purely for physical release or just for the hell of it. That kind of point of view comes with at least a bit more life experience typically! I’m basically talking about motivation here. I think the popular thing is to portray teens as if they’re experienced adults who approach sex more casually and maturely, but realistically that is not often the case. Eighteen-year-olds may be infatuated or looking for validation or a connection or love, but they are rarely (at least in my experience!) mature enough to approach sex in the way Novik depicted. Some reviewers seemed to be bothered by the amount of sex or its existence period. That wasn’t an issue for me at all; it was simply the portrayal and the described motivation that felt off and unrealistic to me.

I feel like there’s a lot more I could say, but I’m going to leave it there. Essentially, it seemed as if Novik decided to make a ton of changes in terms of characters of focus, relationships, setting, and more, and these just didn’t work for me. The worst thing about this book is that it was just so boring, which is absolutely baffling considering my love for the first 2 books, but it’s sadly true for me at least.

I think fans of the series should read this one to finish things out, but I unfortunately can’t recommend it, which is definitely a disappointment.

I absolutely loved the last book and after that finale I couldn't wait to read this one.

However it was too slow due to El describing and explaining absolutely everything and at the same time too much happened too quickly with the plot. There was barley any character development or depth whatsoever. Which made me no longer care about the characters or what was happening, I thought the storyline with Orion was very rushed and ultimately pointless.

The relationship between El and Liesel was out of the blue and didn't seem to serve any purpose to the story. Also the fact that El just went around the world doing whatever she wanted no matter what anyone else thought. It was all just too easy when you think about what El actually gets done and finds out in this book, so much happens with no real depth that I struggled to care at all by the end.

3.75 stars

So, I am surprised as anyone else at my rating for this book. I still really enjoy this series a lot and there were a lot of great things in this one. I don't feel like it flowed as well as the first two. Part of that is because the world is not as structured now that we are out of the Scholomance. Part is also because I spent half the book thinking that Orion was not dead while our heroine kept telling herself and others repeatedly that he was. I also give kudos for the sapphic relationship, but felt like it wasn't done well. El knows that Liesl has her own agenda, but keeps her around because she herself is touch starved and it feels good.Then once Orion is back, El recognizes that she doesn't regret being with her because she is young and logically knows that she should try being with more than just Orion, but then she says that she can only see herself with him. As soon as Orion is out of her sight, she sleeps with Liesl again. I also felt like the confrontation with her grandmother and the prophecy felt very anticlimatic.

Even with these issues, I think this was a solid ending to the series. I habe enjoyed most things I've read by Novik and will look for other books from her in the future.

2.5/5

The whole trilogy was painfully average. The snarky main character; a painful gen z written by a gen x, the most interesting character absent for much of the novel, the rest of the cast being two dimensional, intellectual plot armor for most of the book, the tangential narration style. There was room for a more nuanced take on classism, which was the undercurrent theme of the entire series and yet our snarky galadriel resolves herself to....helping the capitalists??? Sure i guess. You could argue that the theme resolves with "cant get rid of it entirely, can only do our best" which would feel satisfying if El was not so anti-enclave-capitalism the whole time.

Honestly the whole thing was so average, my eyes glazed over until Orion was mentioned. This entire series would have been improved if written from his perspective, he is a painful reminder of the untapped potential.

A glorious concept wasted with mediocre execution.

I thought The Golden Enclaves was a definite step down from The Last Graduate, and honestly, I was really disappointed by it.

The ending of the second book was so strong. It was tense, thrilling, and left me genuinely excited for the finale. But this book felt boring, awkward, and overly convoluted. It kept throwing in twist after twist, trying to seem clever and carefully planned, but a lot of it did not feel earned. While some elements were foreshadowed, much of it felt like it came out of nowhere.

The ending especially felt strange and unconvincing, almost like an afterthought rather than a natural conclusion. I also really disliked the sudden relationship dynamics. The hypersexualisation of El felt unnecessary, and the situation involving El, Liesel, Orion, and Alfie was just bizarre. El sleeping with Liesel felt random and underdeveloped, and the whole setup came across more like forced drama than something meaningful or believable.

Another thing that bothered me was how neatly everything was resolved in the end. Even the people who arguably did not deserve it seemed to get off too easily, and El constantly taking the moral high ground started to feel frustrating. It made her feel less human and more like a saintly figure who always had to rise above everything.

The only real redeeming quality for me was that the story at least wrapped everything up with a clear ending. Even then, I did not find it satisfying.

Overall, I’d give it 2.25