A Deadly Education: A Novel (The Scholomance Book 1)

A Deadly Education is the first book of the Scholomance trilogy by Naomi Novik, author of Uprooted and Spinning Silver. It was a finalist for the Lodestar Award. The novel follows a young woman at the Scholomance, a school of magic, who is widely expected to become a dark sorceress and cause widespread destruction. She is frustrated by Orion Lake, a popular student who repeatedly saves her life despite her resistance to his help. While others fear her potential for evil and some hope she will fulfill that dark destiny, she is determined to survive the school and escape alive without slaughtering thousands of people—though she is considering making an exception for one person. The story is set within a magical school filled with monsters and cursed artifacts. The narrative explores the tension between the protagonist's expected role as an evil force and her own intentions, as well as her complicated dynamic with Orion Lake. The trilogy continues with The Last Graduate and The Golden Enclaves.