psocoptera (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
psocoptera) wrote2022-10-21 11:52 pm
psocoptera) wrote2022-10-21 11:52 pm
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The Golden Enclaves
The Golden Enclaves, Naomi Novik, 2022 novel. Conclusion of the Scholomance trilogy (part one, part two). Everything behind a cut.
I was satisfied! I felt like this book did everything it needed to do in terms of reveals and resolutions. I didn't love it as much as I loved the end of the previous one - the climactic scenes didn't have as much power for me as the getting-everybody-out sequence - but then, I *really* loved that, and wasn't really expecting Novik to top it. There were lots of good and memorable moments and scenes - El's trauma at the beginning, the encounter with Orion's mom, Liu in a can (better let her out!). I thought El's mom's explanation for her warning was a little weak, but a friend pointed out that it was probably supposed to hint at Orion-as-mawmouth, which made sense. I thought Liu figuring out how to group-cast the enclave spells was awfully convenient, but I think El having to go be a mawmouth killer instead of the enclave-builder she dreamed of being was an interesting character beat, so I'll excuse it (and if I ever write Scholomance fic, that's what I want to write about). I really liked Liesel and her determination to keep the handy third-level entity from going off the rails long enough to save the world. (So nice to see something other than default-exclusivity/monogamy in YA in particular! That is one way to organize relationships, but not the only way, and I really liked the El/Liesel sex-and-friendship-but-not-romance!) I had seen the enclave-mawmouth link suggested in fic (that one Linsky fic) but I thought the whole worldbuilding around it, with the bricks, and with El's mawmouth kills explaining the lost enclaves, was really well done. I liked that there was some ambiguity around Orion's mom, like, how much was she trying to do something good, in changing the enclave system balance of power? I like that she's still out there at the end and this is presumably just the beginning of a long, long struggle. I had fun seeing the threads of the themes of a bunch of Novik's recent fanfiction. A friend pointed out it'll be Hugo-Series eligible and I am excited because I rarely have anything to nominate for Series and now I do! Yay!
I was satisfied! I felt like this book did everything it needed to do in terms of reveals and resolutions. I didn't love it as much as I loved the end of the previous one - the climactic scenes didn't have as much power for me as the getting-everybody-out sequence - but then, I *really* loved that, and wasn't really expecting Novik to top it. There were lots of good and memorable moments and scenes - El's trauma at the beginning, the encounter with Orion's mom, Liu in a can (better let her out!). I thought El's mom's explanation for her warning was a little weak, but a friend pointed out that it was probably supposed to hint at Orion-as-mawmouth, which made sense. I thought Liu figuring out how to group-cast the enclave spells was awfully convenient, but I think El having to go be a mawmouth killer instead of the enclave-builder she dreamed of being was an interesting character beat, so I'll excuse it (and if I ever write Scholomance fic, that's what I want to write about). I really liked Liesel and her determination to keep the handy third-level entity from going off the rails long enough to save the world. (So nice to see something other than default-exclusivity/monogamy in YA in particular! That is one way to organize relationships, but not the only way, and I really liked the El/Liesel sex-and-friendship-but-not-romance!) I had seen the enclave-mawmouth link suggested in fic (that one Linsky fic) but I thought the whole worldbuilding around it, with the bricks, and with El's mawmouth kills explaining the lost enclaves, was really well done. I liked that there was some ambiguity around Orion's mom, like, how much was she trying to do something good, in changing the enclave system balance of power? I like that she's still out there at the end and this is presumably just the beginning of a long, long struggle. I had fun seeing the threads of the themes of a bunch of Novik's recent fanfiction. A friend pointed out it'll be Hugo-Series eligible and I am excited because I rarely have anything to nominate for Series and now I do! Yay!