Book description
Forget everything you thought you knew about Hogwarts. Naomi Novik's A Deadly Education isn't a school for the magically gifted-it's a high-stakes survival camp where the curriculum is literally written in blood. Set at the Scholomance, where failure means actual death (no retakes, no pass/fail, just a one-way ticket to the afterlife), this book is less Harry Potter and more Lord of the Flies with better wands and a protagonist who'd rather you died than had to share a library table with you. El, our delightfully cynical heroine, isn't here for your platitudes. She's here to survive, and her greatest weapon? A power so devastating it could erase the entire student body with a sneeze. (Spoiler: She's terrified of using it.)
The genius of Novik's worldbuilding lies in its brutal, darkly funny logic. The Scholomance operates on rules so basic they'd make a toddler scoff: Don't walk alone. Don't trust anyone. And for the love of magic, don't accidentally genocide your classmates. There are no teachers, no holidays, and friendships are strictly transactional-like a high-stakes game of Don't Get Eaten By the Monster You Just Made Friends With. El's isolation isn't just plot armor; it's the only sensible strategy when your greatest asset is a magic that could level a city block. And let's be real: if you're spending your days dodging sentient hallway shadows and calculating whether a new classmate is worth the risk of getting eaten, "social anxiety" is the least of your problems.
What elevates this beyond a clever premise is the audiobook delivery. El's voice-sharp, sarcastic, and utterly exhausted-isn't just narrated; it's lived. You hear the exhaustion in her sigh when she realizes another "strategic alliance" just got her chased by a griffin. You feel the tension as she weighs whether to unleash her power, knowing the cost isn't just her life-it's everyone else's. The narrator nails her voice perfectly: a mix of teenage snark and the quiet terror of someone who's seen too many classmates turn into monster snacks. It's like having a brutally honest, slightly unhinged best friend whispering survival tips while the walls try to eat you.
And the humor? It's the kind that cuts. Novik skewers every clichΓ© of magical academia: "No holidays? Obviously. The Scholomance doesn't do 'spring break'-it does 'spring death.'" You'll laugh until you realize the joke is that this is exactly how school feels when your biggest test is whether the monster under your desk is hungry today. The book doesn't just critique school stress-it weaponizes it, turning the dread of finals week into a literal fight for your life. And El? She's not just surviving. She's making the school look like the bad student. Her power isn't a curse; it's the only thing keeping her from being the least interesting thing in a place where everyone's trying to outlive everyone else. By the time you reach the end, you won't just be rooting for El to survive-you'll be checking your own hallway for lurking shadows, wondering if your next coffee break might double as a final exam. And honestly? You'll be glad it's not your school.
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Playing a wide variety of audio formats
Works on all devices with iOS 13 and newer
Huge amount of features for a small price
Frequent updates to add new features and improve existing ones
Advanced playback controls
Live sound processing
Changing the timbre of the reader's voice and noise reduction
Translated into more than 20 languages
If you love listening to fiction audiobooks, ListenBook has features to make the process easier.
Edit book data: title, author, cover
Use equalizer to make the sound comfortable for you
Adjust the playback speed
Enjoy dark and light app themes
Supported formats: MP3, M4B, AWB, FLAC, OGG audio files and many more (must be DRM free)
Auto-Bookmarks make it easy to find your place
AirPlay support allows redirection of audio output.
VoiceOver support
Dark mode for night owls
Convenient bookmarking system helps you mark the most important places.
Unlimited bookmarks for each audiobook
Put your own cover on the wager
Share your audiobook with friends
Lock-screen control
Customise app with extensive options
Sleep timer with shake to reset, set custom notification sounds, and a few unique options
Auto rewind depending on paused time, customize rewind times to your liking
Removing background noise from recordings made in classrooms and meetings
Changing the timbre of the reader's voice for a better listening experience