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The Last Graduate
The Last Graduate
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The Last Graduate is a 2021 fantasy novel written by American author Naomi Novik following Galadriel "El" Higgins, a half-Welsh, half-Indian sorceress, who must survive to graduation while controlling her destructive abilities at the fabled school of black magic, the Scholomance. It was published by Del Rey on September 28, 2021 and is the second book of The Scholomance Trilogy. The first of the series, A Deadly Education, was released on September 29, 2020.

Key Information

Although written for adults, The Last Graduate won the 2022 Lodestar Award, awarded by the World Science Fiction Convention for the best young adult science fiction or fantasy book of the past year.[1]

Plot

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Following the events of A Deadly Education, El and her friends begin their senior year. The student body is troubled to learn from incoming freshmen that Bangkok enclave vanished mysteriously, along with everyone inside at the time. No one has taken responsibility, but the wizard community is on high alert, and a war between enclaves may be brewing.

Meanwhile, El is faintly outraged to discover that she has been assigned a punishingly difficult courseload and, strangely, put into a homeroom with eight freshmen. On her first day with them, they are attacked by a mal in the classroom. To her own surprise, El is unwilling to abandon the younger students and kills the mal with mana she had been saving for graduation. Over the weeks that follow, El and the eight freshmen are relentlessly targeted by mal attacks which El fights off.

El finds her supplies of mana dwindling and reluctantly asks for help from Chloe Rasmussen, a girl from the New York enclave. El believes Chloe will grant her access to the New Yorkers’ pool of shared mana because of El’s nebulous involvement with Orion, who is the son of a prominent New York sorceress. Chloe obliges, but also startles El by asking to join her alliance with Aadhya and Liu - a request which Chloe would only make if she genuinely believed it would help her survive graduation. As the end of term draws nearer, El becomes close with not only Chloe, but also members of other alliances as they exchange favours and cooperate to help one another. Meanwhile, El and Orion’s mutual attraction continues to develop. Orion invites her to join him and his friends in New York enclave, but El refuses, as she has other plans.

Modern enclaves require massive amounts of mana, not only to build, but to buy the spells from established enclaves. However, during her junior year, El stumbled across a spellbook, known as the Golden Stone Sutras, that was previously believed lost. The sutras provide instructions for creating smaller but still secure spaces that can be constructed by just one wizard for much less mana, as long as that wizard is sufficiently powerful. El intends to travel the world, setting up Golden Stone enclaves; Orion agrees to go with her, provided they survive graduation.

Typically during the latter half of the school year, seniors prepare for graduation in a series of obstacle courses, created weekly in the gymnasium by the school. This year, however, the gym runs rapidly become so difficult that only El, with her arsenal of destructive spells, and Orion, who takes mana from killing mals, can get through them. El realizes that just as she could not abandon “her” freshmen, she will not be able to let any members of her year die. However, even her and Orion’s powers will not be enough; all the seniors will have to cooperate. Her classmates are eventually won over to her cause, and they all begin training together.

Just as El is convinced of this plan, she has a chance encounter with Sudarat, a girl from her homeroom group. Sudarat does not believe that she herself will survive graduation and is resigned to dying without ever seeing the outside world again. El realizes that even if she saves everyone in her graduating class, the current underclassmen - and all subsequent generations of students - will still be at risk and go on dying. She rails at the school itself, whereupon a maintenance hatch pops open on the wall of her study room. She climbs down it to the graduation hall, where she discovers that the repairs to the cleansing machinery were effective and there are no mals left there. She then has the epiphany that the Scholomance has been leading her to all year. She was meant to learn to care for people other than herself - first her allies, then her year-mates, then everyone in the school - and save them. The Scholomance was built to shelter and protect the wizard children of the world. The current system was the best it could do - until El and Orion arrived, with their unique powers.

The students determine that it would not be feasible to repair the cleansing machinery every year, so another plan is needed. Liu suggests that they “send the mals to school” - rather than make the Scholomance safer by keeping more maleficaria out, the wizards should improve conditions in the outside world by devastating the creatures’ population in a single blow. On graduation day, all the students enter the hall together. El and her friends cast a powerful luring spell, causing mals to pour into the school through the portals that open to allow students to return home. Meanwhile, Orion and the other students protect one another as they queue for their exits. Once the Scholomance is full of mals and all the other pupils have departed, El is meant to jump out of her portal and trigger a spell of enormous destruction, severing the school’s link with reality. However, when the only two left are El and Orion, the pair are attacked by an enormous maw-mouth that they cannot fight off. Orion tells El he loves her, and pushes her out of the portal.

Reception

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Tasha Robinson of the Polygon wrote about the books "All her novels are compelling and immersive, and they all reimagine existing history and folklore in strikingly new ways. The Scholomance books were partly inspired by a pair of Eastern European legends about a school of magic where Satan claims the soul of the last graduate to leave."[2]

The book received mostly positive reviews. Elizabeth Tabler of the Grimdark Magazine praised the book, calling it "mind-blowing and fantastic" and that she "went clamoring for more".[3] Lacy Baugher of the Culturess called it "one of the best fantasy series out there right now".[4]

On the other side, Kirkus Reviews pointed out that The Last Graduate doesn't recount what had happened in the first book of the series, and doesn't introduce the narrator (Galadriel, the main protagonist), and that some readers can be puzzled if they forgot it.[5]

References

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Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia
from Grokipedia
The Last Graduate is a fantasy novel by American author , serving as the second installment in the Scholomance trilogy. The book follows protagonist Galadriel "El" Higgins, a half-Welsh, half-Indian sorceress with an affinity for destructive dark magic, as she enters her senior year at the —a hidden, void-like magical school that sustains itself by trapping and feeding on deadly creatures called maleficaria, while endangering its students. With graduation approaching, El must lead efforts to protect her peers during the perilous exit ritual, where only a fraction of students historically survive, all while resisting her prophesied role as a world-ending maleficer and navigating complex relationships, including her alliance with fellow student Orion Lake. Published by Del Rey, an imprint of , on September 28, 2021, the hardcover edition spans 388 pages and carries ISBN 978-0593128862. It debuted as a New York Times bestseller and received widespread acclaim for its inventive world-building, sharp first-person narration, and subversion of fantasy tropes. The novel won the 2022 Lodestar Award for Best Book from the World Science Fiction Society, despite being marketed to adults, and was nominated for the 2022 for Best Fantasy Novel as well as the 2021 Choice Award in the Fantasy category. Novik, known for her Temeraire series and standalone novel Uprooted, draws on her interest in fairy tales and alternate histories to craft the Scholomance's lore, where magic requires mana drawn from personal relationships or enclaves—protected magical communities. The book expands on themes from the trilogy's opener, A Deadly Education (2020), emphasizing survival, inequality in the magical world, and the cost of power, while building toward the conclusion in The Golden Enclaves (2022).

Background

Author

Naomi Novik is an American author of speculative fiction, born on April 30, 1973, in to a family of Polish immigrants. Raised on Polish fairy tales featuring figures like alongside the works of , she has incorporated elements of folklore and historical reimagination throughout her career. Novik studied English literature at , earning a bachelor's degree, and pursued graduate work in computer science at before entering the software industry, where she contributed to commercial and open-source projects, including video games and graphic novels. She is a founding member of the and co-creator of the , a nonprofit fanfiction platform. Novik first achieved recognition with her Temeraire series (2006–2016), a nine-volume alternate history of the Napoleonic Wars in which dragons serve as aerial combatants integrated into military forces. The series blends historical events with fantasy elements, drawing on her interest in reinterpreting real-world history through speculative lenses. Following its conclusion, she published the standalone novel Uprooted in 2015, a fairy tale-inspired story rooted in Polish folklore that won the Nebula Award for Best Novel. Her 2018 novel Spinning Silver, a reworking of the Rumpelstiltskin legend also influenced by Eastern European traditions, earned the Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel. In transitioning to young adult fantasy, Novik drew on her longstanding engagement with to subvert conventional magic school narratives in the series, beginning with in 2020. The series' emphasizes ethical considerations and inherent costs—such as energy expenditure and —echoing themes in folk traditions where power exacts a personal toll. Her early career in and involvement in online creative communities informed the series' structured approach to spellcasting, treating incantations as precise, language-specific constructs akin to programming logic. The series represents Novik's ongoing exploration of .

Series context

The Scholomance trilogy, authored by Naomi Novik, is set in a richly imagined world of modern wizardry where young mages attend a secretive, isolated institution known as the Scholomance to hone their skills against existential threats. This school, located in a void outside the normal world, serves as a brutal training ground devoid of teachers, guardians, or conventional safety measures, designed specifically to prepare students for survival in a reality overrun by maleficaria—soul-devouring monsters that feed on mana, the essential energy source for all magic. The curriculum relies on self-directed study through communal libraries and incantations, with the environment itself shifting unpredictably to simulate real-world perils; graduation requires navigating a lethal exodus through a gauntlet of these creatures, where only a fraction of students historically succeed. The magic system underpinning this universe distinguishes between mana, generated through personal effort such as physical exercise or focused activities, and malia, a corrupt alternative derived from siphoning life force from other beings, which offers quick power but risks moral decay and physical tolls. Wizard society is stratified by access to enclaves—fortified, extradimensional communities maintained by collective mana-sharing pacts that provide protection from maleficaria and communal resources—contrasted against independent (indie) wizards who lack such support and face higher mortality rates. Global wizardry reflects , with affinities and spellcasting styles varying by heritage, such as incantations in native languages or region-specific mana practices, underscoring a interconnected yet unequal international network. The first installment, (2020), introduces protagonist "El" Higgins during her junior year at the , a British-Indian-Welsh teenager burdened with a rare affinity for destructive magic that marks her as a potential maleficar, while she forms an unlikely with classmate Orion Lake and begins questioning the enclave system's privileges. The trilogy's overarching arc centers on El's evolution amid efforts to challenge and reform the entrenched inequalities of wizard society, where enclaves hoard resources at the expense of indies and non-Western mages. The Last Graduate (2021) advances this narrative into El's senior year, escalating the stakes of institutional survival and interpersonal alliances as tensions build toward the concluding volume, The Golden Enclaves (2022), which confronts broader societal upheavals. Distinctive to the series is its first-person narration from El's viewpoint, characterized by a sharp, sarcastic voice that blends wry humor with biting social commentary, immersing readers in her cynical worldview while unpacking the mechanics of magic and privilege from an outsider's lens. Themes of systemic inequity, such as the enclave-indie divide and cultural biases in magical access, are woven into the foundational setup, providing a critical lens on power structures that permeates the entire trilogy without relying on overt didacticism.

Publication

Development

The Last Graduate was conceived as the direct sequel to , the first book in the trilogy, which Del Rey announced in February 2020 as an epic three-book series set in a deadly magical . The trilogy's structure emerged after Novik completed the initial draft of , as she initially aimed for a standalone story but found the narrative's rhythm—tied to the school's annual cycle—required multiple volumes to fully unfold. Novik adopted a discovery writing style for the series, allowing key plot elements like character relationships and world mechanics to develop organically rather than from a rigid pre-planned outline, which helped build momentum following the first book's release in September 2020. The novel's writing process took place during the , spanning late 2020 to early 2021, with Novik completing the first draft relatively quickly to sustain the series' pace amid the first book's positive reception. This period influenced the emphasis on themes of isolation within the self-contained and the formation of communal alliances among students, mirroring broader societal experiences of separation and solidarity. Editorial feedback centered on deepening ensemble interactions and enriching the magical world's lore, with revisions refining pacing to prevent a by heightening stakes around graduation while maintaining narrative tension. Pre-publication buildup began with the U.S. cover reveal on October 29, 2020, shared by Novik on social media, featuring a sparkling design that evoked the school's perilous allure. Marketing efforts highlighted protagonist El's personal growth and the high-stakes graduation ritual, positioning the book as a pivotal escalation in the trilogy's exploration of survival and power dynamics.

Release and editions

The Last Graduate was first published in hardcover on September 28, 2021, by Del Rey in the United States and Del Rey (an imprint of Cornerstone) in the , spanning 400 pages (US edition). The novel achieved commercial success, debuting on bestseller list in October 2021. On , it has garnered over 128,000 ratings (as of November 2025), averaging 4.20 out of 5. Multiple formats were released alongside the . The , narrated by Anisha Dadia and running 13 hours and 27 minutes, was issued simultaneously by Books on Tape. An e-book edition followed on the same date via Del Rey. The appeared in the United States on June 28, 2022 (400 pages), in the on May 6, 2022 (388 pages), and in other markets such as in February 2022 (384 pages, as El último graduado by Umbriel). International editions include translations into German (Der letzte Absolvent, published October 11, 2021, by cbj, 507 pages) and Spanish, with additional languages released by 2023 and no major new editions as of 2025. Marketing efforts leveraged the success of the first book in the series, A Deadly Education, through coordinated promotions. Due to the ongoing , the launch featured virtual events, including online discussions hosted by independent bookstores.

Content

Plot summary

The Last Graduate is set during the senior year of "El" Higgins at the , a unique magical isolated from the outside world and constantly under threat from maleficaria, or mals—dangerous manifestations of negative magic that prey on students. As approaches, El and her classmates must prepare for the school's lethal exit ritual, where the void surrounding the institution unleashes hordes of mals upon those attempting to leave, resulting in high mortality rates among seniors. The narrative picks up immediately after the events of , with the school having repaired its malfunctioning systems but now exhibiting an intensified hunger for its students, particularly targeting El due to her exceptional affinity for destructive incantations. El grapples with the limitations of her mana reserves—essential magical energy drawn from personal or communal sources—while resisting her prophesied path toward dark sorcery that could ensure her survival at great cost. To counter these challenges, she forges unlikely alliances across the school's divided factions, including enclave-affiliated students from privileged magical communities and independent ones like herself, navigating complex politics and rivalries to build a collective strategy for graduation. A key discovery involves ancient texts, such as the long-lost Golden Stone Sutras, which offer insights into innovative spellwork that could reshape their escape efforts. Amid these preparations, romantic tensions arise with fellow student Orion Lake, complicating her focus as they collaborate on defending against escalating mal incursions. Major developments include intensive group training runs through the school's treacherous halls, designed to hone combat skills and mana-sharing techniques against simulated and real threats. El's emerges as she rallies peers for an ambitious plan to confront the void en masse during , challenging the traditional every-student-for-themselves dynamic and aiming to maximize rates through coordinated action. These efforts culminate in a high-stakes climax that tests the limits of their alliances and El's resolve, ending on a pivotal twist that reveals profound implications for the magical world and sets up the trilogy's conclusion.

Characters

Galadriel "El" Higgins serves as the , a sarcastic and isolated young wizard with a powerful affinity for destruction, whose heritage blends Indian and Welsh influences. In The Last Graduate, El's arc evolves from self-imposed solitude to reluctant leadership, as she grapples with a foretelling her potential as a dark sorceress while increasingly embracing to protect her peers. Orion Lake, the celebrated "golden boy" of the New York enclave and a prolific slayer of maleficaria, initially embodies heroic invincibility but undergoes significant development revealing his underlying vulnerabilities and emotional dependency on El. This challenges his ingrained , forcing him to confront personal limitations amid the school's escalating dangers. The supporting cast enriches El's journey, including Aadhya, a pragmatic Indian- and skilled artificer who becomes El's steadfast ally in crafting complex spells. Yi Liu, a reserved Chinese wizard capable of controlling soul-eaters, experiences a confidence-building arc that allows her to assert greater independence from her family's expectations. Chloe Rasmussen, a privileged New York enclaver, injects through her entitled yet endearing manipulations, lightening the group's tense dynamics. Throughout the , the ensemble's growth manifests in deepening friendships that coalesce into an "," fostering mutual reliance and strategic preparation for the perils of . This underscores El's influence in transforming instincts into communal resilience.

Analysis

Themes

The critiques privilege and inequality in the wizarding , where powerful enclaves monopolize protective magical structures and resources, perpetuating a system that disadvantages independent wizards from less affluent or non-Western backgrounds. This disparity mirrors real-world classism and , as the protagonist's mixed heritage positions her as an outsider constantly navigating biased power dynamics and odds stacked against non-enclave students. Central to the is the theme of and , which evolves from isolated to interdependent alliances among students, representing shared and mutual support against systemic isolation. These bonds challenge the competitive model of the magical world, emphasizing collective survival over personal gain. The story examines power and responsibility through the ethical dilemmas of magical affinity, contrasting pure mana-based with the corrupting malia drawn from exploitation, and questioning the moral use of destructive abilities in a world demanding heroism. The protagonist's romance with a fellow student subverts traditional hero archetypes, highlighting how personal connections complicate the burdens of immense power. Other motifs include the of as a deterministic force, underscoring agency over fate; diversity in global wizardry, with cultural variations in spell affinities reflecting broader inclusivity.

Style and structure

The Last Graduate employs a voice from the perspective of protagonist "El" Higgins, characterized by her wry, British-inflected sarcasm that blends humor with underlying tension throughout internal monologues. This voice provides an lens on the Scholomance's perils, allowing readers to experience El's sharp and emotional strain in equal measure. The novel's structure follows a continuous progression that mirrors the school's academic terms, escalating from preparatory training sequences to the intense climax, while incorporating info-dumps through in-world lectures and El's explanatory asides. This organization maintains a propulsive momentum despite occasional slowdowns from extended explanations of magical mechanics and threats. World-building is seamlessly woven into the narrative via El's rants and analytical digressions, which detail the magical system's intricacies and the Scholomance's supernatural dynamics, though these moments can border on lengthy infodumps. The story subverts traditional magic school tropes by eschewing a "chosen one" in favor of a gritty, survival-focused depiction of communal school life marked by inequality and makeshift alliances. Pacing balances high-stakes action in maleficaria confrontations with dialogue-driven alliance formation and moments of personal growth, culminating in an abrupt that heightens the tone. This mix underscores themes of collective resilience without overwhelming the reader with exhaustive details.

Reception

Critical response

The Last Graduate received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised its expansion of the world and El's character development while noting some structural shortcomings typical of middle books in a . Reviewers highlighted the novel's sharp on , , and systemic inequities within the wizarding society, portraying the Scholomance's brutal structure as the true "monster" rather than individual threats. Critics lauded El's arc for its mind-blowing progression, as she dismantles rigid rules and embraces her formidable powers, both magical and personal, marking a significant from the isolated of the first book. The ensemble cast saw notable improvement, with El forming deeper alliances and a "found " that emphasized themes of reliance and , enhancing the narrative's emotional depth over its predecessor. World-building expanded through flashbacks to the outside world and revelations about the school's otherworldly origins, adding layers to the global politics of wizardkind undergoing seismic shifts. However, some reviews criticized the lack of a recap for events from , leaving new or lapsed readers disoriented without reintroducing key elements like the narrator or prior plot points. Pacing occasionally bogged down in infodumps about monsters and school mechanics, contributing to middle-book syndrome and underdeveloped aspects of El's romance with Orion, which remained in a tentative "fake-dating" phase without deeper resolution. Notable critiques included Locus Magazine's emphasis on the novel's fast-paced exploration of political upheavals in the wizard world and the value of communal survival strategies. Grimdark Magazine celebrated its dark, snarky tone and seamless chapter flow, positioning it as a standout in fantasy for its thrilling graduation gauntlet. The overall consensus affirmed stronger ensemble dynamics and thematic maturity compared to the debut, though Kirkus faulted it for repeating earlier flaws without sufficient innovation. Reader feedback echoed professional acclaim, with high engagement on platforms like praising the plot twists, diverse representation of international students, and El's empowering journey, contributing to an average rating above 4.2 from over 128,000 reviews.

Awards and nominations

The Last Graduate won the 2022 Lodestar Award for Best Book, presented by the World Science Fiction Society as part of the Hugo Awards ceremony. The novel was nominated for the 2022 Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel, reaching the top ten finalists selected by Locus magazine readers. It also received a nomination in the Fantasy category of the 2021 Goodreads Choice Awards, where it garnered significant reader votes but did not win. The book earned recognition in several year-end best-of lists, including Thrillist's Best Books of 2021 and Polygon's Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Books of 2021. These accolades highlighted its role in elevating Naomi Novik's Scholomance series within her broader career, which includes multiple Locus and Nebula Awards for prior works. As of 2025, The Last Graduate has not received additional major awards following its 2022 honors, though the 2022 completion of the trilogy with The Golden Enclaves has led to retrospective praise for the series' overall impact.

References

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