Flash Scholomance read discussion

Hello! Welcome to a flash read! What that means is that this group was created for the specific purpose of reading the Novik trilogy without a lot of lead time. Feel free to introduce yourself. There will be at least two main threads per book, with and without spoilers, but we can certainly add more if people are interested if people want to do deep dives into character, world-building, and so forth.

Hi! I'm Nenia! I'm a book blogger and I collect and showcase vintage romance novels on my Instagram, @alwaysbeebooked. I'm also an advocate for ingredient transparency and food allergy awareness.

Nenia! So glad that you joined. I did not know about your advocacy interests. I love it.

carol. wrote: "Nenia! So glad that you joined. I did not know about your advocacy interests. I love it."

Yes! I have a severe intolerance/sensitivity to GMO corn and a sesame allergy, so I know how important labeling is and how easy it can be to take the safety of one's food for granted if you aren't aware. I'm an influencer for Amazon and one of the ways I rate food and beauty products is by how transparent a brand is with making ingredients accessible to consumers. I've also been lucky enough to get some platforms to talk about allergy friendliness in my workplace, as well. :)

Hi everybody, I'm Beth, also known as a shiny bulb of garlic, a droplet of mercury, or a metal slime, depending.

I live in California with my partner and adult stepchild, and am currently in between cats, having lost a dear elderly companion back in July. We plan to adopt another friend after the holidays.

I love fantasy, manga, 19th century lit, and overthinking things. I'll try not to be overbearing with the deep dives here, but no guarantees....

Hi everyone, I'm Ola. I'm particularly fond of good fantasy, science-fiction, manga and graphic novels, but I also read a lot of non-fiction and military. I'll love any good book ;).

Thanks for the invite, carol.! This might be just the excuse I needed to finally read this trilogy :D

YAY hi y'all! OMG I'm so excited too. I've been putting off reading these books for no good reason. I think the hype intimidated me like Carol said lol

I’m Fred. Math teacher by trade. This is the nudge I needed to start the series.

Hi, all!

I’m Emily, and I’m a librarian in Wisconsin. I just finished Golden Enclaves today, so I’m excited to go back and reread the series. Thanks for inviting me, Carol!

Hello all,

I’m Naomi. I love to read and experience new worlds. I haven’t read Golden Enclaves yet so I’m looking forward to refreshing my memory and discussing the first two books before I delve in!

Also, I’m learning to crochet, so I might listen to the audiobooks if time allows.

Hello, Nataliya here, a fan of the series - so it’s a reread.

California-based SFF reader, and I may finally finish knitting a blanket I started months ago as I reread this series.

Hi everyone,

I'm Karina. Like Naomi I have yet to read Golden Enclaves and this was the perfect push to re-read the first two:) This is my first time doing a group reading.

I’m Paolo. First time group reader. I couldn’t finish the 2nd enclave book the first time around. I am fond of kindhearted sf, fantasy. Novik walks a *very* fine line there with this series…

Hi everyone,

I'm Elena. I'm a voracious reader and I love good scifi and fantasy books, as well as urban fantasy and some horror from time to time. I am not particularly fond of YA and you really have to twist my arm to read a romance, but I am usually there for a good story and fun characters.

Howdy, all! I am not "L", but that's the label I go by on GR. I'm a retired prof, neuroscientist, and mathematician. (The most important word there is "retired" -- I have a lot of time to read.) Very fond of children's and YA books (learned that from my Mom, who taught third grade), also F&SF, also, really, just about anything.

hahaha, Naomi and Nataliya. (view spoiler)[That seems like an appropriate way to earn your mana. 😉 (hide spoiler)]

Welcome Karina and Paolo, to your first ever group read! Nataliya and I tend to be very flexible but fast readers. This group is interesting in that there are a lot of people that have already read it, so usually you just keep the pace you want to set and feel free to share updates as you progress in either the spoiler or non-spoiler thread, depending on what kind of reader and reaction you are seeking.

It helps if you say how far you are when you post by page/chapter/scene or percent.

Elena, I will definitely see if this is one of the YA that makes it past your criteria :)

L, so glad you decided to join in! I found your comments in other threads very interesting!

Hi, I'm Suzyq. I've read all three Scholomance books, with strong (and wildly different) reactions to each volume. I'm joining because I'm curious to see how others have interpreted these books.

Hi Carol, I'm not a big fantasy reader, let alone YA (ergh), and this author is new to me. The inevitable Harry Potter comparisons make me immediately wary. I'm curious why you started this group, sounds like the series struck a real spark?
... And wait, a Murderbot comparison from Nataliya?

Hi all I go by May on GR. I’m midway through the third book now. I’m a big fan of these audiobooks, but I’m glad to have a chance to reread them with my eyeballs and maybe catch some details I missed when I listened to them.

May, glad you joined us!

Gerard, great question--so good, in fact, that I probably should have led with it. It is a series that often sparks a reaction, and the third book is a corker, making me want to revisit it. I was taking part in some really interesting discussions on Nataliya's, Emma's and L's reviews among others and thought, wow, love to collect some of these people in one place and really talk these books out. So here we are :)

Suzyq wrote: "Hi, I'm Suzyq. I've read all three Scholomance books, with strong (and wildly different) reactions to each volume. I'm joining because I'm curious to see how others have interpreted these books."

I'm curious about this. Without spoilers, what made the difference for you?

carol. wrote: "hahaha, Naomi and Nataliya. [spoilers removed]

I completely forgot about that! Good reason to reread! I’ll be starting tomorrow evening or Monday.

carol. wrote: "hahaha, Naomi and Nataliya. [spoilers removed]"

Just following in El’s footsteps 🤷‍♀️

Hi, I'm V.K. Nask (or Nask, or VK, or V).

I love books, and though I call myself a SFF fan, I was really won over on sci fi only recently with Muderbot and the Wayfarer series, and I don't generally read door stopper fantasy, mainly urban fantasy. Fave authors currently include Becky Chambers and Nghi Vo. I will also gush forever about How To Lose the Time War, if given an opening.

Currently cat mom, and hope to get another dog someday. Also just got back into crochet with the lovely fall weather after 15 years.

Looking forward to this group read! Now I need to go get started, because I'm a slow reader...

Thanks for the invite, Carol! I’m Emma, I’m a lawyer and write some, should I say harsh?, reviews. No needlework going on here, but I do have a cat, who is just as opinionated as I am, though as far as I can discover, not about books. I’m not sure I’ll have time to actually re-read the trilogy (too many library books waiting to be read!), but I love it and will try to at least participate in the discussion.

Emma, your reviews are so thoughtful! Love your insight on these books. Glad you decided to jump in!