#golden enclaves spoilers

[aridotdash]

Orion at the end of The Golden Enclaves, still able to absorb mals and their mana:

[darlingofdots]

local potential evil witch absolutely outraged to discover that people care about her, more at six

[imissthembutitwasntadisaster]

Obsessed with the way the Scholomance books are like the universe demands balance SIKE the universe seeks salvation

[frociaggine]

Liesel trying to seduce El as part of her agenda of world domination is my favourite Scholomance plot development so far

[sonntam]

I really like how El looks at the London enclave and feels the deep pull and awe at the beauty of it.

To a much lesser degree, it is a lot like going through a beautiful house built in colonial times, looking at a lot of good artisanship and KNOWING where the money came from.

On a somewhat bigger degree, it's like walking through Europe and knowing how unbelievable beautiful, pretty, tidy some towns are and this is a walled garden where some people literally die to get in.

[knight-of-skyloft]

I can't believe Yaakov and Ibrahim invented romance

[lesbiantoaster]

The Golden Enclaves (The Scholomance Book 3) - Spoilers

I've just finished The Scholomance series by Naomi Novik and I need to write my thoughs because I have some opinions XD These are just my thoughs as 20+yo freshly after finishing the series in one go (+listening/reading some opinions on-line). Also english is not my first language so I hope my message won't be lost in traslation.

El is unreliable narrator but she's a great character imo. Yes, she's ulikable, stubborn, 17yo brooding edgelord full of trauma BUT (for me at least) she's an believable on top of all of that. What I mean by that is I can believe that this is what a 17yo girl would sound/think/akt like. That doesn't mean her actions are always right but who doesn't make mistakes (especially when they're a teenager) ? But despite all the trauma she's endured during her stay at the Scholomance as well as before that and loads of self-loathing she's always been a good kid at heart to whom the world/fate has been really unfair. I love her journey throughout the series I truly do even though this journey is just beggining, but that's what's amazing about this character because now evry reader can have their own headcannons about her future. And that's what makes El Higgins one of my favourite characters of all time and makes me love this character!

Orion on the other hand had been made dirty imo. I'm sorry I really wanted to like him but he literally has ZERO personality he's just a depressed mawmouth shaped like a boy who wants to hunt mals and be next to El... It's sad because his whole story is genuinely tragic yet I felt next to nothing while reading it (only after finishing the golden enclaves I've started to think about everything he'd been through...). Also kinda unrelated but WHAT is Orion now? Like is he human enough to idk... get old? Or will he remain a 17yo till the end of Scholomance? On that note if he'll get old like a normal human being then what will happed to Scholomance once he passes away? (I don't expect to ever recive an answer to any of those questions but I am curious about it).

So... what do I think about Orion x El relationship? Well I think it was good for them while they're in Scholomance and (of course) it was crutial for the plot progression. But do I think this has a future? Absolutely not. For the first two book I was authentically rooting for them. They were good for each other and helped each other grow and mature, but reading The Golden Enclaves I couldn't help but play this tiktok sound (the one that goes: "He is not 'the love of your life'! He's literally just a guy. Just hit him with your car!") in my head for most of the Orion-related parts. And while what happened between Orion and El was genuine and beautiful and was working pretty well for the time being but they're teenagers in their first realtionship (that was formed in confined space where death was waiting for them litterally behind every corner and for what they knew they could die in the next 5 minutes, and lets not forget the social structure of small comunity of Scholomance - and while you can find some analogies beteween that to the outer world, they're not the same) and I don't think it'll survive past the point of when their frontal lobe will be fully developed... But I do think they'll remind good friends after that. That's just my opinion!

And that's I'm SO glad that the Liesel x El subplot happened! Some people say it came out of nowhere just to get representation points but I disagree with that sentiment... Don't det me wrong - I didn't saw it comming until the scene in London enclave, but when it happened it cliked for me and everything from The Last Graduate till the end of The Golden Enclaves started making sense... (?) My interpretation of the situation is that El DID notice Liesel in Scholomance and WAS atracted to her (considering that El's our narrator and we only see her version of reality, everything we learn about the world is El's understanging and observations of it - we only know things she considered important enough to describe to the reader AND she considered Liesel to be worthy of describing her multiple times to this degree that we KNOW that during New Year's cleaning El was looking at Liesel's boobs and wasn't complaining about it (she was complaining that Orion wasn't doing the same thing) maybe a the time she wasn't considering herself being attracted to the same sex - it might be because she wasn't quite experienced with social interactions and it was all new to her.. I mean newer than to 'normal' 17yo who's just begining their dating life). The biggest tell for me that El was attracted to Liesel was her reaction when she figured out what Liesel was proposing to her in London. What I also like in golden enclaves is the character development of Liesel herself. Watchin how this prideful, cunning, inteligent and fierce girl starts to care (even deeply) for El and how this relationship catalyzes her own process of healing from all the trauma.

And don't let me get started on thie whole "cheating" discourse... The first time El and Leisel get intimate is when we are sure Orion has been eaten by maw-mouth and the only reason for El to go back to Scholomance is to kill said maw-mouth so Orion along others victims to can die peacefully instead of suffering in eternity. So she's grieving and everyone grieves differently and it's not our place to judge that. The second time on the plane is slightly more complicated but also I wouldn't say it was cheating (I wouldn't even say that El and Orion were dating again at that time... it was more of will-they-wont-they-situationship where Orion specifically asked El to kill him if his mother won't heal him - and we all knew she wouldn't), it was a shitty move tho... Let's remember we're talking about deeply traumatized and mentally fucked-up kids (ok... young adults). I don't condone what El did in that moment but I also try to remember the context of these decisions and I refuse to judge her by my standards (+ I highly doubt that after all of this El never mention to Orion what happened between her and Liesel, just because she didn't do it right away after the events from the book doesn't mean they wouldn't have talked about this - it's just that hiding this information from Orion doesn't sit right with my interpretation of El's character).

El's just a teenage girl who's going through her first love but it doesn't mean she's gonig to close herself from the world just for this boy she met in school (in contrast to her own mother who's the archetype of mourning widow). I just really want to hope that in the case things wouldn't work out between her and Orion it wouldn't be the end of the world for her.

I'd like to believe that what these kids started was a revolution at the core of the rotten magic society and the whole system build on death and suffering, and that the change will come (after some probably long and painful process but IT WILL COME - that's my headcannon and I don't accept any other outcome for my own mental wellbeing XD). But also alongside of the changing/rebuilding world these kids need to heal/grow/change themseves. They've been through some serious shit and need to redefine who they are and find their own place in the new reality. I'd love to read about older versions of our heroes (because I'm 100% sure they won't be the same kids we left at the end of the last book) but I also don't think we'll ever come back to this world to see what happened next with our beloved misfits but I really hope the future will bring more fanfictions, headcannons and other fan-media that will keep this world alive and will allow us to dive in this world once more!

All to all I loved the series! It's not ideal (in many aspects) but overall I've really enjoyed it & sincerely recommend reading it and to shape your own opinion on the matter! Please keep in mind that it's only my interpretation of the series which is based on translation of the books and my personal life experiences and if you disagree with me you are more than welcome to express it (I'd love to see other perspectives) but please don't send hate! Lots of love <3

[myriad--starlings]

ew found someone calling the casual sex plot "like cheating". they literally agreed to see other people sex can be meaningless just say you're a puritan and choke on it <3

[zenosanalytic]

Galadriel Visits London

[morning-moonstruck]

“stay here, please stay, be our shelter, be our home, be loved.”

thanks for punching me in the gut, naomi

[thisblogwasmadeforlurkin]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Scholomance - Naomi Novik Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: Orion Lake Additional Tags: this is not quite major character death but also it kind of is! you know! it's about Orion!, The Golden Enclaves: Lesson Three of The Scholomance Spoilers, The Golden Enclaves: Lesson Three of The Scholomance, Podfic, Podfic & Podficced Works, Podfic Length: 0-10 Minutes Summary:

Podfic of @the-knights-who-say-book‘s "Three Theories on the Continued Existence of Orion Lake".

Original summary:

He is a process. He is an attempt at humanity. He is a thought experiment. (Philosophers hate him!)

He is already dead, and he is staying.

[izartn]

Just finished the golden enclaves and it's so good. I just want more stories of that universe going into the future, different characters even bc it's all so interesting and well constructed and there are many problems even now and damn.

[imissthembutitwasntadisaster]

YOU HAVE TO FORGIVE PEOPLE BECAUSE NO ONE DESERVES IT!!! AND IF YOU START DECIDING WHO DOES AND WHO DOESN'T EVENTUALLY THE WHOLE WORLD WILL BURN!!!!!!!!

[francesderwent]

Mirnatius’ mom 🤝 Orion’s mom

[sonntam]

"You are already dead" is such an El spell. Come on, you stand against her and she wants you dead. This is no longer "she is trying to kill you", this is "you are dead and now we are making a little dance out of it".

[shamelesslymkp]

no context scholomance spoilers i guess???

but like. although i LOVE reading. i actually very rarely get so caught up in a story that i involuntarily react to it in a real-world kind of way.

and in the last two hours i have jerked upright saying loudly OH SHIT not once but TWICE

so. holy shit, ms. novik.