Look, I need to start with a confession: I was ready to be disappointed. The Scholomance trilogy has been my comfort horror for two years now, and finales? They almost never stick the landing. Especially in fantasy. Especially when you've got a protagonist as delightfully prickly as El Higgins carrying the whole thing on her shoulders.
So yeah. I went in braced for impact. And then Naomi Novik did what she does best—she made me care so much about these characters that I nearly missed my bus stop. Twice.
Anisha Dadia IS El Higgins
Dadia has been the voice in my head for this entire series, and honestly? I can't imagine El any other way now. There's this specific energy she brings—part exhaustion, part fury, part reluctant heroism—that just IS the character. The accents alone are impressive (and there are a lot of them, given how international the enclave system is), but what really got me was the exasperation. El is perpetually done with everyone's nonsense, and Dadia delivers that with such precision that I found myself nodding along like an unhinged person on public transit.
The emotional beats hit harder in audio than I think they would on the page. There's a moment—I won't spoil it, but if you've read the previous books, you know who I'm talking about—where the narration just... breaks a little. In the best way. Shirley (my cat, not Jackson, though both are equally judgmental) actually looked up from her nap because I made a sound. An undignified sound.
Fifteen Hours of El's Brain (For Better and Worse)
Okay, here's where I have to be honest. This book is long. Nearly fifteen hours. And El's internal monologue? It's a lot. I love her voice, I love her perspective, but there were stretches—particularly in the middle—where I felt like I was listening to a very smart person think in circles. The pacing does this strange thing where it's simultaneously too fast and too slow. Plot stuff happens at breakneck speed, but then we'll get extended philosophical tangents about enclave politics that feel more like lectures than story.
Dadia does her best to keep the energy up, but even the best narrator can only do so much when the source material is asking you to sit through El processing her trauma for the fortieth time. (And I say this with love. El's trauma is valid. It's just... a lot to listen to at 6 AM.)
I ended up doing something I rarely do—I bumped the speed to 1.25x during the slower sections. Not because the narration was bad, but because my brain needed the momentum. Your mileage may vary. If you're the type who savors every word, stick with 1x. If you're like me and you start zoning out during extended internal debates, speed it up.
Systemic Dread Over Jump Scares
Here's the thing about this series that I've been trying to articulate on the podcast for months: it's not horror in the traditional sense. There are monsters, yes. Maleficaria. Things that eat wizard children. Dark stuff. But the real horror is systemic. It's about how power structures sacrifice the vulnerable. It's about how the people with resources will always find ways to protect themselves while everyone else gets eaten. Prince explores similar territory—the machinery of power and who it grinds up in the process.
This understands that horror isn't about gore—it's about dread. The dread of knowing the system is broken. The dread of watching someone you love make choices you can't stop. The dread of realizing that saving everyone might mean losing yourself.
Novik gets it. She really does.
A Quieter Finale Than You'd Expect
I've seen some people complain that the ending is anticlimactic. I... disagree? But I also understand where they're coming from. This isn't a big battle finale. It's messier than that. More personal. Song of Achilles did something similar—choosing intimacy over spectacle in a way that wrecked me completely. Some listeners wanted fireworks, and what they got was something quieter and stranger.
For me, it worked. The emotional payoff was there, even if the plot mechanics felt a little rushed in places. Dadia sells the hell out of the final scenes, and I was genuinely moved by the time the credits rolled.
Who's This For (And Who Should Skip)
If you haven't listened to the first two books, start there. This is not a standalone. If you're impatient with internal monologue, you might struggle. And if you're expecting traditional fantasy pacing, adjust your expectations. Skip this one if you need action-heavy finales or can't handle fifteen hours inside one character's head.
But if you love El, if you've been waiting to see how this all shakes out, if you want dark academia fantasy that actually has something to say about power and privilege and the cost of survival? Get this. Listen in the dark if you're brave. I did.
Mistake? Maybe. Worth it? Absolutely.
