#aadhya scholomance

[starling-illu]

I'm reading Scholomance and their friendship is v important to me

[a-rayneart]

I REALLY loved A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik and will probably have more art as I work my way through the books

[johnconstantinesdick]

So a Girl Genius Scholomance AU is interesting to me because on a character level Agatha is El and Gil is Orion—Agatha very much eschews the path set forward for her as a great evil and instead strives to do the best for her and Her People (notably, she and El share the same “these people are mine, actually, and I will protect them” view of the world that slowly grows to encompass more and more people as time goes on), while Gil struggles to connect with others and is deeply unhappy when doing what is expected of him while eventually going ahead with it anyway. He also has the whole monster hunter vibe going for him. Admittedly, Gil doesn’t struggle in the same way with empathy and connection as Orion does. His is more based on second-guessing others motivations with him, and he does happily and easily make friends—it’s romantic connection that eludes him for the most part.

The fun part is, when you consider their backgrounds the connections to El and Orion completely flip.

Like, Gil and El both have a side of the family that they’re completely alienated from due to bad omens surrounding them, and they were raised in a non-traditional setting by a single parent who strives to do the Right Thing (Klaus and Gwen differ in how good they are at raising kids though lmfao). You can even draw connections back to alienation from their culture—El at least knows where her father came from and speaks the language, but Gil is completely divorced from his mother and doesn’t even know who she is. They’re both barred from participating in their culture for the same reasons they’re alienated from half their family.

Agatha and Orion, meanwhile, were both Created With A Purpose by mothers who range from morally gray to totally corrupt. They both struggled to behave like normal children, with Orion not understanding or valuing human social norms and Agatha’s spark constantly straining to break through. This caused frustration and concern from the adults and mentors around them, and they were both somewhat alienated from their peers. Ophelia and Lucretia both share a certain big picture way of thinking, though admittedly Lucretia’s motives are almost entirely selfish in nature (an interesting contrast with Agatha’s own selfish way of thinking!) and Ophelia’s are pretty damn selfless, though in a very fun way. Selflessness due to ruthlessness is a good way of putting it, and Ophelia very much plays the numbers game in almost the same way the Scholomance itself does.

I’m going to have to play around with this more, because I think the way things line up is fascinating.

(Tarvek is a version of Liesel that successfully pulls off her powerhouse polycule plan.)

[ace-and-ranty]

I love El's character growth in the books so much. I love how my girl goes from:

"If I bust my ass even more and prove my worth and maybe beg, perhaps, just maybe, if I'm lucky and Aadhya takes pity on my soul and if the stars align and I work hard enough, perchance Aadhya and Liu will want to help me"

to

"I don't know what the fuck to do, where is my girlfriend so I can ask her."

[sandange]

Aadhya and Liu are such A-tier friends for El. Just their refusal to be scared of her, or put off by her snappishness. Even if it's for practical reasons, that's exactly what she needed on so many levels. El loves them, and they love her back, and Like Hell are they leaving her behind.

[questioningdragons]

I keep thinking about the Secret Pet Mal thing and wondering if it's a commentary on the sad state of sex ed.

[tanoraqui]

I’ve started reading the Scholomance books—okay, I’m 2/3 of the way through the first one—and my favorites parts so far are

How utterly completely fucking bizarre El and Orion’s relationship and every single interaction in it looks to every single outsider

Aadhya’s “fuck it, we ball” attitude toward El

[grassangel]

I may have watched 12 episodes of Dungeon Meshi back to back and my brain has done some very vibes based web weaving/crossovers of my other fandoms in the 12 hours after, based mostly the fact the dungeon Changes You™ when you die, the Touden siblings are very cute and I have a case of Do Not Separate for them and Marcille

Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters - similarly about enmeshed siblings and the group they pick up on their way, but with way more blood and guts. Laios absolutely would sleep on the floor clutching a boot while Falin (and/or Marcille) took the bed. Laios would also take the invective to fuck his sister way better, but only because he doesn't want to fuck anyone. Also fuck yeah the brothers also learning magic.

Mélusine & The Virtu - siblings that go on a journey that changes them for the worst. Featuring plenty of ghosts and abandoned buildings left by a long ago civilisation. Also inappropriate feelings develop between said siblings (unhealthy devotion on on side, sexual attraction on the other) and everyone else in the traveling party feels awkward about this (and how the older brother is okay with doing forbidden magic though Marcille would get along with Felix because he understands that black/forbidden magic doesn't always mean bad magic). Also this series also uses witchlights and so, borrowing an element from Meduse, for the drama I feel like Marcille's should be shaped like red spider lilies when you look at them closely.

Thara Celehar - a cursed dungeon made and left by ancient elves is exactly the kind of thing Thara would stumble across. There's also the thread of that in both - being able to see ghosts means you can do magic. Also the Ethuvereise emperors are the same kind of colonising elves as the ones in Dungeon Meshi. (And I can't stop reading Thistle as having the same kind of colouring as elves with goblin heritage. Even if goblins in DM are not the same as Katherine Addison goblins.)

The House of Hollow - Siblings coming back Different and Changed, death very much involved. Much more horror, less adventure.

The Scholomance - The dungeon and the Scholomance both have the same thaumaturgical architectural feel - aka absolutely packed full of monsters that want to eat you and your mana. The way Aadhya and Senshi use the corpses of killed monsters feels similar. Laios and Orion would get along I think. El on the other hand absolutely would not like any of the adventurers because they are all dead and came back wrong and on top of that Marcille is a malificer. She does like Senshi though.

[gohandinhand]

SCHOLOMANCE... I love El and Orion, don't get me wrong but can we talk about how funny El/Liesel was in book 3. Funniest fucked up little polycule of all time.

i'm not kidding that i just listened to the audiobooks of the whole trilogy three times in a row, utterly disinterested in watching or listening to anything else & book three especially is something ELSE, the el/liesel detour being one of the highlights lmao but i cry so many times through golden enclaves it's mildly embarrassing. i sent a text to a friend somewhere in reread #2 about how books one and two are really about the platonic love story between el & aadhya and yeah of course there’s the romantic love story with orion and whatever gray area thing she ends up having with liesel but el learns to ask for help and trust other people because of aadhya!

[moontyger]

Yuletide 2024 Recs Post #1

There will probably be more later, but figured I should get started on this since I doubt I'll be done reading Yuletide fics before reveals. (I'll try to do Recs Post #2 just before reveals.)

A Tangled Web (Stray Gods, Gen, Grace-centric) - This was my gift! The author does a fantastic job with character voices and has interesting ideas about how Grace experiences Muse powers. Directions (Dark, Gen, Jonas-centric) - this absolutely will not work if you haven't watched Dark. But if you have, it feels like it fits as a possible in-canon document. It's really haunting Rooted in the flesh, stone, tree and flower (Dark is Rising - Susan Cooper, G, Bran/Will) - Wistful and bittersweet and a very believable future for Will The Wind in the Trees (Dark is Rising - Susan Cooper, Barney Drew & Will Stanton) - I love all the details in this that give it a real sense of space and time and also the wonderful and fitting conversation Will and Barney have. Good Choices (Feel Like Rain) (Scholomance - Naomi Novik, G, Aadhya-centric) - I loved how much this felt like Aadhya, as well as the glimpse of her life before the Scholomance. Ain't We Walking Down the Same Street Together on the Very Same Day? (You Can Call Me Al - Paul Simon, G, "Betty"/"Al") - Melancholy and real, but beautiful in a way. I really liked it. Fifty First Dates (xxxHolic (this is specifically for the movie), T, Doumeki/Watanuki) - So in character and absolutely adorable. Just wonderful. Wendwinter (Valdemar - Mercedes Lackey, G, Vanyel & Stefen) - I adore this. A bit bittersweet (at least, IMHO), but hopeful. (Also made me wonder things about Valdemar lore.) Everyone Winds Up at Kamikaze Pizza (Hard Core Logo and Wristcutters: A Love Story (this is a crossover), M, Joe/Billy) - I only knew Wristcutters and if that's you, too, you'll be a bit confused, but also this is 17k words and I couldn't stop reading it, which says a lot about how good it is.

[tcplnyteens]

Review: The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik

The Golden Enclaves is the third and last book in Naomi Novik’s Scholomance trilogy. I reviewed the first book, A Deadly Education, a few weeks ago. I did read the second book in the series, The Last Graduate, but I didn’t write a review for it before I read The Golden Enclaves. And to be honest, The Golden Enclaves was such a wild ride that I feel like I can’t properly do justice to The Last Graduate if I write a review for it now, so I’ll only be talking about The Golden Enclaves. This does mean that there will be some pretty major spoilers for both The Last Graduate and The Golden Enclaves, so proceed with caution!

The Golden Enclaves picks up right where the previous book left off. El and her friends have successfully executed their world-saving plan, made it out of the Scholomance, and killed off most of the monsters in the world, but at a cost: Orion is now trapped in the Scholomance, floating in the void. Grieving and traumatized, El turns around and marches right back into the Scholomance, but all is not how she left it, because being trapped in the Scholomance has changed Orion. El, Aadhya, Liu, and Liesel (the newest addition to their group) set off on an epic quest to find a cure for Orion. On her journey to save her friend, El uncovers terrifying truths about enclaves, the creation of maw-mouths, Orion’s past, and her own family. El and her friends must overcome all odds to prevent an all-out war between the enclaves of the world.

The Golden Enclaves was an absolute roller-coaster of an adventure. The plot twists and revelations one after the other as well as the gripping story made this book impossible to put down. It was so satisfying how Novik tied up loose ends, building on clues and connections from the first two books that I hadn’t noticed to lead to an absolutely thrilling climax. I appreciated how much Novik lives up to the old adage “Show, don’t tell.” Whereas some books rely on rambling monologues and inner turmoil to push the reader to feel certain emotions, The Golden Enclaves shows you how to feel perhaps a little too well. It was absolutely horrifying (to say the least) when I finally found out the secret behind enclaves, maw-mouths, and Orion’s family. Even though the book does explore El’s inner struggle, it’s never overdone or dragged on, leaving the reader to form their own emotional response. Because of how expertly the plot of this book tied into those of the first two books to build up to the final conflict, I wasn’t resentful at all at the happy ending. After everything the characters went through and discovered, I thought they deserved it. And after investing so much emotional energy into this series, I thought I deserved to see a happy ending as well.

Something I’ve come to appreciate over the course of this trilogy is the author’s ability to create powerful and morally gray characters. Even though El plays the role of the stereotypical chosen one, she is not painfully modest or self-deprecating and knows exactly what she’s capable of. I’ve read so many stories where the main character is either wracked with self-doubt or just doesn’t even acknowledge their own power, so it was refreshing to finally see a main character who is aware of their own capabilities. And despite El’s confidence in her powers, she’s never arrogant, she understands her own limits and shortcomings, and she knows to rely on her friends. This already sets her apart from many other fictional heroes and makes the entire book more mature and realistic, because as a reader, I always get super annoyed when the main character is unable to get out of their own head and be practical. El, on the other hand, is the epitome of practical. She is affected by grief and trauma just like a regular person, but she is also smart and able to think through her decisions—or at least choose to surround herself with people whom she can rely on to stop her from being reckless. The maturity with which this book approaches these ultra-powerful characters allows the author to explore the stickier, more complicated sides of the situation. When a character is already so powerful, whether or not to use their abilities become a question of morality, which El struggles with throughout the books. I loved how her mother is a huge influence on her development, and how El chooses to take the same path her mother did, despite the two of them being so different, because she finally realizes what she truly wants.

Speaking of morality aned ethics, this book also does a great job at dealing with morally gray characters. The main conflict of The Golden Enclaves is basically a magical reimagining of the trolley problem: given the choice, would you choose to sacrifice one person to guarantee the safety of your family? Or would you choose to take the moral high ground and watch as your children are slaughtered by monsters? There’s no one “bad guy” in this book, which makes it so much easier to become invested in the story. Ophelia Lake, the main antagonist of this book, has done some pretty unspeakable things, but her actions are still understandable, because she’s just doing what everyone else is—trying to survive and protect her loved ones. This is actually more relatable and understandable than the typical villain with a sad backstory, because most people would do anything to protect their families. 

Overall, this book was an absolutely wild and amazing conclusion to the Scholomance trilogy. The story is original, well-paced, and gripping, and the characters are just as snarky, smart, and fun as they have been for the first two books. Novik has created an incredible fantasy world with a magic system that is unique, intriguing, and oddly realistic. The Golden Enclaves was a truly fitting end to this unforgettable trilogy. 

~Tania

[geraniums-red]

Naomi Novik - The Last Graduate

Book 2 of the Scholomance trilogy

El is in her final year at the Scholomance, and needs to do her best to stockpile resources so she can survive running the gauntlet of monsters that gather in the graduation hall of the school. Unfortunately the Scholomance keeps putting her in situations where she either needs to sacrifice her morals or the power she is desperately trying to store.

This book has plenty of interactions with the other pupils of the Scholomance - there were too many characters mentioned by name for me to be able to keep track of them properly, but it added up to the feeling of a plausibly large and international school. I loved the insights we got into some of the side characters such as Liu's mice, Aadhyas lute-making, Chloe's painting and Liesel's brilliant bluntness. There was also more about Orion's childhood and weaknesses, which helped round out his personality and made him seem less like an invulnerable hero.

I'm not sure how I feel about the Scholomance itself as an entity that is intelligent enough to plan and communicate. I think it would have been hard enough to get the plot to work without it, but it feels less plausible than the rest of the world-building.

I was a little annoyed about the labelling of one of the spoken languages as 'Chinese', given how many languages are spoken in China - my copy of A Deadly Education specifies it as Mandarin, but for some reason The Last Graduate just refers to it as 'Chinese'.

Overall, a solid book and one I would recommend but not quite as good as the first or third in this series. It ends on a worse cliffhanger than A Deadly Education, but both cliffhangers are resolved in the final book of the series.

[francesderwent]

scholomance fic I would write if I had the inspiration inclination time etc:

how Chloe gets involved with the plan to slay mawmouths and blackmail enclaves

how Alfie gets over being dumped by his conniving girlfriend and makes some real friends who don’t want to use him to claw their way to power

Sudarat and Girl From Kansas are best friends forever

Alfie and Aadhya fall in love

El, Liu, and Aad have a nice day

[ace-and-ranty]

Hi your scholomance opinions are So correct I finished the golden enclaves a little while back and your Liesel opinions and alliance opinions are So correct. Your honor theyre QPRs

Thank you so much friend!! They ARE QPRs!!! And I should talk about that more!!!

Like, it's only a single line in The Golden Enclaves, but it is very much supported by everyone's attitudes throughout the series: that for indie kids, "Alliance" seems to be its own category of relationship, separate from "friendship"; "family"; or "romantic".

It's something akin to trauma bonding, and something akin to marriage, and similar to our own concept of queerplatonic, and, in the end, its own discrete category. Which makes sense, right, because "the people that saved my life from the trauma conga line of hell" would be significant people in your life.

So there's all these social rules around it. That breaking up an alliance is fine, but ditching your allies makes you a dick. That it's the kind of relationship you announce to people, and then get congratulated for. That, in the Scholomance, it is not socially acceptable to share your wealth with friends, only with your partners, and with your alliance. That the relationship is expected to continue outside school.

It is fascinating, because you see how this operates in and out of school, with El's graduation allies (specially poor Aadhya, LOL) being treated as her representatives in negotiations; or how El is welcomed to Aadhya's home like Aad's introducing her boyfriend; or how they fully expected Liu to drop her entire life and come to New York to help rescue El's boyfriend, and the only reason Liu didn't come is that a war was about to pop, and that when Liu needed space to recover after a big trauma, of course she went to stay with her ally's family, and how no one was surprised Aad was going out of her way to help El, but Liesel must be up to something.

[sandange]

Just started The Scholomance series

I have a two mile walk home four days a week, audiobooks good. Anyway, two thoughts:

Orion being more weirded out by El being nice and expressing concern than her snapping at him every ten seconds is hilarious. Classic tsudere interaction.

Imagine these characters just...relaxing, post-canon. Once they've graduated and gotten out of the school, they can finally let themselves breathe and not worry about mals. Imagine the shift, realizing they aren't risking life and limb every time they do anything, they can finally let themselves chill and just be.

[malkaleh]

ao3 wrapped asks: 16, 19, & 6?

Favorite title you used Only Wore This Doublet (So You Can Take It Off) or sometimes you write fictional versions of Elizabeth Tudor and Robert Dudley having kinky sex and you mangle a Taylor Swift song for a title because it fits so so well.

What’s your most common “Additional Tags” tag? OT3 and Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence is the runner up which is entirely predictable of me and I am delighted with myself.

What’s one pairing you want to explore next year? Me finishing the first Scholomance book: obviously El/Orion but has one considered Poly Ship (Aadhya and Liu). Also I am Fascinated by this world and the larger implications and would like to poke at it maybe.

AO3 Wrapped Meme