A Deadly Education
ISBN: 9781529100877
Description
There are no teachers, no holidays, friendships are purely strategic, and the odds of survival are never equal. Once you're inside, there are only two ways out: you graduate or you die. El Higgins is uniquely prepared for the school's many dangers. She may be without allies, but she possesses a dark power strong enough to level mountains and wipe out untold millions - never mind easily destroy the countless monsters that prowl the school. Except, she might accidentally kill all the other students, too. So El is trying her hardest not to use it ... that is, unless she has no other choice.
Reviewed on 29th August 2026
We join El Higgins in her third year of four at an oddly American-style school in Britain, which has no staff but still punishes students for not learning properly. It was a great choice to not start us off in the first year - it gives a totally different vibe to learn not as the character is learning, but from them, and I think sets us up for a more interesting adventure.
The first half of the novel presents El as moderately unlikeable, and this section was a bit of a challenge to push through before the second half flows more easily.
There's a lot to imagine here - strange dimensionality, creepy creatures, and a magic system - and I'm not sure that fitted perfectly with the way my brain fails to fully picture things when reading.
And yet, with retrospect, it was an enjoyable story - with a decent sprinkling of humour throughout. I wanted to find out more about the characters and the world, and how the plot would evolve. But I still feel a bit like more world-building would have kept me entertained more.