A Deadly Education is an excellent example of the sort of book I give five stars to because it is so very, very much my jam. There's is nothing objective here, it's got nothing to do with me thinking it's got the best pacing, plot, and characters. It just happens to hit a lot of my sweet spots and doesn't do anything that makes me mad.

It's got an innately hostile setting. This might not seem like much, but a lot of fantasy and science fiction is really into fantasies of wealth, love, friendship, power, etc., so they tend to keep the brutality of the situation to a minimum so that the fantasy can be indulged. The power characters in the Scholomance have is offset by the world they live in, which appears to absolutely want to kill them all the time.

It's also got a protagonist whose supposed to be evil, but isn't. One of my favorite things. I often point to Zuko from The Last Airbender as my favorite recent example, but it's always been a thing. A character who almost seems designed for darkness, but who essentially says, "No thank you" to the whole idea.

The overall arc of this book is a protagonist who would rather not be a protagonist and who would prefer not to be a part of the heroes story whatsoever. Reluctant heroes also tickle me, as seen in such things as the Murderbot series and The Witcher. Wide-eyed heroes are all well and good, but I often find it more empathetic when the main character is doing all this despite their wishes.

The Scholomance, more than a lot of fantasy worlds, leans into the idea that to have this kind of power would also create massive dangers and threats. Naomi Novik has created a unique space that I find downright intoxicating.