In Naomi Novik's strange world, potentially gifted wizard children are hunted as sources of mana, which they earn through different activities, as varied as crochet, yoga, push-ups, and (in Orion Lake's case) hunting mals, the name given to the evil creatures that roam about trying to consume mages and their children. The protagonist, El (short for Galadriel, her hippie-mom's choice), attends Scholomance, the teacherless, self-aware school created by the wizarding community to help its children survive to adulthood. Scholomance has been for many generations overrun by mals and surviving graduation means literally living through what amounts to a bull run of horrors.

In A Deadly Education, we follow El's progress through her junior year. The story is told in 1st-person with minimal psychic distance, though it is also clear from numerous presumptions that El's perspective is not the only side of the story, even if she doesn't see it that way herself. A lot of other reviewers find her annoying. Yeah, maybe, but she is annoying like young people who are egotistical (most young people) can be, coupled with the practical need to survive. I actually liked El by the time the real story unfolded.

One part of the magical economy that I liked was how language was used to limit the available spells. Mana is pretty much widespread, even if dangerous to accumulate (because it attracts mals), but a wizard needs access to spells, which means they have to study numerous languages. This is one advantage of incorporating a wide variety of nationalities and ethnicities in the story. I also liked the social statement Novik makes about the haves and have-nots of her world.

Pretty amazing story. I'm looking forward to the rest of the series. :-)