If J.K. Rowling and H.P. Lovecraft had a love child it would be Naomi Novik's Scholomance series. At the end of A Deadly Education El and Orion had survived their attempt to help that year's graduating seniors but wouldn't know if they were successful until their own upcoming Graduation. El is determined to concentrate on preparing for the Graduation Hall gauntlet with her allies, Aadhya and Liu, despite her attraction to Orion and her mother's cryptic warning to "stay away from Orion Lake". Senior year is supposed to be rough but it feels like the school itself is trying to kill her and it apparently wants something from her. If only she can figure out what that is before she dies. It turns out that death is indeed a strong possibility as she starts working on an insane plan to save every student and to destroy The Scholomance itself. She intends to be the very last graduate to exit through the portal or die trying.

The Last Graduate is not quite as amusing and snarky as the first book but makes up for it in character development and a deepening of the plot. El is rapidly maturing under pressure. She has firmly rejected the idea of joining an Enclave after she graduates but now she realizes that her desire to impress everyone as a powerful sorceress was not only childish but possibly dangerous. She's also starting to wonder what she wants to do with her life after school, assuming she has one. Even El knows her dreams aren't realistic but even in their innocent idealism there is a potential connection to the prophetic vision in which her grandmother saw her destroy Enclaves. Novak rarely references that prophecy except how it affects El's relationship with her family and students from Mumbai but she is subtle and never leaves loose ends. Even the news of Bangkok Enclave's mysterious destruction will have greater significance than just causing a rift between students associated with Shanghai versus New York. That distrust obviously works against El's goal of uniting the seniors to work together at Graduation rather than in small teams where its every student for themselves. But its also a hint of problems in the outside world that El will face in the future.

The book ends on a terrible cliffhanger with the third and final book obviously bringing big changes. Kids everywhere wonder about it. You've Graduated, you're an adult, what happens now? I can't wait to find out. Once again Anisha Dadia narrates the audiobook version to good reviews.