The Ultimate Fantasy Series Ranking

Research dossier

The Scholomance

#2974.05 in the official ranking · full ranking

Books 3 books Status Complete 2020–2022 Reading commitment Low Naomi Novik Last reviewed 2026-08-05

Overview

The Scholomance (2020-2022) is a trilogy by Naomi Novik narrated entirely in first person by Galadriel "El" Higgins, a reluctant student at a magical school with no teachers and a mortality rate high enough that graduation itself is a battle for survival: magic-wielders across this world are hunted from childhood by mana-eating monsters called maleficaria, and roughly half of all students are killed before they graduate. Built inside the Void, a space outside ordinary reality, the school pulls its fourteen-year-old students in and cuts them off from the outside world for four years, until they must fight their way through an unwarded, monster-filled corridor to the exit gates. Drawing on Romanian folklore's own Scholomance legend, Novik deliberately wrote a darker take on the magical-boarding-school tradition. The trilogy is Novik's third major body of work after Temeraire and the fairy-tale standalones, and was among the most-decorated works admitted this phase, earning a 2023 Hugo Award for Best Series nomination; film rights were acquired by a major studio in 2020.

Dark fantasy · For YA

Core Canon: Reading Order (3 works) counts toward ranking

The Scholomance Naomi Novik

WorkYearInternal chron.CanonRating
Cover of A Deadly EducationA Deadly Education20201core3.93 (232,384 ratings)
Cover of The Last GraduateThe Last Graduate20212core4.22 (138,680 ratings)
Cover of The Golden EnclavesThe Golden Enclaves20223core4.11 (109,337 ratings)

Clean linear trilogy, single first-person narrator (Galadriel 'El' Higgins) throughout. No companion material found (no uncollected short fiction, no guide books, no graphic adaptations).

Quick answers

Why is it ranked #297?

Ranked #297 in the official ranking.

How the ranking works →

Why explore this universe?

Well rated · 3 books · Complete · 480k ratings · Ranks #297 overall

Good choice if you want a quick, low-commitment dark fantasy universe that's already finished, so there's no wait for the next book.

Reading order

Publication order (3 Core Canon books)

  1. A Deadly Education (2020)
  2. The Last Graduate (2021)
  3. The Golden Enclaves (2022)

Documented internal/story chronology is recorded for every Core Canon book here, and matches publication order exactly, with no divergence to show separately.

Awards (verified)

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Suggestions computed from what The Scholomance and each of these worlds have in common on record (subgenre, audience, shape, reading commitment and score), not a documented narrative connection.

Official resources

Research details

Ranking metrics: weighted average 4.05 across 480,401 ratings on 3 Core Canon books. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.

How do we know this?

Admission: The Scholomance admitted; Core = the full trilogy accepted 2026-08-05

Sources: (see source tier definitions)

Related universes: see the Related universes section above.

Last reviewed: 2026-08-06

Rule: Core = 3 novels (2020–2022): A Deadly Education, The Last Graduate, The Golden Enclaves. Clean linear trilogy, single narrator throughout, no companion material of any kind found: no Expanded tier. The trilogy’s Hugo Best Series nomination is the second use of the series-level award registration pattern established at Temeraire’s admission.

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