Point of View

The novel is narrated in first-person present by El, the main character. El is a young woman who has just escaped four years of trauma and horror in the Scholomance. When her mother welcomes her home, she even brings her a specially designed bouquet to help her heal: “Mum right there waiting for me. Her arms were full of flowers: poppies, for rest; anemones, for overcoming; moonwort, for forgetfulness; morning glories, for the dawn of a new day. A welcome-home bouquet for a trauma victim, meant to ease horror out of my mind and make room for healing and for rest” (3). On top of all the trauma El suffered inside of the Scholomance, she also falls in love and loses Orion in a horrific moment in which he decides to stay inside the school with monsters and push El outside without him.

Because of the...