The dark school of magic has always done its best to devour its students, but now that El has reached her final year -- and somehow won herself a handful of allies along the way -- it's suddenly developed a very particular craving . .

. For her. As the savagery of the school ramps up, El is determined that she will not give in; not to the mals, not to fate, and especially not to the Scholomance.

But as the spectre of graduation looms -- the deadly final ritual that leaves few students alive -- if she and her allies are to make it out, El will need to realise that sometimes winning the game means throwing out all the rules. _______________________________Wry, witty, endlessly inventive, and mordantly funny -- yet with a true depth and fierce justice at its heart -- this enchanting novel reminds us that there are far more important things than mere survival.