A Deadly Education

Our protagonist is El, a student who is definitely not viewed as heroic by the rest of the student body. Her foil is Orion, an enclave student whose affinity makes it not only possible but also beneficial for him to play the role of hero. Orion and El are seen as opposite—the self-sacrificial golden boy and the probably-a-maleficer girl with the bad vibes—but they are similar in many ways. Close attention to El’s characterization reveals her heroic impulses come at a far greater personal cost than Orion’s do. Orion has the unique ability to pull mana from mals, and he is innately repellent to the creatures as well; throughout the novel, Orion opens doors and chests without checking to be sure they’re clear. He sticks his head into holes in the wall with no caution. Early in their relationship, Orion tells El, “They don’t come my way! They never have!” (28). During the graduation hall repair mission, El observes that the mals back off after a while: “The others just held their positions for a good minute before one of them finally tried again, and even then, it didn’t go for him, it tried to go round him and went for us” (284).