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anastashamarie's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
⚠️THIS IS NOT A YA SERIES, IT CONTAINS MATURE THEMES. I've seen a lot of folks surprised by the content; I lost trigger warnings in my "considerations" section below to help make an informed decision
📜I need to start of by saying that I've never read anything by this author, even through the Grishaverse has been on my TBR for a while. Other than knowing that Leigh Bardugo is widely loved and that it was a dark academia fantasy (which is quickly becoming a fave subgenre of mine), I went into this totally blind. And man, did I thoroughly enjoy it.
🔮 Why was it great?
• The world building is awesome. Soft magic system with lots of paranormal/supernatural elements. Realistic but "off" setting. (Someone said Stephen King, and I could see that.) Very immersive, likely influenced by the author actually holding alum status at Yale.
• Interesting story weaving: Alternating timeframes (before to now) and perspectives (Darlington's vs Alex's) showed how the MCs worlds intertwined. The confusion, slow reveal of the world, and missed references make me relate to Alex more (though I already do in a lot of ways -- first gen college student at "fancy" university, imposture syndrome, trying to balance my personal sh*t with my school work and overwhelming job). Excellent literary choice in terms of matching tone and theming to info given.
• Gentle exploration of classism & privilege in higher ed. Nothing has heavy-handed as some dark academia can be, but very present through in a way that enhanced the story and character development.
• I related to little pieces of a lot of the characters, which made a lot of this hit close to home. The emotions in this hit hard for me. Also, I especially loved Dawes; she speaks to my PhD candidate heart in a way few other characters can.
• I switched between the audiobook and the paperback due to time constraints on this. Both are great options.
🐍 Considerations if you want to read it:
• This is an ADULT paranormal crime novel. There is no romance in it, but it definitely covers adult themes. TWs: blood, violence, drug use, death, overdose, sexual assault
• Early parts of the book felt a little slow, almost like a minute-by-minute play of present day, like watching it unfold IRL, boardering on slice-of-life if your life involved secret societies. I don't mind this, but I know a slow build isn't everyone's cup of tea.
• A lot of folks complained about "not understanding the references" which is sort of the point. Alex is confused, and I think in a lot of ways we are meant to be too to understand that. I also think the extra details/history/lore that you can look up are part of the fun because this book is very well researched and a lot of what's included has toes to real life things. It's almost worth two reads: one for the plot and one to go back and dig up everything they reference. But I don't think the homework is at all necessary if you go in with the understanding that you don't NEED the details to grasp the plot.
📖 I don't have any criticisms. I just absolutely adored this one.
Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Vomit, Grief, and Alcohol
Minor: Racism, Sexual content, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
alisonluongo's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
fantaiil's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Addiction, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Blood, Alcohol, and Classism
Minor: Torture, Islamophobia, and Toxic friendship
sam_wal's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Graphic: Addiction, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol
oliviah1111's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
lesejaguar's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Death and Drug use
Moderate: Cursing, Blood, and Vomit
Minor: Excrement and Murder
samreadssometimes's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Addiction, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
kaycie51782's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
This book wasn't at all what I was expecting, but that wasn't a bad thing. It's about secret societies at Yale. The story is well written. The jumps between timelines are well done, though there were a few times I got lost and had to back up to figure out what happened.
The story was very interesting: what if you could see ghosts and no one believed you, so it ruins your life... Until it gets you a free ride to a premier Ivy League University.
The plot moves along at a good pace. I never really felt like it was dragging, but it also wasn't action all the time. There's magic, ghosts, intrigue, humans being humans (for good and bad), college parties, murder investigations. It's a fascinating story.
And the ending? Perfect. I went to the library the minute it opened the next day to get the sequel!
It's a good read, but heed the content warnings. They are in context with the story. They aren't necessary (and I'm increasingly annoyed that they are used as plot devices) but they don't stick out as egregious either.
Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Murder, and Sexual harassment
dokushoka's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Graphic: Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Torture
Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Blood
megannoelle's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Sexual harassment