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3.57 AVERAGE
3.57 AVERAGE
3.5 rounded up! The characters in this book are insufferable in a true-to-life way for high schoolers who think they're deep. Virginia is dark, brooding, obsessed with religion and transcendence, and she's also a deeply terrible person. Protagonist Laura, like pretty much everyone else in the book, is obsessed with her to the point that it's frustrating to read -- you just want to shake them all. This does give the whole thing culty undertones that I vibe with, but at points the religious stuff got to be a bit much for me and made the plot feel slow. Overall enjoyable.
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I actually like this as much as I did The Secret History, incredibly. Having trouble coming up with a review that doesn't just parrot Greekchoir's thoughts lol. I love the sapphic obsession! What really resonated with me are two things:
1) the MC's unquestioning devotion to the more powerful personality she looks up to. Been there, done that. I've definitely experienced an unhealthy tendency to want someone smarter and more experienced to tell me what to believe. I'll cling to the explanations of a person like that!
2) the MC's deep love for something that resonated with her. Especially because love of that thing connects her with the girl who quickly becomes the most important person in her life. I really appreciated the way Laura's unquestioning love of All Before Them is challenged and how she wrestles with that.
Everything else really insightful I'd have to say about this book was said better by Greekchoir! I do think the climax of the book takes a direction I didn't expect, and don't know if successful.
1) the MC's unquestioning devotion to the more powerful personality she looks up to. Been there, done that. I've definitely experienced an unhealthy tendency to want someone smarter and more experienced to tell me what to believe. I'll cling to the explanations of a person like that!
2) the MC's deep love for something that resonated with her. Especially because love of that thing connects her with the girl who quickly becomes the most important person in her life. I really appreciated the way Laura's unquestioning love of All Before Them is challenged and how she wrestles with that.
Everything else really insightful I'd have to say about this book was said better by Greekchoir! I do think the climax of the book takes a direction I didn't expect, and don't know if successful.
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
scrumptious dark academia setting & ambience with insufferable characters. i couldn’t put it down!! not five stars because i really would’ve loved like 30 more pages to slow down the pace of the ending.
also pls stop doing books the disservice of comparing them to the secret history!!!! no book will ever be that good, but i loved reading this! thanks
also pls stop doing books the disservice of comparing them to the secret history!!!! no book will ever be that good, but i loved reading this! thanks
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Laura, a sensitive teenager, gets her parents to send her to the school where her favorite author wrote her favorite book, right before he went off to be killed in a war. Laura hopes to find some kind of magic there, and she does in the form of Virginia, a very intense girl who rules the school choir with an iron fist. Laura is immediately besotted with Virginia, and finds herself suppressing her better instincts again and again. Mainly what Virginia loves is control, though, and when it slips through her fingers, things can only go badly.
If I could sleep I wouldn't have got through this so quickly. Hell, maybe I wouldn't have finished it at all.
If I could sleep I wouldn't have got through this so quickly. Hell, maybe I wouldn't have finished it at all.
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It felt like things were happening but nothing really went anywhere. I guess, I can also just attribute this with not connecting or relating to the MC.