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3.59 AVERAGE
3.59 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Lacking any real magical elements and dark academia. Reads more like a teenage drama.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Grief
Minor: Vomit
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The vibes were great, but it fell flat for me at the end.
Just having a hard time getting into it. I think dark academia books might need to be a physical read because I struggle with them on audio.
3.5 stars
The dialogue between the Godwin House girls reminded me of my least favorite interactions with English majors in college. Pair that with the "rich girl boarding school" and "only vintage, academic aesthetic" clothes and it was just too pretentious. Now, when we started talking about witchcraft and murder and lesbians, I was on board.
I don't know if it's just because I read an ARC, but there were some very big contradictions in the story. Some contradictions were deliberate, revealed to be incorrect as part of the story, and then there were others where I had to ask a friend who was also reading the book "wait, didn't she say THIS before? How did we get to THAT now? Am I hallucinating?" It wasn't mimicking the mental state of our narrator, instead pulling me completely out of the story while I contemplated using my kindle's search function to double check what I thought I'd read before.
Personally, I think the book would have worked better with college students - or at least been a bit more believable. Indeed, I kept forgetting that the characters were kids. Maybe really rich kids do act and talk and carry on like this, I don't know. It also felt like we dropped the academia part of this dark academia story in a way that made it impossible to keep track of the passage of time.
This makes it sound like I hated the book. I absolutely did not. The writing (apart from pretentious dialogue) was enthralling, with brilliant descriptions and a great rhythm to the words. I devoured the book in only a handful of sittings, curious to know how everything would unfold. And I'm also always a sucker for gay ladies.
{Thank you Delacorte Press for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review; all thoughts are my own}
The dialogue between the Godwin House girls reminded me of my least favorite interactions with English majors in college. Pair that with the "rich girl boarding school" and "only vintage, academic aesthetic" clothes and it was just too pretentious. Now, when we started talking about witchcraft and murder and lesbians, I was on board.
I don't know if it's just because I read an ARC, but there were some very big contradictions in the story. Some contradictions were deliberate, revealed to be incorrect as part of the story, and then there were others where I had to ask a friend who was also reading the book "wait, didn't she say THIS before? How did we get to THAT now? Am I hallucinating?" It wasn't mimicking the mental state of our narrator, instead pulling me completely out of the story while I contemplated using my kindle's search function to double check what I thought I'd read before.
Personally, I think the book would have worked better with college students - or at least been a bit more believable. Indeed, I kept forgetting that the characters were kids. Maybe really rich kids do act and talk and carry on like this, I don't know. It also felt like we dropped the academia part of this dark academia story in a way that made it impossible to keep track of the passage of time.
This makes it sound like I hated the book. I absolutely did not. The writing (apart from pretentious dialogue) was enthralling, with brilliant descriptions and a great rhythm to the words. I devoured the book in only a handful of sittings, curious to know how everything would unfold. And I'm also always a sucker for gay ladies.
{Thank you Delacorte Press for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review; all thoughts are my own}
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is a sad DNF, I had to stop at 80% because there is nothing significant that’s happened so far and I lost interest in the plot as well. I felt like half the time there wasn’t any rhyme or reason for the sequence of scenes that happens. This is unfortunately a big no from me
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I really liked the premise of the book. The way Magic is written in kicks things up to another level with the thriller aspect. felicity’s mental illness being the hinge on which everything was based felt a little…meh to me. Her killing Ellis was spectacular but almost anticlimactic in the context of the end of the book.
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated