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3.59 AVERAGE
3.59 AVERAGE
In theory, and in my full expectation when I started reading this, this should've been a new favourite book for me. I loved the atmosphere, the setting, the unreliable narration, the themes of witchcraft and grief. The first 75 percent were awesome, and really reminded me of my experience with reading The Secret History , but better. Which is why it has close to a five stars for me.
After that part though, is where the book went from one to a hundred really quickly. It went into a direction I really didn't like. This makes reading the book very difficult, as you can imagine!
As explained in the acknowledgements by the author, she started with writing this book with a long list of countless ideas and shorter fragments she wanted to put in the story. And that's where it went wrong for me, I think. The ending didn't feel like it belonged to the buildup and direction the story was going at all. In hindsight, I guess I can see where the foreshadowing was supposed to be, but it just didn't give me what I wanted from this book at all.
One more note I have to add, is that I find myself very much on the fence of how mental health was handled with the unreliable narration of this story. Especially with what the author decided to do with the "twist". I think that gave it a little bit of a nasty aftertaste to me, even though I completely wanted to love this book.
After that part though, is where the book went from one to a hundred really quickly. It went into a direction I really didn't like. This makes reading the book very difficult, as you can imagine!
As explained in the acknowledgements by the author, she started with writing this book with a long list of countless ideas and shorter fragments she wanted to put in the story. And that's where it went wrong for me, I think. The ending didn't feel like it belonged to the buildup and direction the story was going at all. In hindsight, I guess I can see where the foreshadowing was supposed to be, but it just didn't give me what I wanted from this book at all.
One more note I have to add, is that I find myself very much on the fence of how mental health was handled with the unreliable narration of this story. Especially with what the author decided to do with the "twist". I think that gave it a little bit of a nasty aftertaste to me, even though I completely wanted to love this book.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
the plot was mostly lacking but the vibes were great
dark
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I wish it hadn't been YA as I think the author then could have done more with both the depth of the characters and the plot. If I was 14 (and had never read better dark academia books), I'm sure I would have liked this. But as an adult, it comes across as very paint by numbers for the genre. Nothing was surprising but the audiobook was well done. I likely won't remember any of it in a month. I recommend you skip this and read Plain Bad Heroines.
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The first lesbian dark academia work that I thought at first had an exposition that was too slow and mellow, but the atmosphere reeled me in. Lee’s narrative style was beautiful; the diction was thought out and there were several lines worth underlining. The MCs are solid enough to be interested in them, but the side characters were uninteresting members of Ellis’s clique and existed for the sake of foreshadowing. This isn’t a horrible plot, but it falls off near the end because the act of vengeance isn’t impactful enough. The twisted perspectives and emotions of the MCs doesn’t escalate to the point of suspense, which is a shame because the pacing beyond the exposition was pretty good. Suspense should also be more than an unreliable first-person narration. Felicity questioning her sanity was a good hook, but then her panic attacks became predictable. The tension between her belief in magic and reality lessened overtime.
Overall, I still fell in love with the setting, the narrative style, and the strange chemistry of the MCs. I do respect that endings are hard, but I would’ve liked a little more thought put into the intensity of the rising action and climax. The MCs could’ve pushed one another to their limits…
Overall, I still fell in love with the setting, the narrative style, and the strange chemistry of the MCs. I do respect that endings are hard, but I would’ve liked a little more thought put into the intensity of the rising action and climax. The MCs could’ve pushed one another to their limits…
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-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