Scan barcode
cosmodeus_'s review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
this is a must read!!! it has a beautifully complex magic system, and it's a world you will be absorbed into. there are so many unexpected turns and twists, and it is a wonderfully constructed story. the writing is amazing and the multiple povs for chapters really helps you understand each character. this story is amazing, and i cannot wait for the release of the second book. this story definitely lived up to the booktok hype. if you're thinking about it, go buy it and read it!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Death
Moderate: Cursing, Emotional abuse, Suicide attempt, Blood, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Child death
silver_lining_in_a_book's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
You want to believe that your hesitation makes you good, makes you better? It doesn't. Every single one of us is missing something. We are all too powerful, too extraordinary, and don't you see it's because we're riddled with vacancies? We are empty and trying to fill, lighting ourselves on fire just to prove that we are normal - that we are ordinary. That we, like anything, can burn.
Every decade, six medeians are invited to compete for a place in the Alexandrian Society. They are the best of the best, masters of their craft. They must study, train and fight under the same roof for a year, five will go on to study for a second year, one will not. It is up to them to decide who is eliminated.
I do not have the words to describe how this book made me feel. The story was so different from anything I could have imagined, but Olivie Blake really delivered when it comes to the characters and the atmosphere. The latter was mainly as a result of her beautifully crafted prose, which really reflected the elitist academic setting and transported the reader right into the centre of all the action and tension within the Library of Alexandria.
When it comes to the prior, I think the author must have worked some sort of magic of her own. All of the characters were so deeply flawed and quite a number of them were undeniably twisted, but she somehow managed to make me care for all of them. Most of all, to my surprise, I found myself adoring the most depraved character in this book - Callum Nova. I don't know why I cared for him so much, but I loved his power and I loved the way he observed other characters from afar without much care for their opinion of him. I have never read from a character like him before, which - considering the number of dark academia literature published every year - is quite an achievement!
The reason I emphasise the characters in this novel is that they are truly the foundation for what Blake has crafted here. The novel has a plot, but it gently simmers in the background as the characters and their dynamics (not to mention all their discussions about physics, psychology and human morality) take centre stage. The plot really only picks up right at the end, but that is exactly I type of book that I enjoy, so I can't complain. I absolutely adored this and cannot wait to see where the author takes this story next! (I just hope that we get to see a little more of Callum!)
Every decade, six medeians are invited to compete for a place in the Alexandrian Society. They are the best of the best, masters of their craft. They must study, train and fight under the same roof for a year, five will go on to study for a second year, one will not. It is up to them to decide who is eliminated.
I do not have the words to describe how this book made me feel. The story was so different from anything I could have imagined, but Olivie Blake really delivered when it comes to the characters and the atmosphere. The latter was mainly as a result of her beautifully crafted prose, which really reflected the elitist academic setting and transported the reader right into the centre of all the action and tension within the Library of Alexandria.
When it comes to the prior, I think the author must have worked some sort of magic of her own. All of the characters were so deeply flawed and quite a number of them were undeniably twisted, but she somehow managed to make me care for all of them. Most of all, to my surprise, I found myself adoring the most depraved character in this book - Callum Nova. I don't know why I cared for him so much, but I loved his power and I loved the way he observed other characters from afar without much care for their opinion of him. I have never read from a character like him before, which - considering the number of dark academia literature published every year - is quite an achievement!
The reason I emphasise the characters in this novel is that they are truly the foundation for what Blake has crafted here. The novel has a plot, but it gently simmers in the background as the characters and their dynamics (not to mention all their discussions about physics, psychology and human morality) take centre stage. The plot really only picks up right at the end, but that is exactly I type of book that I enjoy, so I can't complain. I absolutely adored this and cannot wait to see where the author takes this story next! (I just hope that we get to see a little more of Callum!)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Child death, Murder, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Death, Emotional abuse, Suicide attempt, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Child abuse, Terminal illness, Death of parent, Drug use, and Mass/school shootings
Minor: Classism, Alcohol, Blood, Grief, Infidelity, and Kidnapping
bookishgoob's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- 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? N/A
5.0
I went into this with high hopes, and in the beginning i was worried those hopes were too high. I felt like I had hyped myself up too much to enjoy what was in front of me. However, after some time with it I realized I hadn’t necessarily hyped myself up too much, I was just far too impatient to let the story unfold. The way that the characters each had their own perspective added so much depth and life to the story. The fact that I could hate and love these characters added an element of me being there with them. I loved that these characters weren’t two dimensional what so ever, even the side characters had dimension and purpose. The way that the story unfolded and came together at the end was a perfect mystery answered with a slight cliffhanger for what’s to come. I enjoyed every moment of this book, from the dark academia aesthetic, to the moral ambiguity each character had. I felt like I related so much to libby and reina, and loved parisa and nico. I couldn’t stand callum the whole time but his character still added so much to the story. The questions my mind was going over of “Is he wrong because I think he’s wrong or is he actually morally wrong?” was a constant on the forefront of my mind. People say that they hated the “pretentious” language used, like it wasn’t the entire point. It’s a secret society. Of course it’s pretentious. Anyway, I am so excited for book 2 and I am finding myself feeling so impatient for it! I highly recommend this book if you’re in the mood for secret society, rivals to lovers, and hot people.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Classism, Gaslighting, Grief, Sexism, Alcohol, Death, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Medical trauma, Chronic illness, Gore, Infidelity, Child death, Death of parent, Religious bigotry, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, and Addiction
Minor: Hate crime, Kidnapping, and Gun violence
claudiamacpherson's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Gaslighting, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Cursing, and Sexual content
Minor: Alcohol, Blood, Child death, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Body horror, Classism, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Kidnapping, Violence, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, and Gore
aliyachaudhry's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Kidnapping, Murder, Alcohol, Cursing, Death, Suicide, and Violence
Moderate: Blood, Classism, Drug use, Death of parent, Child death, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship
oliviafendrich's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
This book was quite interesting. The characters' interpersonal relations largely drive the narrative but are skillfully easy to keep track of. Get ready for lots of dialogue! This book could almost be described as a long string of conversations. It's well-written, though repetitive on occasion. I'd recommend this book to anyone who's a bit afraid of fantasy, as it's not overcomplicated. Some good romance, and well-paced. Hoping to check out the rest of this series, and Blake's other works.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Cursing, Death, Gore, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Murder, Sexual content, and Violence
Moderate: Abandonment, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, and Child death
Minor: Antisemitism, Confinement, Death of parent, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Terminal illness, and Vomit
lainiereads's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Okay, this book is confusing. But, in a good way, I think? Like I really enjoyed reading it, and I can't wait for the second one, but man I had no idea what was going on the whole time. The writing has the perfect dark academia fanciness, which created a large amount of confusion- but it's also what made me still enjoy reading even when I was completely lost. Olivie Blake's writing makes it so easy for the readers to feel like they are also in some mysterious private "school" and are learning about some crazy complicated magic.
Speaking about magic, that was also very hard for me to understand- but once again, in an enjoyable way. It felt a lot like reading about philosophy, but instead of being all theoretical, it was about the magical abilities that they had. It was very interesting to learn about, although I absolutely understood none of it (like actual philosophy). If anyone enjoys that kind of abstract thinking, then this book is 100% for you. If you don't like that kind of thing though, don't worry, it's still enjoyable when you don't understand it.
Now for the best part of the book: the characters! They were all so complex! And their dynamic with each other?? Also complex! It was so hard to figure out what was going to happen next because there were so many layers to each person. It felt like every chapter, my perception of each character was completely changed! My personal favorites would probably be Nico and Libby, who I can't wait to see more of in the next book (psssst Olivie Blake, please give me more Libby and Nick content in the next one, that's all I want). They both try to be morally good but find themselves struggling with doing the right thing at times. Libby especially questions her beliefs a lot, which made me connect to her a lot more than others who just did crazy things for fun (though I also love those characters too).
This book includes many morally gray characters, fancy dark academia vibes, and a complex storyline- what's not to like? Everyone go read it so we can all discuss the ending and wait patiently for the next one :)
Speaking about magic, that was also very hard for me to understand- but once again, in an enjoyable way. It felt a lot like reading about philosophy, but instead of being all theoretical, it was about the magical abilities that they had. It was very interesting to learn about, although I absolutely understood none of it (like actual philosophy). If anyone enjoys that kind of abstract thinking, then this book is 100% for you. If you don't like that kind of thing though, don't worry, it's still enjoyable when you don't understand it.
Now for the best part of the book: the characters! They were all so complex! And their dynamic with each other?? Also complex! It was so hard to figure out what was going to happen next because there were so many layers to each person. It felt like every chapter, my perception of each character was completely changed! My personal favorites would probably be Nico and Libby, who I can't wait to see more of in the next book (psssst Olivie Blake, please give me more Libby and Nick content in the next one, that's all I want). They both try to be morally good but find themselves struggling with doing the right thing at times. Libby especially questions her beliefs a lot, which made me connect to her a lot more than others who just did crazy things for fun (though I also love those characters too).
This book includes many morally gray characters, fancy dark academia vibes, and a complex storyline- what's not to like? Everyone go read it so we can all discuss the ending and wait patiently for the next one :)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Alcohol, Cursing, Kidnapping, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Chronic illness, Violence, and Grief
lessthelonely's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
OK, this one was a long time coming. Thanks BookTok for the recomendation.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I was skeptical of it - and you might think it's because the book is self-published, but nope! -, mostly because the chapters weren't tagged in the contents of the eBook, somehow, so I assumed that the book only had 8 chapters. I was delightly surprised it wasn't true.
I actually went beyond wanting to read this book to actually reading it only because many people raved about it being MLM, WLW and also having heterossexual relationships. I get why that was said, but I was highly dissappointed to know that the LGBTQ+ content was mostly a sex scene and an I love you scene that was really intense but felt kind of flat for me: I believed this book was going to go a very certain way, it being with 3 pairs of closed emotional and romantic relationships but with added openness, as in... polyamory.
I was all in for that, and the thing is I was sort of right? There are very defined relationships here, but I don't think any of them actually reached what I was hoping, which is fine, if the sequel takes it from here. I guess I was just hoping to feel highly depressed about these 6 blaring attractive characters that were painfully my type (Nico de Varona, I'm specially looking at you, you little shit; Callum, you're second) just be happy, because their flaws could make me feel loveable, which is something I haven't been feeling a lot.
This book is PACKED with text. And I'm usually awfully skeptical of books who go for the mysticism and pretty words, but this book does it right. It's a lot of information and a lot of wandering, but it's always beautiful. One thing I noticed is that many chapters happened to follow a certain technique: we start at a point B, and right at the beginning the character focuses on something that happened before B, so A, after which they go back to point B and finish that little thread. I noticed it being used quite a few times, but it never deterred from the experience.
Other thing I feel like I must say is that even though I loved all these characters, there were some that felt a bit lacking at times, namely Reina, whose flaws weren't as explored as, for example, Libby's, Parisa's, Nico's or even Tristan's. Secondly, Tristan's problems seemed highly convoluted, and there's a scene that basically leaves him totally bare. I suspect that this was done to tell us there's more to him than this. If that's not the case, I'm going to be extremely sad.
Finally... Callum. I really liked Callum but he caused me severe emotional distress because No way you're that cynical without it having some real toll on you. I'm expecting that Book 2 will go into his actual flaws, because I didn't seem like we saw any flaws or vulnerability from him this book: what I got from what he's been through is that he's a victim and product of his own environment which... ouch, that hits close to home, but at the same time, I was always on constant edge reading his thoughts and feelings. It was highly distressed because it seemed like he's always on the verge of letting himself feel and be a bit truer to his own humanity, but that didn't really happen, not in this book.
Either way, that's the only reason I won't give this book 5 stars. Read it. It's dark, it's mystic, it's absolutely fantastic and it deserves the hype that follows it. Ms. Olivie Blake, thank you for your service.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I was skeptical of it - and you might think it's because the book is self-published, but nope! -, mostly because the chapters weren't tagged in the contents of the eBook, somehow, so I assumed that the book only had 8 chapters. I was delightly surprised it wasn't true.
I actually went beyond wanting to read this book to actually reading it only because many people raved about it being MLM, WLW and also having heterossexual relationships. I get why that was said, but I was highly dissappointed to know that the LGBTQ+ content was mostly a sex scene and an I love you scene that was really intense but felt kind of flat for me: I believed this book was going to go a very certain way, it being with 3 pairs of closed emotional and romantic relationships but with added openness, as in... polyamory.
I was all in for that, and the thing is I was sort of right? There are very defined relationships here, but I don't think any of them actually reached what I was hoping, which is fine, if the sequel takes it from here. I guess I was just hoping to feel highly depressed about these 6 blaring attractive characters that were painfully my type (Nico de Varona, I'm specially looking at you, you little shit; Callum, you're second) just be happy, because their flaws could make me feel loveable, which is something I haven't been feeling a lot.
This book is PACKED with text. And I'm usually awfully skeptical of books who go for the mysticism and pretty words, but this book does it right. It's a lot of information and a lot of wandering, but it's always beautiful. One thing I noticed is that many chapters happened to follow a certain technique: we start at a point B, and right at the beginning the character focuses on something that happened before B, so A, after which they go back to point B and finish that little thread. I noticed it being used quite a few times, but it never deterred from the experience.
Other thing I feel like I must say is that even though I loved all these characters, there were some that felt a bit lacking at times, namely Reina, whose flaws weren't as explored as, for example, Libby's, Parisa's, Nico's or even Tristan's. Secondly, Tristan's problems seemed highly convoluted, and there's a scene that basically leaves him totally bare. I suspect that this was done to tell us there's more to him than this. If that's not the case, I'm going to be extremely sad.
Finally... Callum. I really liked Callum but he caused me severe emotional distress because No way you're that cynical without it having some real toll on you. I'm expecting that Book 2 will go into his actual flaws, because I didn't seem like we saw any flaws or vulnerability from him this book: what I got from what he's been through is that he's a victim and product of his own environment which... ouch, that hits close to home, but at the same time, I was always on constant edge reading his thoughts and feelings. It was highly distressed because it seemed like he's always on the verge of letting himself feel and be a bit truer to his own humanity, but that didn't really happen, not in this book.
Either way, that's the only reason I won't give this book 5 stars. Read it. It's dark, it's mystic, it's absolutely fantastic and it deserves the hype that follows it. Ms. Olivie Blake, thank you for your service.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual content, Terminal illness, and Violence
librarianmage's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
wow
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Blood, Child abuse, and Child death
More...