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3.59 AVERAGE
3.59 AVERAGE
➥ 3.5 stars
I went in to this book expecting The Craft meets Heathers & maybe my expectations were too high because of it. I've anticipated this book for a while as it felt right up my alley; dark academia, witches, mystery, haunting etc. However, the book was very lacking in about 99% of those departments.
I will say the book did encompass the vibes of the dark academia genre pretty well but thats not enough to make it interesting to me. It's possible I didnt connect with this book in the right ways as others who loved it have for a variety of reasons but who knows really.
I don't really know how to go about reviewing this in full so I think a list of likes & dislikes may be easier:
✦LIKES✦
- Dark Academia vibes: The school is very interesting & the entire history of it fits the theme really well, including the 5 supposed witches that were murdered long ago.
- Good spooky vibes during the séance scene: the way the séance was written felt very eerie & really had you wondering if they'd summoned something dangerous or not. We love a good spooky séance.
- Continued questioning of whether or not the haunting is real: The constant questioning of if the ghosts/hauntings are real or if someone is messing with our MC keeps you questioning all the way through.
✦DISLIKES✦
- Not enough witchcraft: the blurb of the book promises witchcraft (woven in to the history of Dalloway) & there's barely a single speck of witchcraft in this book. it has a séance, a couple tarot readings & just continued mentions of how MAYBE the 5 girls killed long ago MIGHT have been witches. I definitely expected more magic overall.
- Constant drinking?: For a private high school where our two MC's are both seventeen this book is massively hooked on them getting drunk & drinking often. I'm not saying underage drinking is a problem for me, just that this book is CONSTANTLY going on about alcohol. There are a few parties but then they just mix their own drinks all the time & it explains the taste of them in details the reader doesn't really need. It just felt out of place most of the time & didn't help the story 8/10 times it was brought up.
- Weird mental health choices: Our MC Felicity struggles with her mental health after the accidental death of her gf. I don't think this was properly conveyed outside of her being unsure if she was 'crazy' or not because of the possible hauntings she thought was happening. She also just suddenly stops taking her medication & buries it outside with a crystal. I know everyone's mental health is different but this it just felt like she was only unwell when it was convenient to the plot. It just felt weird overall.
- Sidelined POC & Trans Characters: The only black character in this book that's in Felicity's dorm fells like she was put there just to give Felicity background on how her grandmother was the 1st black person to ever go to that school. She also informs our MC that she's only 1 of 3 black characters total that current year. We rarely hear from her after that so it was really strange & that entire conversation added nothing to the plot of the book. As for the single trans character, Ellis' cousin Quinn, there's very little to say. Quinn is brought in randomly, talks to Felicity a bit to drop some Ellis background & then is not involved in the rest of the book in any other way.
Overall I think my expectations were too high for what this was. Its not a terrible book but it wasn't what I was hoping it would be & I feel if it had gone in different directions it could have had the same cult creepy vibes of media like The Witch or The Haunting of Hill House.
My thoughts on the ending:
I went in to this book expecting The Craft meets Heathers & maybe my expectations were too high because of it. I've anticipated this book for a while as it felt right up my alley; dark academia, witches, mystery, haunting etc. However, the book was very lacking in about 99% of those departments.
I will say the book did encompass the vibes of the dark academia genre pretty well but thats not enough to make it interesting to me. It's possible I didnt connect with this book in the right ways as others who loved it have for a variety of reasons but who knows really.
I don't really know how to go about reviewing this in full so I think a list of likes & dislikes may be easier:
✦LIKES✦
- Dark Academia vibes: The school is very interesting & the entire history of it fits the theme really well, including the 5 supposed witches that were murdered long ago.
- Good spooky vibes during the séance scene: the way the séance was written felt very eerie & really had you wondering if they'd summoned something dangerous or not. We love a good spooky séance.
- Continued questioning of whether or not the haunting is real: The constant questioning of if the ghosts/hauntings are real or if someone is messing with our MC keeps you questioning all the way through.
✦DISLIKES✦
- Not enough witchcraft: the blurb of the book promises witchcraft (woven in to the history of Dalloway) & there's barely a single speck of witchcraft in this book. it has a séance, a couple tarot readings & just continued mentions of how MAYBE the 5 girls killed long ago MIGHT have been witches. I definitely expected more magic overall.
- Constant drinking?: For a private high school where our two MC's are both seventeen this book is massively hooked on them getting drunk & drinking often. I'm not saying underage drinking is a problem for me, just that this book is CONSTANTLY going on about alcohol. There are a few parties but then they just mix their own drinks all the time & it explains the taste of them in details the reader doesn't really need. It just felt out of place most of the time & didn't help the story 8/10 times it was brought up.
- Weird mental health choices: Our MC Felicity struggles with her mental health after the accidental death of her gf. I don't think this was properly conveyed outside of her being unsure if she was 'crazy' or not because of the possible hauntings she thought was happening. She also just suddenly stops taking her medication & buries it outside with a crystal. I know everyone's mental health is different but this it just felt like she was only unwell when it was convenient to the plot. It just felt weird overall.
- Sidelined POC & Trans Characters: The only black character in this book that's in Felicity's dorm fells like she was put there just to give Felicity background on how her grandmother was the 1st black person to ever go to that school. She also informs our MC that she's only 1 of 3 black characters total that current year. We rarely hear from her after that so it was really strange & that entire conversation added nothing to the plot of the book. As for the single trans character, Ellis' cousin Quinn, there's very little to say. Quinn is brought in randomly, talks to Felicity a bit to drop some Ellis background & then is not involved in the rest of the book in any other way.
Spoiler
I'm not counting the gun being Quinn's because that could literally have been the property of any other character.Overall I think my expectations were too high for what this was. Its not a terrible book but it wasn't what I was hoping it would be & I feel if it had gone in different directions it could have had the same cult creepy vibes of media like The Witch or The Haunting of Hill House.
My thoughts on the ending:
Spoiler
I think the author's choice to make Ellis a murderer for the sake of her book was a mistake. I will admit I didn't even realize Clara was missing, so when Felicity found her body in Alex's grave it had very little impact on me. There were nods in the book that Ellis was a little unhinged when it came to recreating the 5 original deaths but I think it would have been MORE entertaining if she'd killed all of their housemates in the exact ways those original 5 died in a way to channel the spirits of those original 5 & complete her book. It wasn't a bad ending but it did feel lacking.
update: 5 starts idc i ate this UP. a halloween must. i enjoy this even more each time i read it wow
4.5 stars
dark academia lesbians !!
it was scary, it was dark, it was gay. what more could you want? what a ride. by the time i finished i was quite spooked. read with dark classical scores for effect! i could really see this one becoming a movie pls pls pls
4.5 stars
dark academia lesbians !!
it was scary, it was dark, it was gay. what more could you want? what a ride. by the time i finished i was quite spooked. read with dark classical scores for effect! i could really see this one becoming a movie pls pls pls
Easy to get into, not easy for me to follow, just not my genre! But seems like it'd be an amazing book if I liked the style a bit more.
This was way more dark and disturbing than I thought! And I loved it.
This is a dark academia novel where we follow Felicity who goes back to Dalloway School after being institutionalized for losing her girlfriend last year.
The setting of this boarding school is very athmospheric in that it was founded by one of the salem witches and that multiple girls died on campus due to "witchcraft". These 5 Dalloway witches all died one after the other right on the grounds of Godwin House, now Felicity's dormitory.
Throughout this story you are continiously wondering if there are occult things going on and if witches and possession truly is a thing. Our main character is very much scared for the darkness but you feel her connection to the "darkside". Which was an amazong character development throughout the story and the reveals were amazingly timed.
The other characters in the story all live in the same dorm as Felicity, the most important one being Ellis the famous writer. She is a very strong character that wants to use the history of Dalloway for her novel and goes very far in her research.
The way Felicity grows her relationship with these girls is very well developped in such a short novel.
Overall this is exactly what I was looking for in a dark academia book and truly enjoyed this little haunted story and character studies!
This is a dark academia novel where we follow Felicity who goes back to Dalloway School after being institutionalized for losing her girlfriend last year.
The setting of this boarding school is very athmospheric in that it was founded by one of the salem witches and that multiple girls died on campus due to "witchcraft". These 5 Dalloway witches all died one after the other right on the grounds of Godwin House, now Felicity's dormitory.
Throughout this story you are continiously wondering if there are occult things going on and if witches and possession truly is a thing. Our main character is very much scared for the darkness but you feel her connection to the "darkside". Which was an amazong character development throughout the story and the reveals were amazingly timed.
The other characters in the story all live in the same dorm as Felicity, the most important one being Ellis the famous writer. She is a very strong character that wants to use the history of Dalloway for her novel and goes very far in her research.
The way Felicity grows her relationship with these girls is very well developped in such a short novel.
Overall this is exactly what I was looking for in a dark academia book and truly enjoyed this little haunted story and character studies!
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
DNF-ed cos what a let-down. Someone on here compared this to a fever dream and yes.
dark
This book is not quite a murder mystery but it does lean heavily into the dark academia vibes of an isolated private high school. This isn’t a straight forward story and I enjoy that it called attention to my assumptions as a reader that prevented me from piecing together the ending.
The reader knows early on that Felicity was present when her girlfriend died. It didn’t occur to me until much later in the book that this narrator isn’t trustworthy. Even though she went to a mental institution, I thought this was the result of grief rather than any personality disorders. I’m still left wondering if she is a product of her circumstances or if she belonged in an institution the whole time. And although she’s functioning this would have been more for the safety of others. After she pushed Alex over the edge, that was the point of no return because it didn’t seem like an accident.
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
been on my tbr for long enough and wasn't engaged enough to continue