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erised's review against another edition
challenging
informative
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
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Violence
Minor: Classism
booksthatburn's review against another edition
I was initially drawn in by the premise, a group of magicians brought to the Library of Alexandria have a year to decide which one of them will be eliminated and which five get to stay for another year. The cast of characters is pretty diverse (though a bit of that initial feeling of diversity was dampened when I realized all of them seemed to have English as their first language, which instantly shrunk the practical candidate pool. Part of the story questions the validity and methods of the entire enterprise, so that leaves some wiggle room for explaining why the candidates aren't actually very diverse (only six total, and two are from the same school in the USA?). Additionally, this could have been the library of Atlantis or Boston and it would have had just as much relevance to the plot. The latest incarnation of the "Library of Alexandria" is physically located in London, in the UK. It became clear pretty quickly that "Alexandria" is just a name, and an indication of thousands of years of whatever this thing is (or at least a claim to that long legacy). There are vague descriptions of the category of study and experiments which the candidates are pursuing, but most of the story is actually a very intense and complicated web of power plays and personal dynamics between the six candidates and the two Alexandrians who oversee them (mostly one of them). There's a pretty intense sex scene about halfway through which I actually didn't mind, but it felt like a sudden shift in tone from the rest of the book.
The characters seemed initially pretty interesting, but there's very little description of how their powers actually work. There are discussions of magical theory which I enjoyed, but they were usually couched in ways where the magic is actually secondary, which made them feel unmoored from the world being built.
It's six (sometimes eight) people in a house, talking to each other and slowly changing how they feel about one another, which is not what I was expecting in a book about "magicians living in the Library of Alexandria".
Ultimately I stopped because it became clearly stated that the whole thing is a slow burn trolley problem, and I don't like trolley problem situations.
The characters seemed initially pretty interesting, but there's very little description of how their powers actually work. There are discussions of magical theory which I enjoyed, but they were usually couched in ways where the magic is actually secondary, which made them feel unmoored from the world being built.
It's six (sometimes eight) people in a house, talking to each other and slowly changing how they feel about one another, which is not what I was expecting in a book about "magicians living in the Library of Alexandria".
Ultimately I stopped because it became clearly stated that the whole thing is a slow burn trolley problem, and I don't like trolley problem situations.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Classism, Murder, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, and Suicide
Moderate: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, Cursing, Grief, Sexism, Violence, and Gun violence
Minor: Child death and Fire/Fire injury
avie_j's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
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? No
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Death, Violence, and Sexual content
Moderate: Mental illness, Gaslighting, and Classism
Minor: Sexual violence, Rape, and Grief
anniereads221's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
4.5
I wanted to come back to this book to review because why not and maybe I will do more reviews like this, probably not though.
The characters are all pretentious assholes, there I said it, but they all have their flaws and things that make you like them a little bit at least.
Though I did expect everyone to kiss in this book or be a thing, I was like these two should date, not these two. but whoever gets with who I am just having a good time that is for sure.
I resonated with Libby more than I thought I would, but her anxiety really came through and her just asking all the questions to be absolutely sure of something, that is me all over.
The only character that I ever had trouble liking out of the main 6 was Callum and I am hoping for that to change in the second book because there is definitely more to him than we get to see. But if not oh well I will continue to root for the others over him. no biggie.
Give me fantasy elements, dark academia and asshole characters that have to interact, and I am probably gonna have a great time!! I am excited to see where this series will take us too next
I wanted to come back to this book to review because why not and maybe I will do more reviews like this, probably not though.
The characters are all pretentious assholes, there I said it, but they all have their flaws and things that make you like them a little bit at least.
Though I did expect everyone to kiss in this book or be a thing, I was like these two should date, not these two. but whoever gets with who I am just having a good time that is for sure.
I resonated with Libby more than I thought I would, but her anxiety really came through and her just asking all the questions to be absolutely sure of something, that is me all over.
The only character that I ever had trouble liking out of the main 6 was Callum and I am hoping for that to change in the second book because there is definitely more to him than we get to see. But if not oh well I will continue to root for the others over him. no biggie.
Give me fantasy elements, dark academia and asshole characters that have to interact, and I am probably gonna have a great time!! I am excited to see where this series will take us too next
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Body horror, Classism, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexism, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Violence, Blood, Death, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, and Sexual content
dnlrbchd's review against another edition
This expired before I got through the last hour or so and I didn't care.
All of the characters were unlikable. The premise was overly complicated and the set up felt incredibly slow as a result. I was more invested in getting through the book than finding out what happened.
All of the characters were unlikable. The premise was overly complicated and the set up felt incredibly slow as a result. I was more invested in getting through the book than finding out what happened.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying, Classism, Sexual content, and Toxic friendship
cluckieduck's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-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
3.0
The hype lead me here, but all I can say is that I think this book was trying to hard to be something grand. A lot needs to be tightened up - it just kept going in circles, filled with redundancies rather than fleshing-out the characterization or world-building that was deeply needed. That being said, it was good enough that I'll continue with the series to see where it leads.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Suicide attempt, Violence, Bullying, Cursing, Murder, Blood, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, and Suicide
Moderate: Alcohol, Classism, and Stalking
Minor: Sexual content, Chronic illness, Infidelity, and Sexual harassment
thehappylittleelf's review against another edition
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
I’m going to note something at the top here that’s probably going to be the most relevant part of this review. I’ve seen a lot of people mark this book as having great LGBT+ rep, and that characterization baffles me. There’s a lot of queer baiting, but no actual obvious queer rep. There’s a threesome with two women and a man and that’s about it. And it’s pretty explicitly stated that the sex is there to manipulate the other characters, not because there are genuine feelings — not even genuine sexual feelings! There’s some ship teasing with a character and his roommate, but there’s also “no homo” moments when that same character lusts after the busty girl. If you’re queer, make of that what you will. I just thought I’d point that out. There are way, way, way, way better books out there with queer rep if that’s what you’re looking for. There’s better Dark Academia queer books out there (May I point out Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo? That book is great).
Anyway! That being said: The review.
This book reminded me of Wonder Woman 1984. And if there’s a story you DON’T want people thinking about while reading your book, it’s that movie. Anyway, I thought of that crap movie because a lot of the dialogue was written to SOUND profound, but if you thought about it for two seconds, you realize it doesn’t actually say anything.
Anyway! That being said: The review.
This book reminded me of Wonder Woman 1984. And if there’s a story you DON’T want people thinking about while reading your book, it’s that movie. Anyway, I thought of that crap movie because a lot of the dialogue was written to SOUND profound, but if you thought about it for two seconds, you realize it doesn’t actually say anything.
From WW84:
That is the truth. That is the only truth, and truth is all there is.You cannot be the winner, because you are not ready to win, and there is no shame in that. Only in knowing the truth in your heart and not accepting it. No true hero is born from lies.
(later in the movie)
This world was a beautiful place just as it was… and you cannot have it all. You can only have the truth. And the truth is enough. The truth is beautiful.
When listening to these speeches in the movie, I kept thinking, “What does that even mean????” It doesn’t mean anything. The writers just threw the word “truth” around because it sounded important.
And that’s how I felt with the prose in this book. It tried deeply, deeply hard to be smart, and yet barely any of it actually meant anything. It harped on things like, “Oh no, these characters don’t know how to starve but Parisa knows or some shit!” (not exact quote, but arguably better prose)
It’s also very repetitive. The same points are talked about over and over and over and over and you’re left thinking whether the ending will make it make sense, but NO. The ending makes LESS sense. It’s sequel bait at its finest.
The twist is pretty silly, IMHO.
Really, this book isn’t meant to be read for the plot. It’s meant for you to pick your favorite pairing and talk about it on TikTok. And that’s okay. You will probably like it if you like characters having sexual tension with each other. It’s just not for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity, Sexual content, and Classism
uranaishi's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Grief, Terminal illness, Violence, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Sexual content, Abandonment, Cursing, Alcohol, Bullying, Child death, and Death
Minor: Child abuse, Vomit, Classism, War, Blood, Colonisation, Confinement, Drug use, and Fire/Fire injury
maiahhtratchh's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I had high expectations and was kind of let down. One thing I would say is classifying this book as LGBTQ+ is kind of a reach. While there are hints to queer characters and a threesome I do not believe that it fits the parameters to be classified as a queer book. It has potential to go that way in the sequel but yeah not really. Everyone is saying that the ending was shocking and there was a great twist… Idunno it didn’t seem that shocking to me. if they had cut the interlude chapter between Atlas and Ezra and kept that until the end THEN I would have been shocked but that paired with Libby going missing, I knew he was entrenched into the twist and he was likely an old initiate
Content Warnings
Graphic: Classism, Alcohol, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Murder and Suicide
kayladaila's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
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? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror and Blood
Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Bullying, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Gore, Death of parent, Murder, Mass/school shootings, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Abandonment, Alcohol, Child death, Adult/minor relationship, Chronic illness, and Classism