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ghostlyprince's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Child death, Death, Bullying, Gaslighting, Grief, and Rape
Moderate: Addiction, Sexism, Stalking, Death of parent, Dementia, Drug abuse, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Confinement, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Classism, Drug use, Suicide, Emotional abuse, and Misogyny
Minor: Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Body shaming, Lesbophobia, Animal death, and Physical abuse
shadeyc's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
relaxing
sad
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? Yes
3.75
3.75
Well. That was intense. Oooooh did that give me the feels, and unsurprisingly made me mad at the patriachy all over again.
I loved the beginning, that first chapter really got me, I'm always sucked in by Àbíké-Íyímídé's writing. But, and it's kind of a half hearted but, I did feel like this book went on a bit long.
I was right there with Sade for most of it, and then I started getting tired. And then I got frsutrated, and then mad, and then tired again.
I get the slow burn suspense is what drives this book, but I think the middle got a little bogged down, and we would still get hit by all th revelations and impact even if this was a little shorter.
PS. Persephone for Prime Minister!
Well. That was intense. Oooooh did that give me the feels, and unsurprisingly made me mad at the patriachy all over again.
I loved the beginning, that first chapter really got me, I'm always sucked in by Àbíké-Íyímídé's writing. But, and it's kind of a half hearted but, I did feel like this book went on a bit long.
I was right there with Sade for most of it, and then I started getting tired. And then I got frsutrated, and then mad, and then tired again.
I get the slow burn suspense is what drives this book, but I think the middle got a little bogged down, and we would still get hit by all th revelations and impact even if this was a little shorter.
PS. Persephone for Prime Minister!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Grief, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Animal death, Death, Death of parent, Alcohol, Bullying, Addiction, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Drug use, and Suicidal thoughts
I've put certain types of assault down as graphic because the impact of them feels that way. However, while the book deals with assault it is not explictly graphic, the discussion of or act is generally talked of, not detailed.bookishmillennial's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-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? It's complicated
disclaimer: I don’t really give starred reviews. I hope my reviews provide enough information to let you know if a book is for you or not. Find me here: https://linktr.ee/bookishmillennial
Look, if the ACOTAR girlies can act like absolute asshats and weaponize their corny ass ww fragility in saying "ThiS BoOk SavEd My LifE, YoU CanNoT CriTiCiZe iT Or You'Re BuLLyiNg Me!", then I CAN DO THAT ABOUT THIS BOOK. IT'S MY GOD GIVEN RIGHT AS AN INSUFFERABLE VIRGO SUN. I truly couldn't give one flying fuck if anyone hates or dislikes this book because it was poignant, infuriating, and spoke to my soul in a devastating way.
This young adult dark academia novel brings you on an intriguing journey of mystery and not knowing who to trust! We meet Sade Hussein on her first day at Alfred Nobel Academy, as she arrives a month late into the semester and is chastised for it. We come to find out she has experienced great loss in her family prior to arriving, while she has been seeing visions of someone from her past and frequently hearing a voice, "You shouldn't have come here." Her house sister and roommate, Elizabeth Wang, shows her around the campus, and then shortly after, a student goes missing at ANA. Sade begins to uncover clues and break rules to find out what really happened to her classmate. She befriends Baz (Basil), the "unholy trinity" (which honestly made me think of Glee lol) which includes April, Persephone and Juliette; August Owens, who is April's brother, and Jude, August's bestie.
I thought the mystery was well-paced, with readers rooting for Sade to uncover as much as she could with the clues that she stumbled upon. If I knew morse code, I would have much more quickly decoded the message Sade found early on with the mysterious box. However, it was fun for me to simply discover information as Sade did, and I felt both her and Baz's frustration and excitement wane a bit as they ran into seemingly dead ends. I appreciated a lull in the investigation here and there, because it rang true to life! This mystery both pulled me in with every new clue, kept me guessing of who was trustworthy or not (truly I was questioning everyone and even Sade at one point, because I was like 'honey buns, are *you* an unreliable narrator?!'), and had me thinking maybe there would not be clear cut answers by the end!
The way Sade's past trauma and loss impacted her current mental health state was of paramount focus, which makes sense. I found this investigation to be a bit of a coping mechanism and distraction for Sade, as she had her own hidden agenda (her original focus at ANA) and this felt somehow like something she *could* control, or at least have some semblance of it. So many parts of her life were not chosen by her, but trying to figure out this missing persons mystery felt like a tangible way to grasp onto control. Though you are not clued into Sade's backstory until much later in the book, you have an inkling that losing her parents only scratches the surface.
Sade begins as a loner, and as someone who is apathetic towards actually developing genuine friendships. The narration lead me to believe she had zero interest in friends, so didn't take it personally when Elizabeth didn't seem extremely keen on being her mentor and/or friend. However, this arc of friendship and building connections was so lovely and fascinating to me. I think Baz and his guinea pig Muffin stole the show for me; Baz is either pan or gay (I forget, please forgive my ADHD brain), and while an array of sexual orientations, ethnicities, abilities, genders, etc. is bare minimum/baseline expectation in media to represent the world we actually live in, I am always appreciative of a cast like this, representative of so many identities <3 Anyway, Baz is so clever and made me giggle a few times, and Muffin was adorable. Free all of the animal testing subjects! Why are we even animal testing anymore!? Good lorddddd.
The undertones of romance between Sade and a few other characters were interesting. Sade's friendship with August develops over their hobby of swimming, and August brings her to the new swimming facilities that the school is building for the swim team. I felt they were much more compatible than Jude, who actively pursues her. Jude is also August's best friend, and he was described by many as a fuckboy, and acted accordingly. I appreciated that FAI showed his charm and wit, because it's important to show how people fall for these facades, these "charming young men." The sapphic pining between Sade and Persephone was so subdued; I LOVED IT! Persephone is lesbian, has turned down many boys at ANA multiple times, including Jude, who said some truly vile things to her. I found the dynamic between S + P to ring true, as they talked around their feelings, rather than directly about them to each other. It rang true to teenage longing to me.
The overarching commentaries and messaging about misogyny, rape culture, standing up to a corrupt administration, and more are important, and I only hope that one day, these elitest institutions either no longer exist or they make vast improvements to protect their students, especially the marginalized ones. Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé wrote another engrossing dark academia story (I did feel fully immersed in this academy!) about how oppressive systems continue to silence and gaslight the marginalized while protecting bad behavior. My take is: burn it all down! However, I'm really proud of Sade and her new friends <3
Look, if the ACOTAR girlies can act like absolute asshats and weaponize their corny ass ww fragility in saying "ThiS BoOk SavEd My LifE, YoU CanNoT CriTiCiZe iT Or You'Re BuLLyiNg Me!", then I CAN DO THAT ABOUT THIS BOOK. IT'S MY GOD GIVEN RIGHT AS AN INSUFFERABLE VIRGO SUN. I truly couldn't give one flying fuck if anyone hates or dislikes this book because it was poignant, infuriating, and spoke to my soul in a devastating way.
This young adult dark academia novel brings you on an intriguing journey of mystery and not knowing who to trust! We meet Sade Hussein on her first day at Alfred Nobel Academy, as she arrives a month late into the semester and is chastised for it. We come to find out she has experienced great loss in her family prior to arriving, while she has been seeing visions of someone from her past and frequently hearing a voice, "You shouldn't have come here." Her house sister and roommate, Elizabeth Wang, shows her around the campus, and then shortly after, a student goes missing at ANA. Sade begins to uncover clues and break rules to find out what really happened to her classmate. She befriends Baz (Basil), the "unholy trinity" (which honestly made me think of Glee lol) which includes April, Persephone and Juliette; August Owens, who is April's brother, and Jude, August's bestie.
I thought the mystery was well-paced, with readers rooting for Sade to uncover as much as she could with the clues that she stumbled upon. If I knew morse code, I would have much more quickly decoded the message Sade found early on with the mysterious box. However, it was fun for me to simply discover information as Sade did, and I felt both her and Baz's frustration and excitement wane a bit as they ran into seemingly dead ends. I appreciated a lull in the investigation here and there, because it rang true to life! This mystery both pulled me in with every new clue, kept me guessing of who was trustworthy or not (truly I was questioning everyone and even Sade at one point, because I was like 'honey buns, are *you* an unreliable narrator?!'), and had me thinking maybe there would not be clear cut answers by the end!
The way Sade's past trauma and loss impacted her current mental health state was of paramount focus, which makes sense. I found this investigation to be a bit of a coping mechanism and distraction for Sade, as she had her own hidden agenda (her original focus at ANA) and this felt somehow like something she *could* control, or at least have some semblance of it. So many parts of her life were not chosen by her, but trying to figure out this missing persons mystery felt like a tangible way to grasp onto control. Though you are not clued into Sade's backstory until much later in the book, you have an inkling that losing her parents only scratches the surface.
Sade begins as a loner, and as someone who is apathetic towards actually developing genuine friendships. The narration lead me to believe she had zero interest in friends, so didn't take it personally when Elizabeth didn't seem extremely keen on being her mentor and/or friend. However, this arc of friendship and building connections was so lovely and fascinating to me. I think Baz and his guinea pig Muffin stole the show for me; Baz is either pan or gay (I forget, please forgive my ADHD brain), and while an array of sexual orientations, ethnicities, abilities, genders, etc. is bare minimum/baseline expectation in media to represent the world we actually live in, I am always appreciative of a cast like this, representative of so many identities <3 Anyway, Baz is so clever and made me giggle a few times, and Muffin was adorable. Free all of the animal testing subjects! Why are we even animal testing anymore!? Good lorddddd.
The undertones of romance between Sade and a few other characters were interesting. Sade's friendship with August develops over their hobby of swimming, and August brings her to the new swimming facilities that the school is building for the swim team. I felt they were much more compatible than Jude, who actively pursues her. Jude is also August's best friend, and he was described by many as a fuckboy, and acted accordingly. I appreciated that FAI showed his charm and wit, because it's important to show how people fall for these facades, these "charming young men." The sapphic pining between Sade and Persephone was so subdued; I LOVED IT! Persephone is lesbian, has turned down many boys at ANA multiple times, including Jude, who said some truly vile things to her. I found the dynamic between S + P to ring true, as they talked around their feelings, rather than directly about them to each other. It rang true to teenage longing to me.
The overarching commentaries and messaging about misogyny, rape culture, standing up to a corrupt administration, and more are important, and I only hope that one day, these elitest institutions either no longer exist or they make vast improvements to protect their students, especially the marginalized ones. Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé wrote another engrossing dark academia story (I did feel fully immersed in this academy!) about how oppressive systems continue to silence and gaslight the marginalized while protecting bad behavior. My take is: burn it all down! However, I'm really proud of Sade and her new friends <3
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny
Moderate: Death of parent, Islamophobia, Sexual assault, Animal death, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Suicide, and Rape
natashaleighton_'s review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
medium-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? Yes
4.5
Insightful, gripping and completely unputdownable! Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé’s Where Sleeping Girls Lie is a mystery-laden powerhouse of a novel, with a dark academia style premise that packs quite an emotional punch.
Tackling themes of grief, rape culture and toxic masculinity, Àbíké-Íyímídé’s emotionally nuanced (and character driven) prose deftly explores the rather disturbing reality of institutional privilege and the trauma inflicted when those privileges—and the power connected to it, is abused.
Told in third person, we follow new girl, Sade Hussein, who has no idea what to expect at the prestigious, Alfred Nobel Academy—the elite and respected boarding school she’s just enrolled at. But, one things for certain—she never expected her roommate to go missing on her first night. Or for rumours to point the blame in her direction, leading to interest from the most popular clique in school-The Unholy Trinity.
Balancing new found friendship with the popular kids and a gruelling school schedule, Sade still can’t shake the wrongness to the school staff’s indifference to a missing student.
So, taking things into her own hands, she teams up with missing girl Elizabeth’s bestie, Baz, to find out what really happened. However, uncovering the truth is harder than it first appears, as the halls (and it’s students) are steeped in lies and secrets …
I absolutely loved this! The attention of detail was phenomenal and the intricately connected clues that propel the narrative were cleverly placed, keeping the suspense fabulously high.
Though I confess, it was the multilayered and depth filled characters and the way in which they navigate their pain and trauma that captivated me the most. Particularly protagonist Sade who,though guarded at first glance, was an incredibly endearing character with a slowly unfurling backstory of loss, grief and resilience that had me rooting for her every step of her journey.
I also adored the found family-esque dynamics and friendship that grows between her and pink haired cinnamon roll, Baz. His adorably chaotic nature really brought a lightheartedness to plot’s intensity and allowed us to catch a glimpse at what Sadie’s future may entail—with a network of love and support that will help heal the inner turmoil she has held onto for soo long.
Persephone and her character development was fascinating for very similar reasons, and I enjoyed the slow-burn friendship-turned romance that we experience between her and Sade, as they get to know (and trust) one another.
The ending wasn’t as straight forward and satisfying as I would’ve liked, but was a fairly realistic portrayal of how similar (real world) situations have been dealt with. The focus on many of the female characters and their individual paths to healing was a nice touch— underlining the importance of mental health services and support for survivors of sexual assault.
Overall, a powerfully poignant, Mean Girls style murder mystery (with queer and Muslim rep) that would work brilliantly as a book club pick, or to kick start discussions around power & privilege, racial discrimination and rape culture with teen/ young adult readers. Just be sure to check the TWs beforehand.
Also a massive thank you to Fritha at Usborne for the amazing proof.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Rape, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Suicide, Child abuse, and Death of parent
Minor: Animal death, Domestic abuse, and Islamophobia
skylarkblue1's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-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? No
5.0
Representations: https://trello.com/c/rfNSpnhX/98-where-sleeping-girls-lie-by-faridah-%C3%A0b%C3%ADk%C3%A9-%C3%ADy%C3%ADm%C3%ADd%C3%A9
Thank you to Netgalley for a free e-arc in exchange for an honest review. I did also buy myself a physical copy of the book a couple chapters in as it was up for a bookclub I go to and they had copies already and I prefer to read physical where I can.
This book was astonishing. I loved it, but it's not a book you have a lot of fun with. I've yet to read Ace of Spades, it's on my physical TBR and I've just not gotten around to it yet, but reading this has made me really want to read AoS sooner!!
This book is exactly like pulling on a loose thread and suddenly the whole sweater unravels. It starts with a missing person mystery and quickly devolves into pulling mystery threads across the entire school. The tension is done delightfully, I think it's supposed to be slow paced but it absolutely read like it was fast paced. I was completely hooked from the first page onwards.
The way the book messes directly with the reader is wonderful, the codes and subtle misdirections are wonderful. I'd have loved code breaking to have more of a focus as it seemed like it was going to at first, but it feels pretty underutilized by the end. Also not entirely sure the author knows what an anagram is haha.
I loved the characters, they were complex and each got the right amount of attention I think. I did get confused a few times on who people were because there's so many characters but by the end I think I had a decent grasp of who was who (except some of the girls 😅). The ones that are meant to be disliked often had a lot more with them than just "hate this character for this reason", even including some ambiguous characters too which made quite a nice mix of a cast.
I honestly can't think of many actual core flaws with this, the only major point is I'm not entirely sure what happened with one of the main plot lines. There was a theory proposed about how it went, but I don't think in the end it was actually confirmed or not. Unless the proposed theory is what happened, pretty believable series of events that fits in well but does feel like we didn't get the full picture of what happened.
Just a note for anyone reading the physical UK copy (at least the first edition out) there's a few major typos especially towards the end. It doesn't make it incomprehensible but it is very noticeable.
Thank you to Netgalley for a free e-arc in exchange for an honest review. I did also buy myself a physical copy of the book a couple chapters in as it was up for a bookclub I go to and they had copies already and I prefer to read physical where I can.
This book was astonishing. I loved it, but it's not a book you have a lot of fun with. I've yet to read Ace of Spades, it's on my physical TBR and I've just not gotten around to it yet, but reading this has made me really want to read AoS sooner!!
This book is exactly like pulling on a loose thread and suddenly the whole sweater unravels. It starts with a missing person mystery and quickly devolves into pulling mystery threads across the entire school. The tension is done delightfully, I think it's supposed to be slow paced but it absolutely read like it was fast paced. I was completely hooked from the first page onwards.
The way the book messes directly with the reader is wonderful, the codes and subtle misdirections are wonderful. I'd have loved code breaking to have more of a focus as it seemed like it was going to at first, but it feels pretty underutilized by the end. Also not entirely sure the author knows what an anagram is haha.
I loved the characters, they were complex and each got the right amount of attention I think. I did get confused a few times on who people were because there's so many characters but by the end I think I had a decent grasp of who was who (except some of the girls 😅). The ones that are meant to be disliked often had a lot more with them than just "hate this character for this reason", even including some ambiguous characters too which made quite a nice mix of a cast.
I honestly can't think of many actual core flaws with this, the only major point is I'm not entirely sure what happened with one of the main plot lines. There was a theory proposed about how it went, but I don't think in the end it was actually confirmed or not. Unless the proposed theory is what happened, pretty believable series of events that fits in well but does feel like we didn't get the full picture of what happened.
Just a note for anyone reading the physical UK copy (at least the first edition out) there's a few major typos especially towards the end. It doesn't make it incomprehensible but it is very noticeable.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse, Suicide, Sexual assault, Rape, and Misogyny
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Death of parent, and Domestic abuse
Minor: Animal death
Animal death is not of a pet, but it does feel slightly out of place and feels like it's just used to shock.njnic23's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
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? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse, Sexual assault, Suicide, Drug use, Death of parent, Rape, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Misogyny, and Emotional abuse
booktribe's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
tense
slow-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? Yes
3.0
Where Sleeping Girls Lie is a young adult mystery about Sade Hussein, new girl at the prestigious boarding school: Alfred Noble Academy, who discovers dark secrets amongst the school after her roommate disappears without a trace.
This was one of my top 3 most anticipated releases for 2024 and I have some things I loved about it and some things I hated. Let’s get into it.
I was hooked from literally the first page! (Honestly from the author’s note! I really appreciated the mention of Oluwatoyin Salau) The writing gripped me immediately and I was IN LOVE! I loved the atmosphere of the novel. The dark academia vibe is going to get me every time! I loved several of the characters. Sade, Persephone, & Baz were so amazing and their chemistry was perfect! I enjoyed other characters as well! As a huge Mean Girls fan (it’s literally my favorite movie of all time), I absolutely LOVED all the subtle, and not-so-subtle, Mean Girls references! And I also loved the unreliable narrator feel to Sade’s POV!
But the pacing of this novel was sooooo slow! Even toward the beginning of the novel, I was loving it so much, but it felt like no matter how much I was reading I couldn’t make any progress. I feel like the book could’ve been at least 60 pages shorter. And it’s not that a whole lot of unnecessary things were happening, it’s that they should’ve happened quicker & more succinctly. I also don’t like that it took so long for us to know ANYTHING. I feel like it would’ve been much better if the story unfolded little by little rather than a whole bunch of build up and then everything gets dumped on you at the end. Speaking of the end, the end was the slowest part… We went in circles forever and it just kept going and going. I just wanted them to get to the point. And by the time the truth was finally revealed, I didn’t care anymore. Plus the reveals were disappointing. My theories were way more interesting than what actually happened. And I was left with several questions at the end. Multiple things were alluded to as part of the mystery and then were never revisited. I think this novel would be better as an hour-and-a-half long movie because the pacing could be much faster and the story can stay interesting!
I do appreciate the commentary in this novel and I enjoyed several things about it like the characters and atmosphere, but the pacing really dampened my enjoyment. Maybe I was comparing it to this author’s previous novel, Ace of Spades, because it was super fast paced and I expected the same energy in this one. But slow pace never really works for me, so people that enjoy slow burn mysteries may enjoy this more!
Thank you to Netgalley and Feiwel and Friends for this arc. All opinions are my own.
TW: sexual assault (non-graphic but a recurring theme), misogyny, suicide, death of a parent, child neglect, domestic abuse (briefly mentioned), and discussions of grief
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Misogyny, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Death of parent and Suicide
Minor: Child abuse and Domestic abuse
The sexual assault scenes are not graphic, but it is a recurring theme in the novel so I put in under “graphic”
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