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wrensreadingroom's review against another edition
5.0
Moderate: Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Racism, Confinement, Cursing, Gaslighting, Body shaming, Dysphoria, Gun violence, Cancer, Bullying, Vomit, Classism, Alcohol, Toxic friendship, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Body horror, Medical content, Colonisation, Violence, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Torture, and Homophobia
ofbooksandechos's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, and Racism
Moderate: Body horror, Bullying, Death, and Murder
Minor: Child death
tandewrites's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
I fell in love with this book from the start. It hit all of my niche interests and there were so many places where I had to stop reading and audibly gasp because there were lines that were so Me that it genuinely felt like I wrote them. I am obsessed with sentient forests that may or may not want you dead. I adored the descriptions of the creatures in the trees. And there were so many little lines that were so beautifully written that my eARC is now full of highlights. The initial concept of this book was perfect for me and I fell in love with the writing (and I am down to read anything else in the horror-adjacent genre that this author writes in the future).
Where this book started to lose me was in the second half. Here, it started to feel repetitive and I felt as if there was little else to the plot other than the main storyline, and I just wanted More, even if it was additional interactions between the main character and love interest so their relationship felt fleshed out, or more time spent in the town with secondary characters so I could understand why it was important for a curse that seemed so contained to a few people to be broken. It felt like a loop of the MC saying "I have to break the curse" while fight scenes played out, and the climax was underwhelming for me in comparison to the stakes.
Also, I personally wouldn't describe it as dark academia - it has dark themes and is set in a boarding school, but there is very limited academia and a brief encounter in a library. It's more of a dark urban fantasy with horror influences in my opinion, so I hope people don't go into this expecting true dark academia themes and storylines.
<b>Content warnings:</b> death, gore, homophobia, body horror, violence
Graphic: Death and Gore
Moderate: Body horror and Violence
Minor: Homophobia and Bullying