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A review by totaldweeb
Chrysalis and Requiem by Quinton Li
1.0
Chrysalis and Requiem by Quinton Li follows Veaer, a scholarship student at a prestigious boarding college who is planning on breezing through her last year to secure her place at a good university. While following the schools resident "princess" after hours, Veaer witnesses a horrific murder and is thrown into a mystery of angels, rituals and power. It is described as a dark academia, new adult thriller and while I want to love everything this book has to offer, I really had to force myself through the majority of the text.
The criteria this book meets to be considered dark academia is essentially "bad stuff happens on school grounds" with some additional class divide mentioned in pieces throughout. I have very little idea what the world even looks like beyond the school, with magic broadly explained over a few sentences early on, the world building leaves little to be desired. ** EDIT** I have since discovered that this is set in the same world as another of Li's books. I'm sure reading this book prior would have given me the context needed, but this book is not marketed as a sequel or even a spin off, so bare that mind.
I can appreciate the authors inclusivity of queer representation, of which identities don't feel forced or "tokenised", but the characters lack development to have let me form any kind of attachment to them. There are some really lovely bits of purple prose throughout the book, but no effort to connect the characters to the actions or feelings playing out on paper. Even as the action picked up in the last 20%, I really could not tell you why anyone was involved or even how it was explained within the books fictional universe. I have no understanding of why our main character has such an obsession with our love interest, nor do I particularly like the characters. Veaer's almost stalking felt more like a plot device to start the story and to keep our MC in places and situations that make no sense whatsoever.
While the premise and how angels were utilised in the narrative was so interesting, I just would have loved to see our love interests fall for each other over the course of the mystery, as opposed to what felt like empty declarations and an obsessive MC.
Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC I received of Chrysalis and Requiem in exchange for an honest review.
The criteria this book meets to be considered dark academia is essentially "bad stuff happens on school grounds" with some additional class divide mentioned in pieces throughout. I have very little idea what the world even looks like beyond the school, with magic broadly explained over a few sentences early on, the world building leaves little to be desired. ** EDIT** I have since discovered that this is set in the same world as another of Li's books. I'm sure reading this book prior would have given me the context needed, but this book is not marketed as a sequel or even a spin off, so bare that mind.
I can appreciate the authors inclusivity of queer representation, of which identities don't feel forced or "tokenised", but the characters lack development to have let me form any kind of attachment to them. There are some really lovely bits of purple prose throughout the book, but no effort to connect the characters to the actions or feelings playing out on paper. Even as the action picked up in the last 20%, I really could not tell you why anyone was involved or even how it was explained within the books fictional universe. I have no understanding of why our main character has such an obsession with our love interest, nor do I particularly like the characters. Veaer's almost stalking felt more like a plot device to start the story and to keep our MC in places and situations that make no sense whatsoever.
While the premise and how angels were utilised in the narrative was so interesting, I just would have loved to see our love interests fall for each other over the course of the mystery, as opposed to what felt like empty declarations and an obsessive MC.
Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC I received of Chrysalis and Requiem in exchange for an honest review.