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A review by c_ab_bage
In These Hallowed Halls: A Dark Academia Anthology by Marie O'Regan
3.0
There are, in a general sense, three things that detracted from this book’s ability to be enjoyable.
Firstly, dark academia is not a genre I’d believe to lend itself well to short stories, and this proves that quite true. The draws of the genre: the atmosphere, the deep character work, the subtle building of unease— all of those are infinitely harder to include in such a succinct format as short stories. So the very concept of “In These Hallowed Halls: A Dark Academia Anthology” is working against it.
On a similar note, dark academia is not a diverse genre, by any means. In fact, it’s one of the most monolithic genres I can think of. Many of the stories featured in this anthology lack uniqueness when it comes to plot, which is not always a bad thing, but no other aspect of them picked up the slack. The writing all felt very mediocre and did nothing to lift the relatively basic narratives. That’s the crux of the issue; I wouldn’t call any of these stories bad, but indifference is not what an author wants to invoke from readers and that’s mostly what I experienced.
And lastly, as both a caveat and valid talking point, I’m not particularly familiar with short story anthologies in general. The format has never been one I’ve read much of. This book drew me due to its genre and a few notable authors I was interested in. So as both context for my review and a heads up to anyone else looking to read this: “In These Hallowed Halls” is not the book to get you into anthologies or to sate your dark academia cravings.
I’d like to reiterate that there is nothing particularly wrong with this collection, but there is also not much in the way of excellence. It is a book, it exists, and I feel mostly nothing about that fact.
Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC!
Firstly, dark academia is not a genre I’d believe to lend itself well to short stories, and this proves that quite true. The draws of the genre: the atmosphere, the deep character work, the subtle building of unease— all of those are infinitely harder to include in such a succinct format as short stories. So the very concept of “In These Hallowed Halls: A Dark Academia Anthology” is working against it.
On a similar note, dark academia is not a diverse genre, by any means. In fact, it’s one of the most monolithic genres I can think of. Many of the stories featured in this anthology lack uniqueness when it comes to plot, which is not always a bad thing, but no other aspect of them picked up the slack. The writing all felt very mediocre and did nothing to lift the relatively basic narratives. That’s the crux of the issue; I wouldn’t call any of these stories bad, but indifference is not what an author wants to invoke from readers and that’s mostly what I experienced.
And lastly, as both a caveat and valid talking point, I’m not particularly familiar with short story anthologies in general. The format has never been one I’ve read much of. This book drew me due to its genre and a few notable authors I was interested in. So as both context for my review and a heads up to anyone else looking to read this: “In These Hallowed Halls” is not the book to get you into anthologies or to sate your dark academia cravings.
I’d like to reiterate that there is nothing particularly wrong with this collection, but there is also not much in the way of excellence. It is a book, it exists, and I feel mostly nothing about that fact.
Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC!