I am not going to post this review publicly as don't want to diminish Ellie's chances of success. Many people hopefully will disagree with me.

Sadly, having just finished reading The Four I'm more than a little deflated. I struggled to keep reading as I found the story slow, repetitive in places and the characters and premise weren't even remotely believable.

The ending just left me deflated and wondering what the point was?

Of course this is my own point of view, others I hope will disagree. I wish Ellie all the best.

Thank you netgalley and publisher for this ARC!

For me it’s important that characters are likeable and stand out but this book didn’t deliver for my reading style. While the storyline and plot is great I felt the characters and the names especially all blur together. It was very chaotic and hard to understand which left me zoning out and bored. Any dark themes are a win for me but sometimes simple is better, and while I liked the storyline it didn’t hook for me. If you’re not paying attention then it’s easy to get lost in what’s happening. It has potential, I feel it’s a very niche and select group who would enjoy this which unfortunately wasn’t me.

The Four by Ellie Keel

A very different book from my usual reads but this one has shown me that it's a good idea to step out of your comfort zone if you want to expand your enjoyment when picking up a book.
Four children take up full scholarships to a prestigious school . Things don't go to plan when they are meticulously bullied.
They stick together and look out for each other , even when something goes disastrously wrong .
I would look out for further titles by this author.

I chose to read this believing it was an adult thriller. I didn't notice it's also labelled young adult. I'm much older than this demographic and it mattered at some points. This felt, for me, like a blend of Malory Towers and mega Mean Girls. Nothing wrong with that for NA. I expect it will be popular with younger people. It's well written. Just not really for me and where I am in life

A slow burning, intense and dark tale centring around four sixth form students who have gained a scholarship to an elite boarding school.
Explores the themes of privilege, elitism, friendship, abuse, mental health issues, suicide and identity.
I did find parts of the book very unbelievable but was invested enough in the characters and the relational dynamics to overlook this aspect and was intrigued as to how the lives of the four would pan out.
An interesting and thought provoking read. I am grateful to Netgalley and the publishers for an ARC of this book and am leaving my honest review voluntarily.

The Four is the tale of 4 young people who earn scholarship places at the prestigious Public School "High Realms", deep in the North Devon countryside. The first few chapters tick over with not much happening as details of the school and it's rather archaic culture and traditions related in great,and rather tedious,detail. The 4 scholarship pupils soon discover that not everyone ,in fact hardly anyone,at High Realms welcomes them to the school and they have to negotiate a minefield of snobbery and bullying. It's the reaction to that bullying that has one of the 4 doing something that sets off a series of tragic consequences.

I wasn't overly convinced by much of the book, possibly as it seemed very much as if it was pitched towards a Young Adult readership and sadly I'm several decades away from that demographic. Having said that there's some quite horrific violence and some very dark parts, it's not a book that will brighten your day.

Four scholarship pupils enter the highly acclaimed High Realms school in Devon for their final sixth form year with the intention to boost the school’s rankings. All four are from different backgrounds and despite their efforts struggle to integrate with the other students. They are exposed to a hostile environment, facing bullying and much worse. This novel highlights the adverse effects of the regime on mental health, and the awakening of sexuality. It’s a depressing story of the four students becoming firm friends and looking out for each other in an attempt to save one of their own. I wouldn’t go so far as to say I enjoyed the book, but I was compulsive reading.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers HQ for this advance copy.

"The Four" is a novel by Ellie Keel that takes place in a British boarding school in the Devon countryside. The story follows four scholarship students as they join for sixth form, narrated by Rose, the daughter of a London taxi driver who has lost her mother. The four students are bullied horrifically, particularly the two girls Rose and Marta. The novel is described as a dark academia story that explores the nature and implications of actions and their consequences. It covers themes such as love, friendship, absolute loyalty, depravity, wicked cruelty, and abusive behavior. The story is rooted in the many facets of human nature.

The premise of this story is excellent and will appeal thriller readers and fans of dark academia.

Thanks to netgalley for the arc

What a very addictive and gripping read, dark academia done the right way. It kept me engaged at all times and sometimes it was a tough read and got dark a few times but this was such a good read, totally different to my normal genre but I’m glad I had the privilege of reading this book before it releases.

Definitely recommend to anyone who lives dark academia with an engrossing plot that keep you engaged right from the first line to the last.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publish for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

From the very first opening chapter it sets itself up for a strong start! It immediately opens up with intrigue and setting the scene with our cast of characters in a very privileged private school. I couldn’t have put it down if I tried!

I love books set in boarding schools. The close proximity, the forced friendships, the inevitable conniving *insert swear word here* who will work at ruining everything in our protagonists life. And it was exactly as I had hoped! We also have a sense of creeping suspense that *something* is about to happen but we’re kept in the dark as to what it is. I loved the gentle unravelling as it’s revealed what we’re working towards. But woah, it went dark. I never would have imagined the turn it took and flags for trigger warnings everywhere. Be aware of heavy and difficult twists, but dark academia it certainly was!

We have Marta, Lloyd and Sami and Rose, the 4 scholarship kids faced with the pressure of deserving the position they have been given within the school. Genevieve our aforementioned bitch, is a force to be reckoned with and it seems all Marta can do is get on the wrong side of her.

The writing was great, loved the characters and loved the progression of the plot all the way through. Couldn’t give it less than the 5 stars it deserves. A great debut!

Rosie, Marta, Lloyd and Sami have joined the prestigious High Realms public school as lower sixth scholarship students. Feeling proud of their remarkable achievement in being the first to do so, they begin the term with excitement mixed with some trepidation. However, their presence is met with hostility, indifference and superiority. This escalates to bullying and cruelty. The four friends stick together and try to ride out the injustice by working hard and keeping their heads down. As the term progresses things do not improve and after a shocking incident involving one of the worst bullies an unstoppable chain of events begins. A story of boarding school bullying that, as it involves teenagers in a close knit community, heightens all emotions. Be it anger, hate, resentment or even love, every thought and feeling is a major drama and unfortunately for the four it has devastating consequences. A slow burner, this story gradually unveils its appallingly sad detail with an increasing level of horror towards its dire climax.

3.5*. Wow. This got DARK. I loved it. Dark academia is quickly becoming a favourite genre. This was gripping and compelling and the characters were well rounded and complex. I loved the LGBTQ+ representation. The premise was unusual, unique and haunting. Keel is a talented writer and I'm intrigued to see what she does next.

The premise of the book sounded right up my street so I was very pleased to receive a copy. I would put this as more YA fiction than adult. There are definite triggers here for many things including bullying, sexual assault, self harm, rape and mental health issues.
The school they attend is rife with bullying students and non caring teachers. Not an easy story to read, maybe over egged slightly but all too believable
Quite slow going and very intense
I did find myself wondering where are all the teachers in all this. The book does describe the horror very well but I would have liked it to be a bit lighter at the end. Maybe some remorse?
Two errors-
1. You do not check a pulse using thumb and wrist
2. Under 16s do have a right to absolute confidentiality and parents/legal guardians do NOT have to be told anything the teen doesn't want them to know
This is extremely important because any teen reading this might think that their parents will be told everything and so not attend medical appointments when this is NOT true
A good solid read

I can not get enough of murder mysteries, thrillers or dark academia, and if you're like me, you will LOVE this. Uncomfortable reading at times, but so relevant and real. This will be very BIG once it releases next year!

Claustrophobic, Compelling And Intense..
Dark academia at its shocking best in this outstanding debut that pulls no punches. Ivory towers, exclusivity, power, privilege and control, misplaced honour, secrets and lies mingle in a toxic brew that is absolutely sure not to end well. Beautifully drawn with an elegant yet dismally dark narrative, this is quite impossible to put down until that very last page. Claustrophobic, compelling and intense.

Not my usual kind of read but I absolutely loved it. It had me gripped from the start. I loved the bond of friendship between Rose, Marta, Sami and Lloyd, they would do anything for each other. They were seriously vulnerable young students with so many secrets. The story was quite dark, thought-provoking with mature adult themes which made it an emotional rollercoaster of a read. It was quite a long read but i’m so glad i stuck with it. Appreciated the more lighthearted final page after such an intense storyline. I really enjoyed this book and will definitely be reading more by this author.

Thanks to HQ and NetGalley for allowing me an advanced copy to read in exchange for my open and honest review. As always, my reviews will also be posted on Amazon, Goodreads and Waterstones and interaction on Facebook and instagram where possible.

Teenagers Marta, Rose, Sami and Lloyd are exceptionally gifted and talented. From very different backgrounds and parts of the country, they are each awarded a full scholarship at the prestigious High Realms boarding school. Their acceptance into such a highly regarded establishment of academia is due to Major Gregory, Master of Laws, as an experiment to raise the standards of the achievements of the school. Hated and despised by the fee paying students, with the most favoured students actually running the school, The Four have their lives tormented and bullied to the extreme.

This is a very different boarding school book. Forget Mallory Towers,The Chalet School, etc., this is a hard, relentless lesson in survival. As per the usual there is bullying, elitism, cruelty and despotic teachers, along with the school’s own “language”. The added extras here are the mental health issues, the self harming, the suicide, etc., with conquest sex being highly redeemed and porn being the norm. Thankfully it fell short of introducing magic so a comparison with Hogwarts would never be made!

I’m not entirely sure what to think of this book. In the main it was very much a YA book, definitely written in that style, but the more mature, serious, adult themes certainly made it a very dark read. A foot in both camps springs to mind, not convinced the one complements the other.

Though a slow start I did finish. Plot line was unconvincing at times, very haphazard. I think some of the storylines were added for shock value, as the book would have read well without them. Not a book I would rave about but an ok read.

2.5*

Thank you NetGalley.

This is a brutal view of an elite boarding school.
It made me think a lot about what shaped our current politicians, and how you'll excuse any cruelty because you survived it yourself.
None of the characters were completely likeable - but then they were teenagers, and almost bound to jump to the wrong conclusions.
It could have been tightened a lot, I found it dragging by the time I got less than halfway. But I stayed with it to find out what happened in the end.

I'm disappointed to say that this book was a disappointing read for me. It had many of the elements I enjoy, but it was so overwritten that the unrealistic plot points (which, to my mind, are kind of a hallmark of the genre!) felt silly and almost misery porn-esque, as opposed to tragic or traumatic.

My thanks to NetGalley and HQ for the ARC.

I absolutely adore academic thrillers and loved every second of this one. It's sad and dark at times but so well written. Highly recommended for anyone who adores psychological thrillers based in boarding schools xx