Slick, smart and shocking… this is dark academia at its very darkest - a must read. @mrscookesbooks

Thank you so much to HQ and netgalley for allowing me to read this in exchange for my honest review.

The four was my first trip into the world of dark academia. I wasn't sure what to expect but was really drawn in by the blurb and concept of the novel and it certainly didn't disappoint.

We follow 'the four' Rose, Maria, Lloyd and Sami who have been given scholarships to a prestigious boarding school in the late 90s. They are outsiders, shunned/bullied from the start by a select few pupils. The story is narrated by Rose, as she recollects the trauma of her time at High Realms; events which lead to things spiralling well beyond their control.

It's an absolute page turner, compelling you to want to find out what happens next, but I also found myself almost scared to read on, what else could possibly happen to the four?!
The events get a little bonkers, there are a lot of twists, but I feel like given this is a debut novel it is written very well and the storyline in interesting.

It is worth noting there are a few topics covered which might trigger some readers, rape, suicide, self harm & Sexual assault.

This is a solid 4 stars from me and I will be reccomending to others.

The Four is Ellie Keel’s shockingly powerful debut. Billed as a dark academia novel Keel’s The Four is a raw and unflinching exploration of the nature and implications of actions and their consequences. It’s a story rooted in the many facets of human nature; from love, friendship and absolute loyalty, to the more depraved, with wicked cruelty and abusive behaviour malevolently present. It may not be for the faint of heart, but I’d still argue it’s not one to be missed.

The Four is the story of four students who have been given full ride scholarships to an elite boarding school in Devon back in 1999. They are outsiders upon their arrival, shunned by most and targeted by a select few. Of the four it is Rose who is our narrator, and she tries to explain to us what happened all those years ago. Memory, however, as we well know can be tricky, especially when it is so shaped by trauma.

The Four is one of those rare kind of books where you feel as though you simply cannot put it down and yet you are simultaneously terrified to find out what is going to happen next. It is hard to say too much about the plot as it would spoil the experience of reading it to do so, but I will say that there are serious content warnings to consider. The nature and tone of Keel’s novel is extremely dark and at times I was genuinely shocked by its events, and yet it never felt arduous to read which I think is a huge credit to Keel.

Rooted in the novel is the institutionalised nature of power, prestige and violence, and the ways in which adults may often turn a blind eye to it, and in some cases perpetuate it. The vivid setting of High Realms created the perfect bubble, where its inhabitants were far enough away from reality that their rules and self governance makes sense in context. We are left with young adults who, in this unique environment, are dealing with issues way beyond their capacity for control as though they are the adults; the consequences of which are monumental.

This really is a powerhouse of a novel and even more so when considering it’s a debut. I cannot wait to see what Keel writes next.

I really enjoyed reading this thriller. I love reading novels about English boarding schools and this novel did not disappoint. It helped that thrilling thrillers are my favourite genre to read. This novel was tense, dark and it had an exciting storyline.
It was full of secrets, lies and mystery. I liked the boarding school as a location, liked all the main characters and their complicated relationships and liked the author’s writing style.
I also liked discovering a brand new author for me whose writing I like. I cannot wait to read more novels by the author in the future.
I’m giving this novel 5 stars as I’m sure other readers will like it too especially if they’re fans of thrillers.

A strangely disturbing story set in High Realms boarding school, a slightly dysfunctional version of Malory Towers. Set in the 1990's thankfully frees the story from social media and mobile phones but it still seems a slightly in limbo setting as there is very little reference to a world outside the school, no television, radio, music. The narrator, along with the rest of the titular 'Four' is a new sixth form student and as scholarship students they are subjected to unpleasant systematic and sometimes violent bullying from the prefects known as the Senior Patrol. The abuse by the students is over the top and adult intervention is conspicuous by its absence. Everything that happens is well told from a teenager's perspective but it stretched my belief with the bizarre suggestion that they thought they could hide a friend for 6 months in an outbuilding smuggling food out to her while police sniffer dogs patrolled the grounds. As common sense went out the window I found it quite difficult to take the story seriously.
The build up to the climax uncovered multiple lies, secrets and resentments leading up to brutal, shocking and disturbing events. The subsequent fall out was briskly handled albeit, like the rest of the story slightly unreal.
Like the fictional narrator, I loved Malory Towers when I was of an age and experience close to the characters and I feel that a corresponding audience will enjoy this book.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy.

Four bright students, Rose, Marta, Sami and Lloyd, join an exclusive boarding school as sixth-formers. As outsiders, they form a tight-knit group, united against everything the school throws at them. Their friendship is put to the test following a tragic event.

The Four by Ellie Keel is a dark and disturbing story. Rose is the narrator and from the very beginning, there are hints of sinister events to come. These hints reel you in instantly and have you hooked.

The setting is the type of place many of us with a love of reading probably dreamed of, an exclusive boarding school. However, High Realms isn’t a modern-day version of Malory Towers or Hogwarts, it’s a pressure cooker full of teenage angst. The sixth form students are elitist, intimidating and mature beyond their years. Into this mix are dropped Rose, Marta, Sami and Lloyd, four exceptionally bright but naïve young people. The four have been given scholarships because of their academic prowess, it is hoped that they will raise the academic profile of the school. This immediately leads to friction.

The sixth-form students, led mainly by IT girl, Genevieve, take an instant dislike to the newcomers and make their lives unbearable. Marta is the main target for their cruel and evil treatment. You immediately side with the group of four as there is no reason for the persecution they suffer. None of the established sixth-formers seem to have any redeeming qualities. They see things as a game, an amusement, and don’t care about the impact their actions may have on others.

You can feel Rose’s conflict. She wants to make the best of the opportunities the school offers, however, she is also protective of the fledgling friendship she has with Marta. Any normal person would be protective of Marta; she’s tiny and cares only about learning. Added to this mix is the fact that she’s been home-schooled so is missing most of the social etiquette children acquire from mixing with others. Marta is also fierce, another reason the reader is supportive of her, she refuses to back down no matter what tortures she faces.

As the feud between Marta and Genevieve escalates events take a tragic turn and the loyalty of the friends is put to the test, especially when disturbing secrets are revealed. At this point in the story, I could feel the anger welling up inside me. We see how the school is only interested in its own reputation, it’s not interested in the students in its care. We also witness social inequality as the school sides more with the fee-paying students than those it has enticed by means of a scholarship.

It was at this point that my interest in the story started to wane. Things started to go around in circles, with no real progress being made in the storyline. I was also stunned by the sexual assaults and casual violence. The conclusion is heart-breaking and I can easily see how this novel will be huge, but I don’t think I’m the target audience.

A deliciously dark take on the classic Mallory Towers and books of that ilk.
Less midnight feasts and more twisted revenge plots.

Such a page turner and I loved how the characters came alive on the page.
Such a brilliant introductory book from this author, I cannot wait to see what comes next.

One of my all time favourite settings for a story is in a school. This has always seemed particularly strange to me as in my day job I work in a school so you would think that I would want to escape from that setting. The thing is that when a school setting is explored well - and believe me Ellie Keel has done this very well - it does become escapism…just not in the relaxing way.

The Four is the story of four young scholarship students who have won the educational lottery. They get to attend one of the most elite schools for free. Here they will make friends and rub shoulders with some of the most important people of the future cultivating relationships that they can use as they grow older. What they soon realise though is that they will always be "other" and will not fit in with the wealthy elite and due to this their lives are made increasingly difficult by their peer and their educators. It is sink or swim for these four teenagers but will the drive to succeed come at a deadly cost.

Ellie Keel has done a masterful job of showing how hierarchy and privilege can be so detrimental and hurtful and this is one of the ways in which I feel that Keel has presented the school setting so well. Whilst my school is not an elite academy you still see these social rules even today.

What's more is that Keel keeps you on the edge of your seat praying for the underdogs to succeed. She really makes you care for these characters. Equally, she shows the reader that where you start off in life doesn't always have to be your destination.

I was so eager and excited to read The Four. It was one of the books I was most looking forward to and it did not disappoint.

The Four by Ellie Keel is available now.

For more information regarding Ellie Keel (@elliekeel1) please visit her Twitter page.

For more information regarding HQ (@HQstories) please visit www.hqstories.co.uk.

I’m really torn with this book - on the one hand, the setting is atmospheric, emotional and seething with tension. Set in an elite boarding school in the late 90s, every page is full of teenaged cruelty and the unspoken rules of the social hierarchy.
On the other hand, I found it difficult to truly connect with Rose, our narrator. She has a innocence and naïveté which took away some depth of the story-telling, particularly with the background of the suffering experienced by our protags. I was waiting for Rose to get REALLY angry.
I’m glad to have read this but can’t say I enjoyed it as much as I was hoping to.

Well-written and well-plotted dark academia about four scholarship students attending an elite and highly toxic private boarding school. I struggled at first to get into the story but it did succeed in pulling me in. The school setting was well-drawn but felt a little too Hogwarts to be completely credible and the characters had a similar caricature feel to them. Despite the frank approach to some dark themes, I never quite believed this story but perhaps it is intended for a younger reader.

I've read this in just over 24 hours. I physically couldn't stop myself reading it. I felt emotionally attached to Rose, Marta and many other characters. As many twist unfolded I couldn't stop gasping.
It was an easy read and flowed really well

2 - 2,5 stars

I had my eye on this book for a long time and was thrilled when I was sent an early digital copy.

The only problem was, it really didn't live up to my expectations. I can't say it's a bad book, because objectively I can see it isn't. But it felt flat. Like, it was fine, it was okay, but nothing special.

I felt that Ellie was trying to find the shock value, but by adding so many topics - suggested abuse, self harm, confused sexuality, violence, death etc etc. - it became bogged down and unrealistic, and so the shock value just turned into the annoyed value, as it just felt like she was trying to cram in more and more shocking things, that together they all ended up losing their shock value. It just felt too try hard.

None of the four main characters endeared themselves to me. I didn't dislike them as such, but I didn't like them, they were just there, almost how you expect a minor or background character to be. There wasn't any substance for me to get y teeth into, which meant I didn't really care what happened to them by the end.

It felt a bit haphazard, with plots and themes all over the place, with a lot of them not really linking together. Some of the character's decisions didn't add up to how they had been explored earlier in the book. I felt there was character growth in the first part, and then they seemed to do the complete opposite as the book went on, which is fine if it makes sense to the story, but it felt chaotic.

The ending annoyed me too. I know it's meant to be a thriller and thrillers are meant to have twists and turns and whatnot, but it just didn't make sense in context of the rest of the book. It ended on such a flat note, and whilst I can say it was an alright read, by finishing it in the way it does (I won't give away the ending), it brought my overall enjoyment down.

I can see why people enjoyed it but I felt it was a bit...a bit forced. I couldn't find a heart behind the words, sadly. It is meant to be this anxious thriller, but for me it was all minor school arguments, a bit rude, a bit lacking of substance. Most of it seemed out of place, and it was timid.

Looking at other reviews, I can see there are two distinct camps. There are those who loved it and gave it 4-5 stars, raving about how brilliant it is, or they're in my camp, giving it 2-3 stars and explaining their disappointment. Sadly, this didn't live up to what I was expecting going into it, and I can't say with certainty that I would recommend it to others.

I was so excited to get my hands on this ARC and I’m so glad I did!
I didn’t know what to expect when I first started reading, but I was really pleasantly surprised. This dark academia novel was full of twists and turns, constantly keeping me on my toes and wanting to read more.
Based on a boarding school, this book follows the lives of four academic scholarship students and the discrimination and bullying they have to deal with. Ellie’s writing is absolutely incredible, I felt like I was experiencing these disgusting acts myself – I felt fear, disgust and anxiety when reading. It reminded me of Madam by Phoebe Wynne, which I couldn’t stop reading either. The dark secrets which were unveiled at this school were absolutely heartbreaking.
I would say, however, that there are many triggers in this book, if I’d known about what this book would entail I may not have read it. I’m glad I didn’t know and I did read it, because this book will definitely stay with me forever, but I think it’s still important to share this. Just a few of the trigger warnings are: rape, abortion, sexual assault, suicide.
Thank you again to Ellie Keel, HQ and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I must admit, I'm not usually one to read others reviews before reading a book but for some reason I did on this one and it did make me slightly hesitant to read BUT I am so glad I picked it up and went with the positive reviews as I LOVED it!

I'm a massive sucker for a book set within a prestigious school and this one was no different. It had me gripped from the very beginning with the line "it would have made our lives a lot easier if Marta had simply pushed Genevieve out of our bedroom window".

Narrated by Rose she tells the tale, alongside her three other scholarship friends Lloyd, Sami and Marta of their time at the prestigious boarding school High Realms. The four arent accepted into the fold, classed as freeloaders and life is made difficult, not only by their peers but by staff alike, with their old antiquated rules and regulations.

As life starts to settle down for Rose, life for Marta seems to veer in completely the wrong direction after an incident with one of her 'bullies' results in a police investigation.

Marta disappears and even after a search of the grounds, no one can find her. Rose knows that Marta isnt guilty but can herself, Lloyd and Sami prove it in time?

I cant go into much detail as it will definitely ruin the whole plot but if you after a bit of escapism, a read that takes you to another, more privileged world than this is one for you!

The characters are well executed, well written and easy to picture. Whilst they are not overly likeable alot of the time, that's what I would expect from a private school.

The setting of High Realms was so well written I can see it like a map in my mind and the atmosphere the author was able to create and convey was amazing.

This is most definitely one I'll be recommending on, what a fantastic debut!

Thanks to netgalley and HQ for the ARC.

The Four is an intense, suspenseful dark academia style of a book that just blew me away. I couldn't put this down and I was hooked from the first chapter, much like the description says this reminded me a lot of The Secret History but marketed more towards young adults. I loved everything about this from the characters, the plot and the writing style and overall highly recommend to any thriller/dark academia lovers.

I’m in between 2 and 3 because in the end, the book just annoyed me.

While I believe that the writing is good, the story was just so convoluted and confusing at times. It didn’t really seem like it had anywhere to go and a lot of events felt so outlandish that it broke me away from the story even more. I understand that it’s dark academia but I feel like it was trying to pose as dark academia rather than being dark academia. The bullying and the way everyone was treated just felt as if there was so reason behind it other than being cruel for the fun of it.

The characters weren’t likeable at all (and I have learnt that that is a trait of dark academia) but what I mean to say is that they were both bland and complex. Their actions were confusing but their actual personalities felt one dimensional. The friendship between the four of them just didn’t feel real other than us being told that they were loyal to a fault to each other.

The relationships were sporadic and had no basis. Like Sylvia??? Really?? That had no hints beforehand whatsoever. It was so bizarre.


SPOILER

And at the end when the two boys were like- Sylvia wants to marry you, why are you still broken up? And Rose is like okay I’ll get back with her.

PLUS MARTA DYING? After all that effort and trauma, it was just a let down. But I suppose one could argue that it shows the decline of her mental health to that extent.

I suppose in a sense, this book wasn’t for me because I was just uncomfortable and disgusted by the actions of some students and couldn’t get my head around it.

3.5 rounded up

How far would you be prepared to go for the sake of friendship when it’s being tested to the extreme?

The Four are Lower Sixth (Year 12) scholarship students at exclusive High Realms boarding school in Devon, they’re outsiders and feel the contempt and hostility of many fee paying pupils. Rose Lawson and Marta De Luca are roommates, both very clever but Marta exceptionally so. The remaining two of the quartet are Sami and Lloyd. Here we have a difficult and increasingly dangerous story. It’s one that defines the rest of their lives and the loss of any remaining innocence of youth as Marta in particular is on the receiving end of the cruelty and hatred of Genevieve in particular.

It takes me a while to get into this very promising debut novel but I do become immersed in the lives of the four. It’s an unrelenting tale , the mood is dark and at times there’s a reaction of horror at the extent and depths of what the four face. The unedifying contempt and antagonism especially of Genevieve is palpable and jumps from the pages, you feel the fear and the tension is sky high. The deep bonds of friendship and the lengths they go to in the face of such toxicity breaks your heart, makes you so sad and you obviously root for the four. The characterisation is good especially of Marta but all are well portrayed.

However, the events are very dramatic and at times seem overly dramatic to be entirely believable but it’s undeniably intense and certainly creative. The way the characters chop and change in various ways gets a bit bewildering but it’s not necessarily out of keeping with seventeen year olds behaviour! Despite the issues, I keep reading on as somehow Ellie Keel has hooked me into their lives and makes me invest in the outcome. I look forward to reading what she comes up with next.

With thanks to NetGalley and especially to HQ for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.

The Four is a novel about four scholarship students at a prestigious boarding school and what happens after an animosity gets out of hand. Rose starts at countryside boarding school High Realms alongside fellow scholarship students Marta, Sami, and Lloyd, all starting at the age of sixteen to help them get into top universities. They are immediately outsiders, not versed in the traditions of the school or the strange social hierarchies, but Marta is especially so, and doesn't seem to care about fitting in. Popular girl Genevieve takes a disliking to Marta, and in High Realms that means extreme treatment, but then things start to spiral out of control.

This is very much the sort of book that is marketed as dark academia because it is set in a school and dark things happen, but which isn't really "dark academia" because it lacks the actual academic subject matter playing a part in the book. This means that it is best to throw away comparisons to The Secret History etc, as this isn't really that book, and not just because the characters are younger. High Realms is more of a hostile environment that should've looked after the teenagers in its care, rather than a mysterious dark place, but it definitely asks some questions about boarding schools and how easy it can be for unfair hierarchies to take over. There's not that much exploration of class and privilege beyond the obvious 'the other students don't treat the scholarship kids the same and the school just wants them to look good', but that does form an important part of the book and how 'the four' experience High Realms.

The novel is from Rose's point of view and you get the kind of unreliable narrator where she is acting like she is trying to tell you what happens, just with some ominous hints towards the later plot, but at the same time, there are hints that Rose is never going to be able to give an objective account, and is a flawed teenager too. This does work well, and by the end you do see how the pretty intense narrative is being told by adult Rose who knows she didn't always make the right choices because she was too self-absorbed (and young). Rose and Marta in particular are interesting characters, though the book does shy away from interrogating Rose too deeply, even at the end set years after the events of the book, and there's definitely character elements that could've been explored further. Some of the relationships in the book felt underdeveloped (especially Lloyd and Max), and I did find it a bit weird that the book didn't want to discuss queerness beyond one reference to a character working out who they were, as if High Realms in 1999 was an alternate reality school where non-straight characters and relationships were treated the same as straight ones.

The actual narrative of the book is quite a wild ride, starting out feeling like any boarding school story which goes dark because people's rivalries go too far, and ending up exploring trauma, sexual assault, and what happens to someone in crisis when they can't get the right care. Some people might find it goes a bit sensationalist—it has touches of A Little Life in that respect—and seeing it through Rose's perspective means that it often does feel quite voyeuristic, which gives it a specific tone that can make you feel uncomfortable, whether successfully or not. People should go into the book knowing that there is going to be a lot of content around self harm and sexual assault in it, as this is vital to the plot and is what takes it further away from an idea of a slightly dark boarding school rivalry book into something more visceral and nasty. This also makes it a lot more interesting than what I expected from it, as it could've been a paint-by-numbers type of boarding school book being marketed as dark academia.

The Four is a book that does a lot of interesting things and I found gripping to read, but which afterwards I feel a bit conflicted about. It has a lot of expected elements from the kind of novel it is—lots of complex love triangles and longing, harsh rivalries and close bonds, and the sense that the boarding school is causing problems through its environment—which can make it feel predictable (but also thrilling), but at the same time, what happens in the book is more twisty and messy, what happens when teenagers try and deal with something way beyond their experiences. It was a compulsive read and I like books that go to dark places, but something about the tragedy and trauma in the book didn't always work for me. However, as a book about a boarding school written for adults, I think it does well to not be childish, whilst also having a lot of flawed teenage characters who make mistakes big and small. Definitely more of the 'dark' than 'academia', The Four looks at privilege and power, but more importantly, at what teenagers would do for each other.

"The Four" by Ellie Keel is a novel that left me with a mix of emotions, making it difficult to pinpoint exactly how I feel about it. It seemed to be striving to achieve a dark and mysterious ambiance, and while the setting exuded a sense of eeriness and mystery, the academic aspects and the camaraderie among the main group of friends fell a bit short for me. In the dark academia subgenre, a toxic and tightly-knit bond between the friends is crucial, but here, they seemed like disconnected entities rather than deeply intertwined characters.

However, despite these reservations, I must admit that the book is undeniably vivid, visceral, and relentlessly addictive. I was so engrossed in the story that I read it in one sitting over just a few hours, leaving me feeling emotionally drained and suffering from a book hangover afterward. The hype and praises are well-deserved. The novel delivers sharpness, power, and tragedy, exploring the best and worst aspects of human nature. It captivates with its poignant and cruel moments, reminding us of the complexities that make us human.

"The Four" may have its imperfections, particularly in the portrayal of the main characters' friendship and academic aspects, but its strengths lie in its haunting and addictive storytelling. Keel's ability to evoke emotions and create a vivid, mysterious atmosphere is commendable. If you enjoy stories with complex characters and a dark, tragic undertone, this book will leave a lasting impression on you.

I really enjoyed the Four by Ellie Keel. It was gripping read. It had many twists and turns which had me racing through it could not put it down.

4 friends are accepted in the a prestigious school on a full scholarship. The four are bullied by their fellow students. Which had brought the 4 closer together. The situation then takes a dark turn how far are these 4 willing to go to protect each other.

I would highly recommend this really enjoyable read which will have you hooked from the very first page. My thanks to netgalley and the publisher for my copy.