DNF at 20% - I am just so confused that I cannot keep going.

We're jumping time a lot and jumped into what feels like the middle of a story. Usually I don't mind rushing right into action, but because this world is so complicated I'm just left confused by characters motivations and actions.

I really, really wanted to love this book. The description and the cover drew me right in, and I was so excited to see all the queer rep. But I ultimately had to DNF at 46%; I give this book 2.5 stars, rounded up to 3.

When I first picked this up, I was intrigued by the first few chapters. I wanted to see where things were going and was interested in learning more about the characters and their motivations, what made them tick. There are also some really beautiful and poetic bouts of writing, sprinkled throughout, but, I otherwise found the witting merely okay (and sometimes kind of jarring). And I just could not get into the story and characters.

I think the flashback chapters could have been really helpful for shaping the plot and characters and giving us a better sense of their motivations, but I didn't see that happen here. We get some background on Veaer, her place in the school's social hierarchy, and her relationships with her friends, but it wasn't enough for me personally to really "get" her. Even at 46% I'm still not really sure why she's so invested in Elise or why she's keeping this huge secret.

Ultimately, I realized I was forcing myself to keep reading this. I can definitely see others liking this book. If the character's and their motivations were clearer to me, I think I would have wanted to finish this one. And while I am still curious to know what is up with Elise, it's not worth trudging through another 54% of this one to find out.

Thank you to Net Galley for providing me with an advanced reader's copy to review.

Funny enough, I started to read this one and then sort of hit a wall, and put it down. When I returned, I skipped to the end (epilogue) and was so intrigued by what I read there that I then read half the book backwards one chapter at a time. It was a great experience and seemed to solve the issues I was having reading the proper way,, namely vague sense of stakes, confusing plot, and slow pacing due to early worldbuilding. So, I’m rating this high because there’s definitely a story here!

3.5/5.
It’s very hard for me to rate this one because I adored the first 2/3 of this book, but then, in the last part, it completely fell apart for me and I just couldn’t connect with any of the characters anymore or believe and accept how the mystery was unraveling.
I thoroughly enjoyed the gothic atmosphere and the toxic obsessive relationship that Veaer and Elise have with each other, though the writing sometimes was too much for me and I’d get lost in the prose. Overall, I feel like this book has a very specific audience and I wouldn’t recommend it to everyone, but I hope it finds its people so it can be cherished how it should be. I will keep following and reading more from the author.
A big thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for providing this arc.

I'm struggling to articulate my thoughts for this book.

Overall I see why some people found the way it was structured very confusing, but I found that worked for me, and I absolutely loved the twins and Tychon, I found their characters incredibly interesting.

I went from hating Elise to just feeling sorry for her.

Certain aspects of Veaer's character were quite endearing at times, but mostly I was just concerned for her welfare.

This all in all isn't a book I'd recommend to everyone, but I certainly know people who would quite enjoy it!

<i>I received an e-ARC of this book through Netgalley.</i>

This is one of the times when you should judge a book by its cover, because <i>Chrysalis and Requiem</i> is as beautiful as its brilliant cover. I had such a lovely time reading this, but my only issue is the confusing plot and the characters; I couldn't really connect to our protagonist as much as I would've liked. Regardless, this is a decent read that I recommend this to anyone who loves a good dark academia sapphic story

I'm pretty sad to say I didn't like this at all. I was dragging myself through most of it and by the end I just found I didn't really care? I will say that I can see it benefitting some young adults so I will recommend to some folks with specific requests, but in general, I didn't get so much of the details and I think the character development is very much lacking. I'm sorry!!

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for a review!

I was so excited about this book. It sounded tailor made for me, with queer characters and angels and dark academia vibes. It was a collection of tropes and scenes that I've absolutely eaten up in other books. Unfortunately, though, they just fell flat in this one for me.

I couldn't get attached to Veaer. I didn't understand her obsessive fascination with Elise at the beginning, which seemed to be simply because Veaer needed a project to research. As Elise became more manipulative and toxic throughout the book, it was easier to understand Veaer's continued attachment, but the genesis of her obsession was totally foreign to me, which made Veaer less compelling to me.

I also felt like the whole magic system with the patrons, caemi, and senti took away from the story more than they added to it. I can't think of a single aspect of the plot that could not exist without the caemi/senti system. Additionally, the biblically accurate angel mythology was super interesting! However, it felt out of place in a world with a completely different religious system---what were the angels worshipping, if not the patrons? If they were worshipping the patrons, why were they biblically accurate? I think angels are super fascinating, but completely removed from any biblical context they lose a lot of their meaning and symbolism.

The vibes of this book were cool, though. The descriptions of the school were fun and there were some genuinely beautiful paragraphs of writing. I liked the dark academia aspect, but I feel like this book just tried to do too much, and it didn't really work for me.

This story is set in the halls of Adraredon Academy, with dark stone walls, secret societies, murder, mystery, a hunger for knowledge and a love of art. The perfect dark academia setting.
We are given a look into the schools halls through an outsiders lens, the magnificence of it, the glamour and awe of being allowed into such a brilliant academic space. Veaer is our main character, an artist who (not spoilers!) sees the most beautiful and popular girl, who she is enraptured by, commit murder.
This is where the story starts to unfold, we are taken on an intense, gripping and obsessive whirlwind with Veaer following her love no matter what it entails.
It was really interesting to read a story where basically everyone is morally grey, it put a really interesting perspective on the whole situation as we become at odds with the characters and their choices. It makes you start to wonder who or what is right and wonder what you would do in that situation.
There is some brilliant and vivid mythology included as part of this story that I wish was expanded on more so as the glimpses we get are so beautifully described. I also feel the same for the characters as we meet quite a few very interesting side characters that I definitely would have liked to see more of. There were a lot of loose plot points by the end and I did unfortunately feel as though I was left with more questions than answers, but perhaps that was the point.
The way the book is written was very disorientating and at times, hard to follow. This does in part aline with what the character goes through as she is thrust into so much chaos and uncertainty, I do have to say that I thought the ending was good, very unexpected which I liked. However I feel that the epilogue was rushed and didn't answer anything for us.
(I was happy with Veaers ending though)

Unfortunately, I didn't really enjoy my time with this one. While the central story and some of the themes explored held promise, it was under-developed and confusing as a result. It's frustrating because there were things that peaked my interest. There's some dark academia vibes; there's murder and lies; there's a secret society; there's obsessive love. All of that should have combined into something that prompted me to keep reading. Instead, the characters felt half-formed, the world-building oscillated between glossed over and irrelevant, and the pacing needed some work.

Veaer, the main character, was a bit trying to be in the head of. She's entirely defined by her obsessive "love" of Elise. Like, she stalks this girl and breaks into her room to steal stuff from it and I'm like, "I'm supposed to be rooting for this girl???" Even upon seeing Elise murder someone (despite what the synopsis claims), Veaer immediately resolves to just... not tell anyone either about the murder or that Elise was the one who did it. And, again, the synopsis doesn't quite articulate that Veaer is constantly trying to insinuate herself into Elise's life. Elise doesn't so much as "request her aid" as she does decide to put her weird stalker to use. And their relationship doesn't really make much sense, especially because we never really get a good look in Elise's head. Whether this was intentional or not, Elise comes across as highly manipulative and only looking towards her end goal. Which, this could be an interesting dynamic if: 1. it felt like it amounted to anything and 2. if the book made a better effort at highlighting just how uneven and very much NOT love this was. But I never really felt like any of this worked for me. I also feel like Elise's motivations still remain murky. That could be intentional, but I'm not so sure and I wasn't exactly sure how turning into an angel as a trans allegory(? I think?) worked with her character.

As for the world-building, there IS magic, but none of it really makes much sense to me. There are people with animal ears and tails called caemi(?), which only matter to the story, it seems, in very few instances. It just reads as weird because the setting--despite having an established religion and gods (even though I remain a bit confused about that, too)--comes across as very modern. Almost magical realism, in a sense. Until the author decides that these more fantastical elements should come into place. As such, it's a little jarring and, honestly, the book would've been better served without them.

Again, it's frustrating because I think if the book were a little more focused and cohesive, the story it tells both about queer obsession and being trans could've really hit. Even for an ARC copy, I feel like this needs so much more work to really feel like a completely coherent work.

This one is hard as I wanted to love this book and saw so much potential in the world and characters. Yet, Chrysalis and Requiem fell into the trap many "dark academia" books fall into, not being a criticism of academia. An integral part of the genre is exploring how academia is built on a system based on elitism; it often explores this theme through the death of a student or a secret society that brings the darkness not of the setting but of its characters to light.
For the first 50 or so pages the story shows potential to intrigue readers and to have the characters grow into different people through the horrific events they will witness. But that was before it was made clear that who Elise and Veare are at the beginning of the novel are exactly who they will be the whole time: not growing at all. Having an unlikeable protagonist can be a good thing, but Elise and Veare go above and beyond to make me want to pull my hair out with how entitled and strangely obsessed everyone is with calling Veare "The Princess."
Li has the potential to make something truly worth reading; however, Chrysalis and Requiem were little more than a Pinterest board and playlist that failed to understand the genre of the novel.

Summary: At Adraredon Academy, fervent passion, contemporary companionship, and forbidden desires intertwine with tall gothic spires, ancient halls, and centuries of history. Veaer Rosell can't imagine a better place to satiate her craving for beauty, knowledge, and art. Yet senior year shatters her illusion of tranquillity and civil intellect when she witnesses the headmaster's daughter murder another student and is confronted by an unthinkable choice: avenging her fallen peer or taking this secret to the grave, one way or another. But fate laughs at Veaer's expense when the headmaster's daughter requests her aid. Driven by an all-consuming thirst for answers, Veaer becomes an untimely partner in solving a murder they both know the answer to, unaware of the intricacies that come with learning the bigger picture and playing with death.

Review: Impeccable academia vibes! Would say this is a magical story of internal struggles. That being said, at times you don't know how you got to certain part of the story. Here for the beautiful gothic elements.

#ChrysalisandRequiem #NetGalley

I am having a difficult time articulating how I felt about this book. I was, at the begging, a bit bored and very confused with the world building but that got a bit better as I kept reading, however, it did felt lacking which is honestly sad to say considering how interesting the premise about angels and death was. One of the main reasons this is not getting a 5 stars even though I actually had a great time reading this, was the character of Elise, and maybe she was meant to be written this cryptic but at times she read like an 18 teen girl and other times she read like a other worldly being which would take me out of the story at times. 3.75/5 rounded up.

Honestly I’ve just got nothing to say, this book was an incomprehensible mess full of relationships that made equally no sense. And I do not have the energy to explain the numerous issues with this in any form or fashion.

Thank you NetGalley for supplying this ARC!

Well... that was something. Two stars. I considered 1.5. Chrysalis & Requiem has an insanely interesting premise, with excellent intertextuality, and a great dark academia vibe. The last ~15% of this book was by far the most interesting, and read far smoother than many earlier chapters. I also adored the representation of queer and trans folk in this book, so big ups on that! Despite that, I did have several issues reading this book.

The writing was indistinct, confusing and chaotic. While I recognize this writing style was likely a purposeful choice to exhibit the chaos of grief and mourning, it ultimately worked against Li. The writing style that often focused too much on the philosophical rather than the scene contributed greatly to the confusion I felt trying to keep pace with this book. Settings were unclear, and character dialogues left me constantly flipping back pages to understand what I was currently reading about. It was ultimately made worse by the convoluted world-building, plot, and characterization. I think this book had a fantastic plot! A cult forming in the underbelly of a prestigious academy with toxic wlw? Yes please. But it was let down by characters that I was ultimately uninterested in, who were without clear motivations and purposes. Major plot points only occurred for the sake of occurring, rather than being prompted by the characters actions. The naming and magic systems of the characters were also a primary source of my confusion. A lot of the names felt like keyboard smashes, and then there was Elise?, ultimately it needed a lot more clarity. Likewise, the magic system wasn't explained in the slightest- and while I appreciate the lack of exposition, it resulted in a horrifically overwhelming feeling while reading this book. Ultimately, Chrysalis & Requiem requires serious reflection and editing to improve the clarity of the narrative arc.

After seeing many people feel the same about this book, I hope Li onboards the feedback and applies it successfully. I would love to read this book again after it's officially published to see the changes, and hopefully, be less confused the second read around.

Firstly this was a DNF at 30%.

Secondly, thank you for the ARC.

Chrysalis and requiem is a difficult read in the way its a bit raw and jumbled right now. I love the idea but the execution just wasn't working for me. the world building was poor and there was little explanation of the magic system.

on a positive note, I did feel this was inclusive and did not feel forced. will try and finish this but its become a drag for me

This was a hard book for me to get through. Legitimately. I think the verbiage was just so thick it was hard for me to grasp a scene, to understand what was being painted before my eyes. You get thrown into the story with absolutely no explanation as to what's happening, how we got here, and the main events that were to unfold. It's fairly unclear what the plot is, and even 5 chapters in I was still finding myself absolutely baffled and not understanding why things were unfolding the way they were. Things seemed jumbled and placed together in a weird way, and the chapters that followed did nothing to put together the pieces into one cohesive puzzle. I really was looking forward to this book, but it was very hard for my mind to understand. It's not to say this book was bad, just confusing to me specifically.

Chrysalis and Requiem made me go through quite an array of emotions, but unfortunately, not all of them were very positive. I still struggle to comprehensively summarize my thoughts on this book, so I will just write about what I liked about this book and what I didn't.

To rip off the bandaid, let's start with the parts that I didn't enjoy:

The first chapter alone was incredibly confusing for me. I was desperately trying to understand what was happening in the plot while also trying to wrap my mind around the little worldbuilding that was being explained to me. In general, it felt like the worldbuilding was made up in one setting and then slapped into the book to make it more interesting, but the book would've probably worked better without it. The writing felt very hectic to me (which I will get back to later), and I couldn't really pay attention or follow the train of thoughts that Veaer had. I couldn't really grasp who the characters were even as the chapters went on. They weren't tangible for me, which also meant I couldn't enjoy the romance subplot because I didn't feel the chemistry between the two characters... did they even have personalities?

Now, onto the things I did like or can at least appreciate:

This book is a horror/thriller book about obsession and grief, which means the whole point is that ... things go off the rails. I love the story's premise and the whole idea behind it. And for a book about obsession, the hectic writing I mentioned fits absolutely perfectly. I did not feel sane at all while reading, I felt like I was positively losing my mind most of the time. I don't want to give any spoilers, so I don't want to go into detail about the plot points I enjoyed, but I can definitely say I enjoyed the last half much better than the first - mainly because I accepted that I would just not understand what was going on.

Overall, the book just wasn't for me because even though the premise sounded fun, I didn't like how it was executed.

*I received an arc from Netgalley and Victory Editing in exchange for an honest review.*

I didn't really enjoy this. It was a bit too complicated for me and I was really hoping for more.

Did not finish book. Stopped at 18%.
I received arc thanks to Netgallery (dnf 18%)

I wasn't able to enjoy it, even though i tried.

The writing style is uneven and overwhelming.

For example whole 1st chapter is unreadable because there is to much informations and weirdly used words that it was really hard to stayed focused. I'm level B2 in eng even though it's not my native language, but lots of those words are used so badly that it didn't make sense to me. In other words It feels like raw not as finished book.

There is also this weird use of flash backs.