Member Reviews
The book followed an American girl who had to transfer schools. This is because she was involved in a serious incident, at her old school, where it ended her friendship with her only friend, Cassidy. The outcast needed a fresh start. She happened to receive a scholarship offer from a college all the way in Scotland. The Agathion College. An elite (boarding) college, where the riches sent their troubled children. However, there's more to Agathion with its dark roots, and its ancient clandestine society...
One thing that struck out to me was how Scotland was being romanticised. Don't get me wrong, Scotland is beautiful, but the description of it throughout the book was a little too unnatural. Like how tourists would describe it. It's not bad but it gets tiring. Also, people from Scotland are Scottish not British. But at the beginning, the girls on the train described as British. Although it wasn't specified where exactly they were when Page encountered them on the train. Maybe the girls were British travelling to Scotland.
The thing that made me DNF the book was how the characters were written.
First off, the main character, Page. She tried too hard to be the dark academia girly. It's like she got a description of Dark Academia, and made herself fit into it. Dusty books, cup of teas, and kept calling books 'literature'. Her calling books literatures bugged me. It was giving 'I'm not like the other girls'. There were other parts too. The author really wanted us to know that Page was an intellectual and sensitive girl. It felt forceful because all this happened within 10% of the book.
This book was written from Page's POV, and it didn't work well. It made her description of people immature and cringe. For example, she described Cyrus, as absurdly handsome, perfectly made human. Right size and shape...I'm not exaggerating, that was how Page described him.
Then there was the most beautiful girl Page had ever seen...who sat at a table of girls who were beautiful, but not quite as beautiful as the girl was. ..
The kicker was when Page described Oak. He looked like a creature from another world. A fairy prince or a trickster crow in human form...Then she said something similar not that much later in the book, and again. Also, I hate the way Oak was written too. He was that carefree dude who stole big books from the library. He was so insensitive, and made Page cried yet she still followed him for a tour. Strange.
I was excited to read this book when I read the synopsis. Even if I didn't get approved, I would have purchased it. However, after reading this ARC, this book turned out to be a major disappointment. I tried my hardest to read more, but the descriptions of the characters were too repetitive and cringey. It was tough to read. Unfortunately I had to DNF the book at 12%.
This dark academic was an easy read. A book you can devour in one sitting. I think young adults would eat this up and I would also read from this author again.
Well, this book certainly puts the dark in dark academia!
Agathion is such a dark and twisted place, full of hurt and half-truths, dark secrets and secret societies. It serves as the perfect backdrop for what is essentially a coming of age story (with a sprinkling of magic, demons and sacrifices involved!)
Centring around Page (or piglet) and her found family of misfits, there were twists and turns a plenty, and each one kept you on the back foot. A beautiful and satisfying ending - sometimes living your life for you is the best revenge you can get.
I wish that the magic system had been developed slightly more, as we only ever caught glimpses and half-explanations of it. The soul candles, and the ability to (albeit briefly) hold the spirit of a goddess in your hands were beautifully described.
(Full review on external sites held until February at the request of the publisher)
I was approved for Unhallowed halls on Netgalley, thank you! My opinions are my own.
Firstly, I want to say that reading a book where the main character not only mentions her period but how utterly crap it actually is was so refreshing! It’s nice to see things like this book and The Last of Us actually acknowledging the extra layers of difficulty that having a period in life or death situations can add.
It did seem like the main character could have endometriosis by the levels of pain she has (and I also want Oak’s tea SO BADLY) and if so, it would have been nice to see some representation for that too, but it’s not a major issue.
I also really liked how the trans rep was added and handled, not everyone was perfect with how they interacted with them, but everything was considerate and realistic. Very well done.
The one reason this book is not quite perfect for me was simply the beginning - it was a little hard to get into and honestly felt a bit “trying too hard” to be atmospheric and deep, but this settled as soon as we got into the plot and dialogue more, so that slowness didn’t last long.
I don’t know also if this was just me reading some similar books, but I did manage to guess the major conflict plot twist early on. This didn’t lower my enjoyment of Unhallowed Halls however because I also felt like the main character knew a bit more than she was willing to admit and was questioning everything also. It didn’t feel like I was reading about an oblivious girl just floating her way through life and death situations, she was just in denial about how bad everything actually was.
This questioning and cynicism also helped me believe that this girl could potentially save everyone, it’s hard to believe that someone so blind and ignorant can solve problems and save lives, but in this scenario it was built up to be very much believable.
But aside from the little details I liked or found frustrating, overall this book was a really enjoyable read with great drama and stakes that kept me guessing all the way through. I would recommend this book to all of my friends!
I enjoyed this book, it has an intriguing story and Paige seems to be the key to a mystery after being sent to Scotland from America where a tragedy occurred. Here she makes friends but all is not what it seems, why are people disappearing, why are students kept until they “graduate”, whether it takes months or years???
Supernatural, mystery, this book has it all
I’m grateful I was able to read this early, I enjoyed reading this.
This story mixes dark academia with fantasy using greek mythology, witchcraft and so much more. I thoroughly loved the queer and LGBTQIA+ representation included.
This story had so many layers and I liked our FMC even if I wish she had been a little more pushy with her questions at some points. This had some twists, betrayal, romance and found family elements that really brought the story together.
Happily rating 3.75 - 4.0 stars.
My rating is 3.5 stars
After a tragic incident at her school, our FMC accepts an offer to an exclusive boarding school where she finds dark secrets and ties to ancient society. I really like the premise and the dark academia vibes but this reads more towards the younger side of YA and may not be for older readers.
I enjoyed the gothic atmosphere but kind of lost me in the last third of the book. I was left wanting more.
A great read for MG/YA fans! Great characters, mystery and fantasy combined with its wonderfully gothic and atmospheric setting make this the perfect book to cosy up with this autumn/winter.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC
I've been struggling with what to rate this book as I've got a lot of mixed feelings about it.
I really like the premise, I think it's really enticing, and the atmosphere is really rich. I genuinely would have eaten this up 10 years ago.
However, I'm 24, and my degree was in history (particularly greek/roman history and myth) and philosophy. And the aspects of philosophy that this book drew on just felt underdeveloped and I feel like they could have been explored a little bit more to help the reader understand what was going on. It also really irked me that near the beginning it mentions the myth of Arachne and blaming it on Hera, when Athena was the goddess involved in that particular myth. I recognise it's a really tiny thing to pick up on, but it just made the book feel like there was a lack of research behind it.
I really liked the dark academia element, and I think the characters were interesting. Page really annoyed me, and she felt rather undeveloped throughout the book. She was constantly whinging about believing everyone else thought they were better than her - even when characters were being fairly nice to her all things considering - and I feel like she felt she was better than everyone. She never really gets out of this mind frame, and it becomes really irritating once we hit the 50% mark. Similarly, the character's main weakness is the desire to belong, and I understand how much rejection hurts, but the hissy fit Page threw when characters she had know for like 3 weeks ditched class without her just felt so entitled.
I will admit, I liked the inclusion of such a diverse range of characters, particularly making them LGBTQ+ and making it relevant to the story was so important to me. Often characters can feel forced in to say a story is inclusive, but this one didn't feel forced, it was an aspect I really liked.
I also will admit I was kicking and giggling like a kid when Page and Oak had their little moments - one moment in particular but I don't want to give any spoilers. I also like they just stuck to the word "like" rather than rushing into any feelings of "love" as again, this book took place over 6 weeks and I would have been beyond mad if they had confessions of love that early.
I think the plot sorta fell apart towards the end and I'll be honest, the only thing that kept me reading was being beyond the 75% mark and not wanting to DNF it.
I would definitely recommend this to a younger reader of YA. But I'm not sure if older readers would enjoy it