I’ve been looking forward to this book’s release since I heard about it and I was not disappointed. I LOVED this so much! It was gripping right from the start & the narrator was excellent. I listened to the whole thing in one day.

“The Four” are a group of scholarship students at prestigious boarding school “High Realms” and are bullied by other pupils (Marta is particularly badly treated). Their friendship is really tested when Marta is accused of committing a crime and the others try to help her. The book is very dark and really explores friendship & loyalty and far people will go to help someone they care about.

The book covers some difficult topics and there are definitely parts that were hard to read so I'd recommend checking for triggers before jumping in.

I also loved the addition of the Q&A session with the author at the end of the audiobook, it was great to hear her answer some people’s questions.

I’ll be reading the physical copy once it is released and Ellie is now on my “must-buy” author list.

Four scholarship students’ dreams come true when they are accepted into an exclusive boarding school, but they will soon be bound by a dark secret that could save one of them… or destroy them all… This cover and title got me intrigued… and I loved this!
Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publishers for letting me listen to this book in exchange for my review. Impossible to resist, impossible to predict, impossible to put down . . .

Possible spoilers

I listened to the audio of this, and found it pretty addictive.
I think I was racing through it to see if things could get any worse for our characters, and turns out, every time I had half hour to listen, they could, and did.
Some fascinating characters, some dark stories, it kept me glued to my headphones until the charge ran out!
Excellent stuff!!!

‘The Four’ by Ellie Keel is a captivating, disturbing and emotional addition to the dark academia genre. Through the eyes of Rose - the clever and sensitive daughter of a London cab driver - we hear a story of wonder and excitement giving way to hatred and horror as she and three other scholarship recipients attempt to navigate life at exclusive boarding school High Realms.

Without revealing too much of the plot, some of my favourite features of this novel were:
- The first-person narration which allowed secrets to be slowly revealed and gave the whole book a reflective tone
- The vivid descriptions of the school’s intimidating beauty and vast immersive grounds which transported me absolutely
- The distinct personalities of each member of The Four - especially northerner Sammy who I had a soft spot for
- The eviscerating dread permeating every chapter as things spiralled more and more out of control

I wish we’d heard more about life after High Realms, and did find some sections incredibly dark, but this was a four star novel for me, and is a must-read for all fans of the genre.

Ell Potter expertly and evocatively narrates the audiobook, which made me feel closer to Rose and resulted in the story being even more hard-hitting. I’d definitely recommend the format - also because we are treated to a revealing Q&A with Keel herself after the final chapter…

I received an Advance Listening Copy of this audiobook from the publisher Harper Collins UK Audio via NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are my own.