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shugentobler's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Another win by Faridah in my opinion! When opening, this book was immediately VIBES. Dark academia, autumn, mean girls. I loved it!
And who was my favorite? Definitely Persephone. Giving Prudence from CAOS, girl slayed me when she said for Halloween she wouldn't begoing to a party, but watching all the Halloweentown movies girl after my own heart!
And who was my favorite? Definitely Persephone. Giving Prudence from CAOS, girl slayed me when she said for Halloween she wouldn't be
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Emotional abuse, and Mental illness
Minor: Islamophobia and Racism
bookishmillennial's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
disclaimer: I don’t really give starred reviews. I hope my reviews provide enough information to let you know if a book is for you or not. Find me here: https://linktr.ee/bookishmillennial
Look, if the ACOTAR girlies can act like absolute asshats and weaponize their corny ass ww fragility in saying "ThiS BoOk SavEd My LifE, YoU CanNoT CriTiCiZe iT Or You'Re BuLLyiNg Me!", then I CAN DO THAT ABOUT THIS BOOK. IT'S MY GOD GIVEN RIGHT AS AN INSUFFERABLE VIRGO SUN. I truly couldn't give one flying fuck if anyone hates or dislikes this book because it was poignant, infuriating, and spoke to my soul in a devastating way.
This young adult dark academia novel brings you on an intriguing journey of mystery and not knowing who to trust! We meet Sade Hussein on her first day at Alfred Nobel Academy, as she arrives a month late into the semester and is chastised for it. We come to find out she has experienced great loss in her family prior to arriving, while she has been seeing visions of someone from her past and frequently hearing a voice, "You shouldn't have come here." Her house sister and roommate, Elizabeth Wang, shows her around the campus, and then shortly after, a student goes missing at ANA. Sade begins to uncover clues and break rules to find out what really happened to her classmate. She befriends Baz (Basil), the "unholy trinity" (which honestly made me think of Glee lol) which includes April, Persephone and Juliette; August Owens, who is April's brother, and Jude, August's bestie.
I thought the mystery was well-paced, with readers rooting for Sade to uncover as much as she could with the clues that she stumbled upon. If I knew morse code, I would have much more quickly decoded the message Sade found early on with the mysterious box. However, it was fun for me to simply discover information as Sade did, and I felt both her and Baz's frustration and excitement wane a bit as they ran into seemingly dead ends. I appreciated a lull in the investigation here and there, because it rang true to life! This mystery both pulled me in with every new clue, kept me guessing of who was trustworthy or not (truly I was questioning everyone and even Sade at one point, because I was like 'honey buns, are *you* an unreliable narrator?!'), and had me thinking maybe there would not be clear cut answers by the end!
The way Sade's past trauma and loss impacted her current mental health state was of paramount focus, which makes sense. I found this investigation to be a bit of a coping mechanism and distraction for Sade, as she had her own hidden agenda (her original focus at ANA) and this felt somehow like something she *could* control, or at least have some semblance of it. So many parts of her life were not chosen by her, but trying to figure out this missing persons mystery felt like a tangible way to grasp onto control. Though you are not clued into Sade's backstory until much later in the book, you have an inkling that losing her parents only scratches the surface.
Sade begins as a loner, and as someone who is apathetic towards actually developing genuine friendships. The narration lead me to believe she had zero interest in friends, so didn't take it personally when Elizabeth didn't seem extremely keen on being her mentor and/or friend. However, this arc of friendship and building connections was so lovely and fascinating to me. I think Baz and his guinea pig Muffin stole the show for me; Baz is either pan or gay (I forget, please forgive my ADHD brain), and while an array of sexual orientations, ethnicities, abilities, genders, etc. is bare minimum/baseline expectation in media to represent the world we actually live in, I am always appreciative of a cast like this, representative of so many identities <3 Anyway, Baz is so clever and made me giggle a few times, and Muffin was adorable. Free all of the animal testing subjects! Why are we even animal testing anymore!? Good lorddddd.
The undertones of romance between Sade and a few other characters were interesting. Sade's friendship with August develops over their hobby of swimming, and August brings her to the new swimming facilities that the school is building for the swim team. I felt they were much more compatible than Jude, who actively pursues her. Jude is also August's best friend, and he was described by many as a fuckboy, and acted accordingly. I appreciated that FAI showed his charm and wit, because it's important to show how people fall for these facades, these "charming young men." The sapphic pining between Sade and Persephone was so subdued; I LOVED IT! Persephone is lesbian, has turned down many boys at ANA multiple times, including Jude, who said some truly vile things to her. I found the dynamic between S + P to ring true, as they talked around their feelings, rather than directly about them to each other. It rang true to teenage longing to me.
The overarching commentaries and messaging about misogyny, rape culture, standing up to a corrupt administration, and more are important, and I only hope that one day, these elitest institutions either no longer exist or they make vast improvements to protect their students, especially the marginalized ones. Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé wrote another engrossing dark academia story (I did feel fully immersed in this academy!) about how oppressive systems continue to silence and gaslight the marginalized while protecting bad behavior. My take is: burn it all down! However, I'm really proud of Sade and her new friends <3
Look, if the ACOTAR girlies can act like absolute asshats and weaponize their corny ass ww fragility in saying "ThiS BoOk SavEd My LifE, YoU CanNoT CriTiCiZe iT Or You'Re BuLLyiNg Me!", then I CAN DO THAT ABOUT THIS BOOK. IT'S MY GOD GIVEN RIGHT AS AN INSUFFERABLE VIRGO SUN. I truly couldn't give one flying fuck if anyone hates or dislikes this book because it was poignant, infuriating, and spoke to my soul in a devastating way.
This young adult dark academia novel brings you on an intriguing journey of mystery and not knowing who to trust! We meet Sade Hussein on her first day at Alfred Nobel Academy, as she arrives a month late into the semester and is chastised for it. We come to find out she has experienced great loss in her family prior to arriving, while she has been seeing visions of someone from her past and frequently hearing a voice, "You shouldn't have come here." Her house sister and roommate, Elizabeth Wang, shows her around the campus, and then shortly after, a student goes missing at ANA. Sade begins to uncover clues and break rules to find out what really happened to her classmate. She befriends Baz (Basil), the "unholy trinity" (which honestly made me think of Glee lol) which includes April, Persephone and Juliette; August Owens, who is April's brother, and Jude, August's bestie.
I thought the mystery was well-paced, with readers rooting for Sade to uncover as much as she could with the clues that she stumbled upon. If I knew morse code, I would have much more quickly decoded the message Sade found early on with the mysterious box. However, it was fun for me to simply discover information as Sade did, and I felt both her and Baz's frustration and excitement wane a bit as they ran into seemingly dead ends. I appreciated a lull in the investigation here and there, because it rang true to life! This mystery both pulled me in with every new clue, kept me guessing of who was trustworthy or not (truly I was questioning everyone and even Sade at one point, because I was like 'honey buns, are *you* an unreliable narrator?!'), and had me thinking maybe there would not be clear cut answers by the end!
The way Sade's past trauma and loss impacted her current mental health state was of paramount focus, which makes sense. I found this investigation to be a bit of a coping mechanism and distraction for Sade, as she had her own hidden agenda (her original focus at ANA) and this felt somehow like something she *could* control, or at least have some semblance of it. So many parts of her life were not chosen by her, but trying to figure out this missing persons mystery felt like a tangible way to grasp onto control. Though you are not clued into Sade's backstory until much later in the book, you have an inkling that losing her parents only scratches the surface.
Sade begins as a loner, and as someone who is apathetic towards actually developing genuine friendships. The narration lead me to believe she had zero interest in friends, so didn't take it personally when Elizabeth didn't seem extremely keen on being her mentor and/or friend. However, this arc of friendship and building connections was so lovely and fascinating to me. I think Baz and his guinea pig Muffin stole the show for me; Baz is either pan or gay (I forget, please forgive my ADHD brain), and while an array of sexual orientations, ethnicities, abilities, genders, etc. is bare minimum/baseline expectation in media to represent the world we actually live in, I am always appreciative of a cast like this, representative of so many identities <3 Anyway, Baz is so clever and made me giggle a few times, and Muffin was adorable. Free all of the animal testing subjects! Why are we even animal testing anymore!? Good lorddddd.
The undertones of romance between Sade and a few other characters were interesting. Sade's friendship with August develops over their hobby of swimming, and August brings her to the new swimming facilities that the school is building for the swim team. I felt they were much more compatible than Jude, who actively pursues her. Jude is also August's best friend, and he was described by many as a fuckboy, and acted accordingly. I appreciated that FAI showed his charm and wit, because it's important to show how people fall for these facades, these "charming young men." The sapphic pining between Sade and Persephone was so subdued; I LOVED IT! Persephone is lesbian, has turned down many boys at ANA multiple times, including Jude, who said some truly vile things to her. I found the dynamic between S + P to ring true, as they talked around their feelings, rather than directly about them to each other. It rang true to teenage longing to me.
The overarching commentaries and messaging about misogyny, rape culture, standing up to a corrupt administration, and more are important, and I only hope that one day, these elitest institutions either no longer exist or they make vast improvements to protect their students, especially the marginalized ones. Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé wrote another engrossing dark academia story (I did feel fully immersed in this academy!) about how oppressive systems continue to silence and gaslight the marginalized while protecting bad behavior. My take is: burn it all down! However, I'm really proud of Sade and her new friends <3
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny
Moderate: Death of parent, Islamophobia, Sexual assault, Animal death, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Suicide, and Rape
natashaleighton_'s review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Insightful, gripping and completely unputdownable! Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé’s Where Sleeping Girls Lie is a mystery-laden powerhouse of a novel, with a dark academia style premise that packs quite an emotional punch.
Tackling themes of grief, rape culture and toxic masculinity, Àbíké-Íyímídé’s emotionally nuanced (and character driven) prose deftly explores the rather disturbing reality of institutional privilege and the trauma inflicted when those privileges—and the power connected to it, is abused.
Told in third person, we follow new girl, Sade Hussein, who has no idea what to expect at the prestigious, Alfred Nobel Academy—the elite and respected boarding school she’s just enrolled at. But, one things for certain—she never expected her roommate to go missing on her first night. Or for rumours to point the blame in her direction, leading to interest from the most popular clique in school-The Unholy Trinity.
Balancing new found friendship with the popular kids and a gruelling school schedule, Sade still can’t shake the wrongness to the school staff’s indifference to a missing student.
So, taking things into her own hands, she teams up with missing girl Elizabeth’s bestie, Baz, to find out what really happened. However, uncovering the truth is harder than it first appears, as the halls (and it’s students) are steeped in lies and secrets …
I absolutely loved this! The attention of detail was phenomenal and the intricately connected clues that propel the narrative were cleverly placed, keeping the suspense fabulously high.
Though I confess, it was the multilayered and depth filled characters and the way in which they navigate their pain and trauma that captivated me the most. Particularly protagonist Sade who,though guarded at first glance, was an incredibly endearing character with a slowly unfurling backstory of loss, grief and resilience that had me rooting for her every step of her journey.
I also adored the found family-esque dynamics and friendship that grows between her and pink haired cinnamon roll, Baz. His adorably chaotic nature really brought a lightheartedness to plot’s intensity and allowed us to catch a glimpse at what Sadie’s future may entail—with a network of love and support that will help heal the inner turmoil she has held onto for soo long.
Persephone and her character development was fascinating for very similar reasons, and I enjoyed the slow-burn friendship-turned romance that we experience between her and Sade, as they get to know (and trust) one another.
The ending wasn’t as straight forward and satisfying as I would’ve liked, but was a fairly realistic portrayal of how similar (real world) situations have been dealt with. The focus on many of the female characters and their individual paths to healing was a nice touch— underlining the importance of mental health services and support for survivors of sexual assault.
Overall, a powerfully poignant, Mean Girls style murder mystery (with queer and Muslim rep) that would work brilliantly as a book club pick, or to kick start discussions around power & privilege, racial discrimination and rape culture with teen/ young adult readers. Just be sure to check the TWs beforehand.
Also a massive thank you to Fritha at Usborne for the amazing proof.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Rape, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Suicide, Child abuse, and Death of parent
Minor: Animal death, Domestic abuse, and Islamophobia
bloodmaarked's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
2.5* rounded up. i truly hate that this is my rating but it didn't hit the same as ace of spades. still love faridah though
✧ full review on my tumblr ✧
✧ full review on my tumblr ✧
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Death, Death of parent, Suicide, Animal death, Blood, Sexual assault, and Child death
Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Gaslighting, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, Cursing, Murder, and Addiction
Minor: Medical content, Lesbophobia, and Islamophobia
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