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amandajune97's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I thought I was gonna be one of those girlies who like Got It™️ once I finally read this book but unfortunately that did not happen. I considered DNFing this one bc I just didn’t like the main character too much. That was my main issue tbh and then like the house didn’t seem too creepy to me idk. Overall a bit of a flop, I thought this was gonna be 5⭐️ but sadly it’s not…
harlow_ashes's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
ash_a's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
thecryptsleeper's review against another edition
2.0
Nothing happened by the halfway point and I couldn’t force myself to continue. The writing was solid and I enjoyed the descriptions, but there was not a single thing happening by the halfway point that made me want to keep going. I was 0% invested in anything going on. It wasn’t terrible, just boring.
captaincymru's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
stoneandsea's review against another edition
1.0
This book was so overwhelmingly dull I am almost impressed. The author is desperately trying to set the classic ‘hazy days of hedonistic academia’ tone that has become a classic of dark academia, but it never fully takes hold because at the same time it is being pulled the other direction by the slightly naff aspects of their controlled lifestyle. The author doesn’t seem able to commit to either direction- is this a cult? Is this a science experiment? Is this a crazy difficult palace of intellectualism? Eh, whatever works for you I guess
The author also commits the most grievous sin - a dull protagonist. I could get behind a protagonist with a dark past, a protagonist who struggles to keep up with her brilliant peers, a protagonist who socially isolated herself, but Ines is so powerfully unmotivated I think she actively sucks plot momentum into the black hole of her own disinterest.
At multiple points through the book you think ‘ah yes, here is when Ines is going to start caring about her friends, about this strange school, about the multiple mysteries before her’, but I swear this woman continued to just amble from plot point to point, shrugging off every moment of potential intrigue with ‘huh, that’s weird… I’m gonna go find a cookie’. She gets sent to a cult reprogramming centre that causes her to hallucinate? Huh That’s weird. She and her peers are hooked up to a strange medical devices and made to chant and reveal their darkest secrets? Seems normal. Her roomate dies in said reprogramming centre? That sucks. And that’s just the first half of the book, it keeps going like that. Even her lazy attempts to find out more about the mysterious plasm seem more to be because she’s bored on day than out of any real motivation. She just keeps getting handed opportunities and plot hooks by other characters, and each time she reacts with the same level of interest as you might if you found out that a distant relative just bought a pet fish - ‘Huh, well that’s interesting. What’s for dinner’
The core parts of dark academia - the intrigue, the excess, the co-dependency of adolescence, the driving hunger to be the best - all of that is absent here from the eyes of our protagonist. I expected a ruthless cult that ground its students down till they had nothing left, and instead it’s a bunch of dull directionless lab rats, starring a hollow outline as protagonist, and some of the most uninteresting stock characters as her occasional backup.
Save yourself the time and don’t bother reading it. The overall effect on your life will be about the same as if you did.
The author also commits the most grievous sin - a dull protagonist. I could get behind a protagonist with a dark past, a protagonist who struggles to keep up with her brilliant peers, a protagonist who socially isolated herself, but Ines is so powerfully unmotivated I think she actively sucks plot momentum into the black hole of her own disinterest.
At multiple points through the book you think ‘ah yes, here is when Ines is going to start caring about her friends, about this strange school, about the multiple mysteries before her’, but I swear this woman continued to just amble from plot point to point, shrugging off every moment of potential intrigue with ‘huh, that’s weird… I’m gonna go find a cookie’. She gets sent to a cult reprogramming centre that causes her to hallucinate? Huh That’s weird. She and her peers are hooked up to a strange medical devices and made to chant and reveal their darkest secrets? Seems normal. Her roomate dies in said reprogramming centre? That sucks. And that’s just the first half of the book, it keeps going like that. Even her lazy attempts to find out more about the mysterious plasm seem more to be because she’s bored on day than out of any real motivation. She just keeps getting handed opportunities and plot hooks by other characters, and each time she reacts with the same level of interest as you might if you found out that a distant relative just bought a pet fish - ‘Huh, well that’s interesting. What’s for dinner’
The core parts of dark academia - the intrigue, the excess, the co-dependency of adolescence, the driving hunger to be the best - all of that is absent here from the eyes of our protagonist. I expected a ruthless cult that ground its students down till they had nothing left, and instead it’s a bunch of dull directionless lab rats, starring a hollow outline as protagonist, and some of the most uninteresting stock characters as her occasional backup.
Save yourself the time and don’t bother reading it. The overall effect on your life will be about the same as if you did.
kelseekayjorg's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
sofiarhidalgo's review against another edition
Uma escola bizarra, alunos pretensiosos e muita coisa estranha acontecendo, e fala muito de ciência e arte.
Sei lá, eu amei
Sei lá, eu amei