Well, this was certainly a deviation from my usual reads, and I had a feeling of being posh and academic when I was reading it. I had to look up so many words I lost track while reading this book, and I am certain that if I had been older I would have understood much more of this book. But, that’s not to say I wouldn’t recommend it to my peers; I just think they should analyze it deeper than other books.
The drama, the tension, the existentialism—everything felt like dark academia. This is cool because I’ve never really read dark academia before. I did read If We Were Villains, which felt very similar to this, but I like that my taste is expanding. I’m very new to the genre, so comment if I’m using it incorrectly, but I’m starting to be interested in dark academia. Admittedly, I haven’t read any light academia, so I may also be interested in that. Also, comment down below with light academia recommendations!
I recently read something somewhere (haha) that said that you should look for books that you feel inside yourself, to paraphrase. I definitely don’t always follow this, as I’ve read a lot of classics simply because I felt I needed to, not because they made me feel something. But, it’s absolutely super important to look for those books, whatever they may be. For me, I think the books I feel inside myself are romance books, which isn’t something I’m ashamed of. The most prominent one that’s coming to mind is Beach Read, which still has a chokehold on my heart—that book ruined my life, I swear. Still, I felt it inside myself, so that’s all that matters.
The point I’m trying to get at is that I’m starting to feel dark/light academia books inside myself as well (again, new to the genre so help me out!). I’d love to explore it more and get super emo, so I’m going to look for more books in the genre. Always good to explore things you’re interested in.
There was a lot going on in this book, some of which were mildly disturbing, but also some weird plot choices. I didn’t fully understand the ending, and I also thought it could have been shorter (did I really have to read 600 pages for all that?). But, all in all, it was definitely an educating and cool book, especially the class parts with Greek and philosophy. Sorry for not including more specific examples of things that stood out to me, but I don’t want to give any spoilers. Just know, I do recommend this book, though it is for someone who enjoys the genre of dark academia fiction. It wasn’t a soul-crushing, spellbinding book that captured me like no other, but, to be honest, sometimes that’s not what I want to read; sometimes I want an interesting, intriguing book.
Age: 15+
Genre: dark academia, fiction
Rating: 7.5/10