A YA sapphic fantasy academia of a twisted mystery.

The is a wild complex story of crazy characters. I enjoyed the aesthetics and magic but every once in a while I felt a bit lost and a little confused but nothing that took me out of the story. The plot was well done, and the characters are fine but what stole my attention was the themes and magical elements. It's unique with a queer romance that's dealing with murder, angels, ghosts, and more. The writing is ok, but there is some religious imagery, I feel the author knows their world and characters.

If you like weird, confusing, queer romance, and magic then you may have fun when reading this.

⭐⭐⭐✨3.5/5

This book was a wild and bizarre ride! And it is probably not going to be what you expect it to be going in. It is filled with all kinds of morally gray (at best) characters, murder & mayhem, secret underground occult dealings, paranormal mischief, complicated (and often obsessive, codependent, and manipulative) relationships, dark academia and the underpinnings of elitism, teen angst and drama! It is utter chaos at times and exactly as the author has stated, “reads like a fever dream.”

The story is told from Veaer’s point of view, and while she might not be an unreliable narrator, the inner workings of her mind will take you to some interesting places and sometimes it’s hard to know what’s real and what’s not. Elise…well she’s a bit of a loose cannon too, but she is also cunning and manipulative. And let’s just say…there was not a single point in the story where I actually trusted her. Tychon is a ghost for most of the story and he’s probably my favorite - a trans tarot reader studying religion and mythology. He remains somewhat a mystery through the book, being dead and all, but he was a fascinating character and I loved watching his paranormal interactions. Haiwrin seemed to be the most level headed of all of them. And while I really liked Adair…I still have some mixed feelings on that one. Harq intrigued me and I both liked and didn’t like him. Izot I mostly didn’t like, but he may have slightly redeemed himself. He’s still an entitled rich boy though. Long story short - there were no characters that I absolutely LOVED and none that I fully trusted either.

I liked the way that Li shifted between the past and present, filling in pieces of the backstory that led to the sheer madness that the story begins with. I also loved the religious (and maybe somewhat antireligious) themes in the book - angels, idol worship, rebirth, transformation and ascension.

Whatever you expect this book to be…throw it out! There were times I was utterly confused while reading and, not gonna lie, did feel like I was in some kind of fever dream. At the end of the book I was still trying to untangle the complicated web of relationships and figure out exactly what went down and who did what and why. There were so many twists and turns and secrets revealed that it was hard to keep track of it all!

Was this book everything I hoped it would be? Not quite. The writing style was not my favorite and was confusing at times. It’s hard to tell, though, whether the writing itself wasn’t great or if the writing was intentional to give it that “fever dream” quality. I think those vibes could have been achieved other ways, but we were inside Veaer’s mind… All that being said, bizarre and tangled and chaotic as this story was, I did still enjoy reading it.

🏳️‍🌈Rep: Lesbian MC & LI; Gay, Bi/Pan, Trans & Nonbinary SCs; Cane User (SC)

📝Genre/Tropes/Themes: New Adult, Dark Academia, Fantasy, Thriller, Purple Gothic Prose, Morally Gray Characters, Trans Angels, Murder Lesbians, Occult and Rituals, Idol Worship, Paranormal, Secret Societies, Tragedy, Obsessive Relationships

⚠️TW/CW (from the author): alcohol/drug use, blood, confrontation to abuse, death, emotional abuse, escalating violence, gaslighting/manipulation, gore, life changing injury, corpses, visions about traumatic events, panic attacks, paranormal/occult content, self-harm, sexual references, suicide ideation, and trauma

I'm going to be completely honest and say that I had no clue what was happening for the majority of the book. Starting it, it felt like I skipped over the first book in a series and began reading the second book. There are so many confusing, underdeveloped pieces in this book.

I don't understand what kind of school the story is supposed to take place at. It's a school with high school-aged students, dorms, a barrier that removes the magical abilities of the students, "majors," a fencing class, and no math courses. There is a fencing class, but no classes for a core subject in school? Also, why is the fencing class led by the student council president? I'm not familiar with that being a responsibility of a student council member and I wonder if that was a decision solely made with the purpose of Izot interacting with Veaer and Elise.

Trying to remember and figure out what characters were related or friends was a struggle for me, but I don't know if that's due to the book or me.

All of Veaer's internal monologuing felt so annoying. I can tell that the author was trying to depict her as neurodivergent or struggling with anxiety, but it felt very surface-level. It's never discussed enough to have significance to her character or the story, and she is so burdened by everything happening to her and the anxiety it causes her, but what is she doing about it? All the emotional aspects in the book were shallow and didn't feel meaningful. I was reading these words on my phone that Veaer cares about Elise and is struggling with what she should do regarding the situations she's found herself in, but it didn't feel like anything more than words.

I honestly can't figure out how to properly explain the thoughts I have for this book because it all feels so poorly connected. The beginning of the book starts with Veaer stealing a necklace for Elise's attention, but it doesn't have any relevance further in the story. I think a better introduction would've been Veaer watching Elise, starting to become "obsessed" with her from a distance, and having the reader watch the progression for a couple of chapters. That "obsession" could grow to the point that when she notices strange behaviors that Elise is exhibiting, she follows her and ends up witnessing the murder of Tychon and when Veaer is conflicted with what to do in the aftermath, she inserts herself into Elise's life to figure out more information. I think that would've made more sense considering what the book was trying to go for.

I waited a couple of weeks after reading the book to write my review, so my thoughts aren't completely developed and I'm sure I forgot to mention some things.

If you like mystery, dark academia, biblically accurate angels, weird cults and sapphic stories, this is definitely for you! This was not for me thought, i enjoyed some aspects of it, but in general i was really confusing HAHAHA, everything is written so beautiful and like a poem, the protagonist Vaer is absolutely obsessed with Elise, the pace is really great, you don't get bored with long chapters, and all the vibes this book brings is kinda mystical, magic school but is so ambiguous about the magic system that you can't know what is a reality, so, maybe i was having dementia and getting all wrong, overall, is great but not for me, i pushed trough because the way is written is really easy to go along, i just think i didn't get most of it, would recommend but just for a specific type of people!

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me an ARC of this book for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

This book had all the ingredients to make it a new favorite: sapphic romance, dark academia, biblically accurate angels, cults, nonbinary/trans rep... alas, what it did with those ingredients was a wild ride, but like the kind that you want to get off of as soon as possible.

The two main characters were god-awful. And not in the way where they're so evil that you love to hate them. They were just completely empty vessels filled only with obsession (Veaer) and hunger for love (Elise) Their chemistry was NON-EXISTENT. For the life of me, I cannot understand Veaer's crazy obsession with Elise after seeing her literally murder someone else, and the fact that that element of the novel was not believable made everything else just that much less believable. Veaer is an absolute doormat of a character that seems to just exist to be a love interest for Elise, and that could be excusable in a side character, but she's the MAIN CHARACTER.

I also do not understand much of anything about the world of this story. There are terms thrown around like Senti and Caemi (Caemi gave me heavy furry vibes, so do with that what you will), but the differences between these races (species?) aren't explained at all. I am left with so many questions. Why do people care about the four heirs so much? Why do caemis seemingly have less rights than Senti? Who has magic and who doesn't? How do you know what kind of people have magic? How do the caemi and senti ascend to angels? What kind of education do most people need to thrive in this world (clearly arts/magic but like what about math and shit)? Additionally, the "dark academia" vibe fell very flat because the school just seemed to be a backdrop for the story. I was hoping for more academic rivalry/classics references as I come to expect when that genre is mentioned.

The shifting timeline also didn't make sense. I find myself wondering what the flashbacks to years 1 and 2 add to Veaer's character at all, especially since there weren't many of them at all.

Now despite all that I disliked about this book, it has some points that are its saving grace and that got it to 2 stars instead of just one. Tychon's character and his transness being connected to divinity was incredible. Veaer's visions of Tychon as a biblically accurate angel were very interesting. I really loved the connection this novel made between trans bodies and heavenly/angelic bodies, and if that aspect were more heavily included, I think I would have enjoyed this book a lot more. Alas, this saving grace was a mere spot compared to the rest of the book, so its inclusion was not enough to make me enjoy this book in its entirety.

Publication date: March 16, 2024

2 stars. Thank u netgalley for providing me with this arc.

I wanted to like this so bad.

I see a lot of other reviews having the exact same issues I had with it. Especially the characters. My good they were unlikable. Like why was Veaer genuinely an idiot—I don’t take calling her that lightly. The way she felt about Elise was nothing other but stupid. She fr saw this girl murder her own best friend for seemingly no reason and continues to be like “yeah im obsessed with her”. It was so insta-lovey too. Their whole relationship was just absolutely terrible to read.

I feel like I understand what the plot was going for but the execution was just not it. Elise ruined it. It was so messy and off because of her. If Elise hasn’t been the character she was, I think this story would’ve been a lot better. The blind, intense devotion Veaer had for her was insanity. She was getting on my nerves sooooo bad. Like girl STAND THE FUCK UP. The worst part is I don’t see the appeal of Elise at all. Like she’s our love interest… she’s not interesting, she’s not cool, she’s a cold blooded murderer…

The aesthetic of the book was the best part. I enjoyed the Angel stuff and the dark academia setting, but otherwise this was an absolute drag with very poorly written characters and a mess of a plot.

This book had so much potential, and while it didn't quite meet my high expectations, it was still a good read. The characters were the highlight for me, perfectly fitting the dark academia theme. The shifting timeline added depth to the story, giving us a better understanding of the characters' motivations. However, the fantasy aspect fell flat for me, and I think the book would have been stronger without it. Overall, I enjoyed reading this book and would be interested in reading more from this author in the future. Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with this ARC.

Sadly I never got around to reading this book. I read the first chapter and it sounded interesting so I will definitely keep it on my tbr list for the future!


Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

This book took some time to get going but when it did it was so tense!

So like I said, this book took a while before I felt invested in the world. It made it that it took me very long to reach the 50% mark of the book. When I was past that point though I read that in 1.5 days. I was so curious to see where it would lead and couldn't put it down. From that point I enjoyed the book a lot and was very invested to see where it would lead. This ending half was full of suspense, new discoveries and intense moments and I ate it up.

I loved Veaer as a main character a lot. She is a character who isn't always fully in control of what she does and I do like that in a dark academia book. Sometimes she just can't say no to things, these often relating to Elise and that inner turmoil was amazing to read. She just followed Elise around without being able to do anything about it while sometimes inside she was screaming "Why am I doing this?!"

I also really loved the friendship Veaer had with Hairwin and Adair. This friendship felt like a true chosen family of three. They cared so much for each other and would change the world for them. But at the same time like every family there will be moments you'll clash and that happened in this book too. These clashes were big and eventful and really pulled me into the book. Then the love that flows from that following such conflicts is absolutely the best and warmed my heart. I love them to bits.

Concluding this is a lovely sapphic dark academia for people who love messy queers.

dnf @ 30%

I was really excited to read this book, but I couldn't get involved in the story, I found it very confusing and it became very difficult to continue with it :(

I really wanted to like this. It sounds perfectly up my alley.
It was written in a very confusing manner so it just didn’t grab me. I was trying so hard to continue, but I could really only get a page at a time or so.
So I had to DNF in chapter 2.
I’m giving it a 3 because it SOUNDS like it would be incredible.
I just think don’t think the execution was in a style that I personally enjoyed.

DNF 20%, genuinely could not get into this at all. I tried so hard, and thank you net galley for the copy, but this book was ROUGH. I had such high hopes for this based in the premise. Sapphic dark academia with magic? Count me in! Bland sapphic characters that are just sad stereotypes with little to no personality, disjointed world building? Count me out. On top of that, I just genuinely could not click with the writing. It felt choppy and awkward for every sentence, and I feel like the only way to explain it is that I felt fully like I was half asleep while I was reading if that makes any sense, like I was only able to grasp every third word.

Thank you to NetGalley for letting me read an advanced copy of this book, sadly I had to dnf it 40% in.

It normally takes me a while to get into a new setting for a fantasy novel but for as far as I made it in, I expected to understand some parts of it like the patrons or gods they talk about, the force field that was mentioned once but never talked about again but was left disappointed and confused. I found the character dialogue hard to follow as well, especially the italics for thoughts as well as flashbacks but with no clear distinction between the two.

This book is fine, I was enjoying it, but the formatting of the flashbacks and prose were just too difficult for me to push through to the end to figure out the mystery. I did like the tension of Veaer knowing what Elise had done and still working with her but her reactions to certain things weren't explained well to me at least.

If you’re craving dark academia vibes with a side of murder, morally gray characters and twisted, toxic lesbians, look no further! Here’s what you need to know: Veaer is a senior at Adraredon Academy, as dark as dark academia gets. She witnesses the headmaster's daughter, Elise, murder another student. This is complicated because, well, murder… but also because she’s in love (er.. obsessed?) with Elise. Does she turn Elise in? Or keep the secret forever? And then to complicate things further Elise asks for her help, making Veaer her partner in solving the murder they both already know the answer to. It’s v dark, it’s v wild, and it’s v gay.

Was really excited about this one, but I unfortunately had to DNF.

The writing was off putting for me and made it difficult to get through this one.

I hate to give this a low rating because this book sounded amazing, the cover is stunning and blurb sounds great but unfortunately it just didn't work for me.

I really wasn't a fan of the writing style and while I don't usually mind grammar or spelling errors, especially in an ARC, this was a lot and really took me out of the story.

I did enjoy the dark academia atmosphere and the magic system was very interesting but unfortunately it just didn't flow or gel together very well, it felt all over the place. There was absolutely no world building and I found out after that it's actually based in the same world as another of the author's books which is fine but I felt like it was assumed the reader had read that other book and was familiar with the world.

The characters did absolutely nothing for me, they were very one dimensional and the romance/obsession didn't really make sense to me.

I really really didn't want to DNF as I hate to do that with an ARC I really try to give it a chance but this was tough to get through. The potential is there so maybe some day it could be worked and I do really appreciate the opportunity to read this book

Due to its premise, I have high expectations from this book. This is a Queer Dark Academia that I am quite interested in but it took me such a long time to actually be in 30% of the story. The main characters was seriously at some point— I think— was very vain.The plot was dragging and the words did not quite catch my interest so yes I ended up DNF this book.

But thank you Netgalley for letting me read this.

Unfortunately had to DNF this book.
I felt like the language/writing style didn't click with me, personally, but I will still recommend it to my store to order. I feel like it could connect with certain individuals but I, unfortunately, was not one of them.

Trigger warnings for Chrysalis and Requiem include: alcohol & drug use; blood, abuse, death, emotional abuse, escalating violence, gaslighting & manipulation; gore, lifechanging injury, murder, corpses, visions about traumatic events; panic attacks, paranormal & occult content, self-harm, sexual references, suicide ideation and trauma.
☆
☆
One thing I struggled with in regard to this book is the change of perspective. I found it difficult to follow who was narrating from chapter to chapter.
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I won't lie, throughout the second half of the book I really just didn't understand what was going on at all. By the end, I was just thoroughly confused.
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I think the book was very cleverly written, and I think that the themes and descriptions were done very well. Despite my confusion I did fly though the second half and finished it very quickly (albeit after the publication date).
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I couldn't honestly tell you whether I like any of the characters after the way the book ended and after everything they all did, but I suppose that's the purpose of morally grey characters.
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Thank you to NetGalley for sending me an ARC copy of this book.

DNF for now, but might try it again in the future. It has the makings of everything I enjoy, and yet the writing is just so stilted and infodumpy and the characters feel like dialogue placeholders. Could not for the life of me stay engaged.