Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

DNF @ 20%

I really really tried my best, but I could not continue with this book.

The whole premise of the synopsis sounds really interesting, but reading it play out is just terrible. I'm not sure how to fully articulate it, but the best I can describe is watching a play with really bad actors, and an even worse script.

I know this book is an ARC so the editing wouldn't be complete, but there were so many moments of weird or awkward phrasing that I can't believe that this book has even been edited at all. If the writing style is a deliberate choice, I don't know what the intention for it would be, unless it was to make the reader confused or frustrated.

I also kind of resent the characters. I have a pretty high tolerance for annoying characters, IMO, but in this instance, I found myself getting legitimately miffed at them, which is made worse by that fact that I don't think the author intended for them to be annoying. I get the sense that the main character is supposed to come off as intelligent and morally grey, but she does not show it; her introduction where she breaks into whatever restricted part of the school does not indicate any kind of brilliance or planning, and her reason for going to all the trouble of doing so is to, I don't even know, creep on her crush? And the fact that she calls her "princess" gives me the ick. I could understand if she was saying it in a mocking or ironic way, but she seems dead serious about it, which is just awful, especially since she's supposed to be 16 or 17, and not a kid on the playground. And I didn't get to read much about her LI, but the bits that I did were just cringe, the way she talks is like the author wants us to think that she's a mysterious brilliant philosophical person, but her dialogue is so lacking that she reads like a try-hard who wants to sound smart but isn't.

Another issue is the worldbuilding. I hadn't realised from the synopsis that this book was set in another world, but even so, the author introduces way too many brand new concepts, without even explaining them. Like, I didn't even know that the main character wasn't human until a few chapters in, and the author barely explains what kind of creature she is before moving on. (Apparently her species has vibrant hair in a variety of colours, and she has a wolf persona thingy, and sometimes has wolf ears and a tail, which leads me to believe she is a furry.) There are also a bunch of new made up gods, which are cool, I like made up gods, but the author doesn't explain them much, just mentions them and moves on. Which there's nothing wrong with; presumably they will be explained later. But the pacing moves so fast that there is so much new unexplained information, which just makes it exhausting to read.

The worst part of this book is that I sense a better book somewhere in it; this book has a lot of the trappings of a really good story, a dark academia magic school in an alternate realm inhabited by different creatures who worship a variety of gods, a shocking murder, a sinister conspiracy, an—enemies? They seem more like acquaintances or something— to lovers romance between two morally grey leads.

I hated to DNF this book. I was excited to read it based on the premise, but I felt that it was far overshadowed by the writing. I do enjoy a bit of prosaic and fluffy writing, but in multiple chapters I felt like I had no idea of the mechanics of what was going on. It made me feel like it was running solely on vibes, which was disappointing to see. I feel that the book itself could have definitely taken off well based on the description of the setting and atmosphere, and on the character’s descriptions, but I would need much more of the plot and action to be made clearer. The writing unfortunately is muddy and difficult to wrap one’s mind around.

This book could’ve been so much more, so much better but it fell flat for me.

I think to start the structure in the first few chapters was way off, the world building was very choppy and wasn’t established in a way that could be built upon. It just felt very thrown together especially information that is used throughout the book like the senti and caemi. The pacing was also a bit off, it was kinda hard to follow this story because it would slow at times making it harder engage with it.

Unfortunately, the characters also just didn’t do it for me, they felt incredibly one dimensional. Veaer’s motivations and obsession for staying by Elise’s side were confusing and not established in a way that made sense, at least to me.

The writing was okay, there were times I would highlight a sentence that I thought was well written and beautiful. But, there were other times I was scratching my head trying to make sense of it. There were other times that I found myself cringing at the writing. There was just a lot of inconsistencies with the writing that made this book hard to read because I just didn’t know what was going on in the story. The inclusion of the angels made the story a bit more interesting than the first half but also again, the events that follow after that especially with Elise’s “development” just had me standing in utter confusion.

I really wanted to love this book, reading the synopsis had me excited to read this book. But it just was incredibly difficult to follow along and I was hoping to get to that point where it all clicks together as is the case sometimes in books. Yet that never happened, I started the book confused and finished the book….even more confused.

Thank you NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you to NetGalley and Victory Editing for providing me with an eARC of this title in exchange for an honest review!

DNF 15% of the way through.

I just couldn’t do it. I couldn’t follow most of what was going on, I didn’t understand the setting really at all, and the language was hard to parse at the best of times, impossible at the worst. I wanted to like this story, but I just couldn’t fight my way through it.

It pains me to say this, but I physically couldn't finish this book. Chrysalis and Requiem was such an anticipated read of mine, but I really, really didn't like this. The writing was stilted and had absolutely no discernible flow. I tried to lose myself in the story like I usually do, but some of the phrasing and weird uses of exclamation marks completely threw me off. The world was confusing and overtly complicated which is unfortunate, because I think that the premise of this novel had SO much potential.

What could have been an exploration of toxic relationships against an academia background became a muddled, disinterested story that left me bored and confused.

Thank you to Netgalley and the author for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I don't know if this is the book for me, i didn't really enjoy the narration style or the story. I sadly couldn't connect wirh the characters and found them grating at times.
I wish i liked this book, because it sounds like something i would like on paper.

This book had all the right elements to make me love it, but I struggled to get into the story because of its slow pace and at the end I found myself still having a lot of questions about what happened .. and plus I struggled to empathize with the characters . In any case I enjoyed the plot and the settings so the 3 stars deserves it all.
Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the copy.

Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC of this book for an honest review.

I took some time after this book to reflect on how I feel about it, this is a story about a character who has found themselves transfixed by a terrible person. I would akin this story to Devilman Crybaby in some ways as the main character is caught in this fixation of the love interest for no clear reason (explained later in the book).

Even when we are given the reason why she likes Elise, it isn't satisfactory, in fact, I found it even more annoying that she seemed to double down on her love for Elise after finding out the truth of why she likes Elise so much. It is like watching an abused puppy getting hurt over and over, and Elise has no redeeming qualities, other than the occasional affection that Elise gives the main character.

I struggled to finish the book, and I was forced to trudge through it faster than I wanted to due to a limit on the DRM of this book. I am a bit miffed at the fact that the ARC was given to me under some timeline, I don't know if this is common or just an one off circumstance, but it really annoyed me being pushed to finish the book faster when I was already burnt out on reading it.

The drugging and writing style struggled to hold my attention and often times, I could not figure out what was going on. I still don't understand what Senti and Caemis are exactly and why their magic is the way it is. This honestly should be labeled as a book dependent on the debut of the author, if it weren't for the other reviews I saw. I would have no idea that the book was founded in the same world as the author's debut. I left the book feeling, confused, I think grey romance is fine, but this felt like it condoned a very abusive and one sided relationship and while I wished for the main character to get free of her abuser, by the end I was so bogged down by how one-dimension she was, I didn't even care.

I hope that the author knows that you can write a book, but you need to make sure it all connects and people need to know what is being talked about. You can't skip on explaining things just because you explained it in a different book that isn't part of a series.

Thank you Netgalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

I got to 25% and honestly still have absolutely 0 clue what is happening. It feels like the book started already halfway through a story. Everything is so overly wordy but absolutely nothing is explained. There was a couple large events that happened including a murder but like, I have no idea why that murder was done and not in a "ooh mystery" but a "what the hell is happening and why is any of this happening" way. I can't even tell you most of what happened because I straight up don't remember so much. It's not that memorable at all and mixed with how overly wordy everything is, it's just tiring to read.
I can't even work out if the "princess" is actually a princess or if it's just a kinda creepy nickname the MC uses.

The synopsis does sound interesting though, and through the writing there does feel like there's something there. But in my opinion it just needs to spend a bit longer being worked on in all honesty.

I extend my gratitude to Quinton Li and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC copy of "Chrysalis and Requiem" in exchange for an honest review.

The premise of "Chrysalis and Requiem" sets the stage for a gripping narrative, filled with intrigue and suspense. Veaer Rosell's journey through her senior year at Adraredon Academy takes unexpected turns as she grapples with witnessing a murder and is faced with an impossible choice. The blend of contemporary companionship against the backdrop of gothic spires and centuries of history creates a rich compilation of settings and emotions.

However, I found myself struggling a bit to get into the book at the start. The pacing felt a bit sluggish, and I encountered some errors along the way that detracted from the overall reading experience. (Though I’m aware ARC’s do have errors, but this time round I just struggled more than usual) Despite these initial challenges, the premise of the novel kept me engaged, and I was intrigued by the complexities of the plot.


Overall, "Chrysalis and Requiem" presents an intriguing premise with a unique blend of mystery and forbidden desires. I believe the fully edited piece will offer a more polished reading experience. I may consider revisiting the novel upon its release to fully appreciate its potential. With that in mind, I give "Chrysalis and Requiem" a three-star rating.

It had the potential to be so much better than it actually ended up being. The premise sounded really good, and I enjoyed the author’s previous book. But I just couldn’t get into the story or the characters. This was due to the story basically throwing you into the deep end and hardly explains anything that’s going on. So many things seem to have happened before the book even starts, yet the reader isn’t caught up on it. Something that makes everything even harder to get into was the flow of the writing, at times it felt more like just word dumping than an actual story.

I DNF’d at 18% 😭 I still had no idea what was going on. I just couldn’t follow and was so confused. I don’t want to rate this bc obviously this was wasn’t for me - so I’m just giving 5 stars bc honestly any LGBTQ+ book is a star in my eyes and writing a book is hard. I can’t wait to see reviews from people who love this! Maybe I’ll end up revisiting. Thank you for the ARC!

I have never read a book like this before which is a big positive considering how much I read. It was a struggle to engage with the characters at some points but an enjoyable read nevertheless.

this is a sapphic dark academia thriller that promised lies and dark plots and women brought together through gruesome discoveries, and it felt so distinctly Me that i felt a wave of affection whenever it appeared on my feed, and i was desperate for an arc. i wanted tragic obsession and relentless grief and i wanted it Now.

it took me embarrassingly long to read what i did with this book because i just couldn’t understand what i was reading. at first, i thought i just wasn’t smart enough, but i read a few more early reviews and it seems like this is a concern with the book rather than me. i’m usually quite lenient with editing (especially self-editing) in indie books, but this one was borderline incomprehensible in so many places that i had to admit defeat. it wasn’t necessarily the complexity of the language, rather something slightly unplaceable that will almost definitely come to me the moment i post this review. i appreciate this book for jumping straight in with the action, and there are a few descriptions that i do love in the early chapters. however, there were a few moments where i felt as if a lot of the context i needed to know had happened off page before the first chapter, but this might be more about my preference to meet the characters on page, rather than hear about them in monologues.

it seemed to be missing the key element of dark academia: the academia. i think it would be easier to just remove this key phrase from the marketing - not everything in a school setting has to be academic (or dark, even). the book does dabble in a lot of themes (angels and magic and queerness and murder, to summarise) that work well individually, but don’t mesh well together, especially within the context of the dark academia genre. it also seems to be set in the same world? universe? as the author’s other works, and i hope there are references that will stand out and be enjoyable to returning readers.

it’s definitely an ambitious book, and i hope the author has the opportunity (or the desire) to rework it in the future. there’s a lot to like about the plot, and i hope i can return to it with a slightly different execution. i try not to be one to leave negative reviews, especially for books i requested, but this one has dominated my social media feeds so strongly (and ngl i admire the marketing campaign greatly) that i cannot end this personal storyline without a conclusion.

Chrysalis and Requiem is a book I wanted to like but didn't much care for. I think in general Dark Academy books don't get as much love as they deserve. It's not a genre that is as popular as others. So after reading Li's first book, Tell Me How It Ends, full of an interesting world, characters, and concept of Tarot reading, I had hoped I would like this one more.

It's set in the future from the first book, with new characters and a different- more acceptable society than we've previously read. Senti (Non-magical folk) and Caemi (magical folk with animal-like features and abilities) are not trying to kill eachother.

Beyond that though, I wasn't really pulled in. It felt a bit like when Avatar released Kora, and we were just expected to move on from all the characters we fell in love with in the first series, but couldn't get past that to really enjoy the new ones. I heard Li is planning a sequel to the Tell Me How It Ends series, but I think it might have been better to do that one first before releasing a book set in the future. I finished this one but I really dragged on for me. Maybe if I had been in a different mindset I would have liked it better. I may re-read it again after the sequel to TMHIE releases.

Thank you NetGalley and the author for the ARC. This is my honest review.

Absolutely loved this book so much. This author never disappoints! I couldn’t get through the book fast enough.

Having had the chance to read an ARC of this book on NetGalley, I can genuinely say it was an enjoyable experience. The intriguing premise was well-executed, maintaining my interest throughout.

The unexpected yet satisfying ending stood out, and overall, it's a great book.
I'd certainly be keen to explore more from the author in the future.

Chrysalis and Requiem is so unique and unlike anything I have ever read before. The premise was very fun even if the execution was lacking at times. I recommend it if you like sapphic characters and dark academia.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!!

I’m all here for queer rep and dark academia! The cover is stunning and the marketing for this indie book is incredible. I love a good sapphic fantasy book. The characters didn’t really grow on me an d don’t seem to have much growth either. The world building was also strange since I’m not familiar with the author’s other works. Unfortunately, I don’t think this book is for me. Thank you NetGalley again for the ARC!

How far would you go if you were in love with someone... who has killed? At Adraredon Academy two girls will find their paths crossing leading to death, romance, and more. Veaer Rosell is a scholarship student who is bored, she craves beauty and art and finds herself fixated on the headmaster's daughter, Elise. Elise is known as the school's princess, she's a loner, an extremely talented artist, and something about her just draws Vear in. Yet when Veaer witnesses Elise murdering her own best friend, things only begin to get out of control. So begins a violent and illicit love between the two as Veaer seeks to discover why Elise would commit a murder and what her goal is while also dealing with her own obsession with Elise. Will their love end in more death? This book had all the potential to be one of my all time favorite books but completely missed the mark. This book had everything but an actual good plot and characters with personalities or even growth. Reading this book was difficult only because it was so boring and so completely incoherent at times. I honestly couldn't find myself liking any of the characters or being invested in the story. The book dragged on and on and I have applaud myself for even making it to the end, despite this being a short book. The book had a gorgeous cover, had all my favorite things from dark academia to sapphic romance and a murder mystery.... but it just fell flat on all counts. I wanted so badly to like this book but I don't think I can recommend it to anyone. If you like sapphic dark academy stories I would say give it a try, maybe you'll have a better time with it than I did. Now if you do want a good dark academia sapphic book with obsession and a murder mystery I can highly high recommend A Lesson in Vengeance by Victoria Lee.

*Thanks Netgalley and ARC provided by Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*