was drawn to this on #netgalley as it was blurbed to be a campus, dark academia novel. Perhaps I should have read that blurb better, as it‘s also about magic, which I‘m not a fan of.

It‘s the same-old story of a student from a poor background trying to fit in with the rich kids at Cambridge.

It would have been a so-so but the ending lifted it to a light pick.

Kate van Der Borgh has crafted a beautiful slice of dark academia with And He Shall Appear, which evokes such works as The Secret History by Donna Tartt. The story is always engaging and whips along at a fair pace. I really enjoyed my time with this one.
Thank you to the publishers for the ARC.

3.5 sstars rounded up

This story is about a young musician from a working class background who attends Cambridge University and he tries to befriend a group of entitled, wealthy students. He becomes obsessed with Bryn whose father had been a magician and had dabbled with the occult.

The pace is slow to begin with, but it soon picks up. We get descriptions of life at Cambridge University. It's quite spooky and has some creepy goings on. Bryn is into black magic. We also have an unnamed narrator who is obsessed with Bryn. The story has a dual timeline. I did find myself questioning some things, and I liked the music references.

Published 16th January 2025

I would like to thank #NetGalley #4thEstateWilliamCollins and the author #KateVanDerBerg for my ARC of #AndHeShallAppear in exchange of an honest review.

This is not my usual genre but I'm trying to expand my options. The nameless narrator of this book, comprehensive educated, arrives at Cambridge feeling that he really doesn't fit. He's lacking the necessary 'cultural capital' needed to thrive. He becomes besotted and mesmerised by Bryn Cavendish, leader of an elite clique and also a magician. This book is very reminiscent of The Secret History, it being a very dark and unsettling tale. I'm not sure I can say that I enjoyed reading this book mainly to the genre I think. Thanks to Netgalley though for giving me the chance to read and review it.

A little spooky, and unsettling. Great storyline and I was absorbed all the way through. Little twist at the ending. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy

I read this on the plane coming over to the US for Christmas, and remember little of its details now, apart from the twist ending being incredibly sad. As dark academia goes, I'd say this is on the higher-quality end of the spectrum, although there are a lot of very familiar beats and plot devices (so much so that, having written a book almost exactly like it, I found myself faintly embarrassed by my own predictability): music, Oxbridge, sexually confused young men, charismatic young men, the allure of power and wealth, power and wealth's disregard for those who worship it. It's well written, though, and it asks questions about why we find these sorts of stories compelling—what that says about us.

I’m sorry to say this book was not for me. The characters were not relatable and made it very difficult to engage.

I received an ARC through #NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The unnamed narrator arrives in Cambridge as a first-year student and complete outsider. Then he falls under the spell of Bryn Cavendish.

Hauntingly beautiful debut novel, so incredibly layered and intriguing. It just captures you from the very beginning and holds you all the way through. The storytelling was so powerfully interesting, and it had me questioning everything so many times. There was something so mesmerizing, yet so unsettling in the best way possible. I truly can’t even properly put into words how it made me feel, but I absolutely loved it. There’s so many interesting themes and dynamics, and it’s just so incredibly easy to get invested in the story and so incredibly hard to put this down. The characters were so interesting as well, and I never knew what to expect from them. I loved all the musical references and metaphors throughout the story. I know I will keep thinking about this for a long time, and I genuinely believe it’s one of those books I will keep coming back to through the years.

Many thanks to 4th Estate and William Collins & NetGalley for the eARC. All opinions are my own.

Although I DNF'd this book, I thought I'd share my brief thoughts on it and why I abandoned it. And He Shall Appear is a dark academia story told by an unnamed narrator who is shy and unsure of himself when he enrolls at a prestigious university to study music. There, he becomes entranced by the enigmatic Bryn and his band of loyal followers. I mean friends. The story progresses as our narrator recounts his time with Bryn, often in a long and meandering way. Laced with themes of dark magic and the occult, this book won't be for everybody but that's not what turned me off. The chapterless, nameless style of And He Shall Appear made me feel really disconnected from the story, and if I wasn't onboard at 44%, I knew my time could be better used elsewhere. I'm a big fan of The Secret History, which others have likened this one to, but it simply didn't work for me.

This is a campus novel with a deep, dark core, told from the viewpoint of an unreliable adult narrator who frames himself as the protagonist. In highly idealised fashion, he recalls his memories at Cambridge University, where he had fought hard for his place to read music at Cambridge. Not a day went by that he did not come across the concessions and advantages afforded to his peers from more privileged backgrounds. None, however, was more privileged that Bryn Cavendish. The protagonist recalls his increasingly frenzied attempts to emulate Bryn by dating his cousin, adopting the drinking culture, and neglecting his studies. In hindsight, it is clear that he was gradually being drawn into a maelstrom of risky unhealthy behaviours, and these end in Bryn’s death ….
With its supernatural and psychological elements, I found this campus novel hugely compelling, but one thing irritated me: the unreliable narrator’s namelessness which stands in stark contrast the to the nuanced, convincing depiction of his exploits at Cambridge. However, I wish to thank NetGalley and Fourth Estate for the ARC that allowed me to read this unusual debut novel.

For fans of The Secret History!
Atmospheric with seamless writing, I didn't want to put this down once I had started

Having heard this book being compared to Saltburn, I was so intrigued as I loved the film – and I'm so pleased to say that I was not disappointed! The writing in this book is phenomenal, and I lost count of the amount of times I highlighted passages on my kindle that I found meaningful or particularly interesting.
I would agree that it shares similar themes to Saltburn (and it also reminded me of a favourite book of mine, The Things we do to our Friends by Heather Darwent): it's a dark academia, and it focuses on obsession, toxic friendships, and is told through (what I think was) an unreliable narrator (which I LOVE because it adds another layer to the narrative to think about). I absolutely loved the elements of illusion, magic and the occult brought in here, and there were a few chapters that really made the hairs on my arms stand on end from the uneasy and dread-filled atmosphere conjured in this book. Overall, I am so glad I read this – it's made me want to read more dark academia – and I could definitely see myself rereading it in future!

We meet the charismatic Bryn in the first few days of being an undergraduate at Cambridge university through the unnamed narrator whose obsession with Bryn and his magic tricks is the focal point of the story. I actually enjoyed the unfolding of the story and the nuances the narrator didn’t seem to pick up on. There are some quite deep philosophical thoughts explored, which I found myself thinking about after I had put the book down. I liked the double timelines of now and then, looking back at who you were and the choices you make as a naive 18 year old is always interesting.

“A deeply unsettling story of obsessive friendship, dark magic and the ways in which we mythologise our past.”



This first sentence in the blurb says it all. It just leaves out that it is told in a very boring way.



The unnamed and very uninteresting main character comes to Cambridge to study music. Immediately he falls for the most glamorous guy in college and worms his way into his life. Unfortunately, the glamorous guy is a prick because these guys always are. So far, this dark academia story is not very witty and inventive. And it stays that way. There are a few chapters where we see our nameless guy in the present, revisiting the college. But these chapters come without a warning so I got confused where in the story I was almost every time.



I love dark academia but this book adds nothing new to the genre. It is boring and so very slow. The characters lack personality and nothing happens most of the time. Our narrator is of course unreliable and idealizes his relationship with his “friends”. He never evolved from this time and as an adult is still stuck with his memories. The thing with the magic tricks is ridiculous and I wonder if really all campus was hypnotized by this guy. It is not spooky or captivating and I had to force my way through this book.



I have to say that this was not my cup of tea.

I love a good Dark Academia tale of obsession and spiralling loss of control, with some class discussion as well. This hit all of those notes and had some interesting aspects, but just didn’t quite hit the heights I wanted it to.

Dark academia can be so hit and miss for me - this one was a bit of both. The story of our unnamed narrator and his obsessive friendship with the mysterious (maybe magical) Bryn takes centrestage. The whole story basically hinges on the amiguity of who Bryn is, what he capable of and what being close to him means. I struggled with both main characters and the love interest Alexis. All of them were pretty crappy people and not in a fun way. There were times where I was totally drawn in and others when it all felt convoluted. I'll see how it sits with me over time but for now, I've come away unsure.

When a young impressionable working class man arrives in Cambridge to study music, he soon falls for the mystery of the enigmatic Bryn. Haunted by figures after the death of his father, the narrator is enthralled by Bryn; his lifestyle and his penchant for magic and the occult. Working his way into Bryn’s inner circle may be decision he lives to regret. Returning to Cambridge some twenty years later, he is faced with the past that will lead him on a path to self-destruction.

I have seen the book likened in other reviews to Saltburn. As I started reading, I was expecting the homoerotic relationship featured in Saltburn, and before it, Brideshead Revisited. However, I would say the narrator’s infatuation with Bryn runs deeper and is more complicated than sexual. The narrator is grieving his father and their complicated relationship and he is certainly vulnerable in wanting to impress Bryn.

I found initial chapters quite long, which may put some people off. However, as the book twists towards the end, the chapters come faster as it gathers speed and the story quickly progresses. The tone changes from the macabre and nostalgic, to a more melancholy reflection on the accuracy of memory that reminded me a bit of The Sense of An Ending. Further enriched by dark magic, the reader can have their own take on whether the narrative is a result of ghosts, supernatural and macabre or the more explainable everyday phenomenon of grief.

A brilliant dark academia story.

I absolutely loved this authors descriptive language and scene setting. I found myself genuinely creeped out in parts and was sucked in from the first chapter.

The characters are all so interesting and well fleshed out. I could definitely see myself rereading this book and reading more from this author.

An almost 5 star read, but I felt that the end dragged out and lost me a bit. Still, I would highly recommend reading this book!

Thanks: Received from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

4.5/5

I'm very undecided about this book - on the one hand it is yet another story about a poor northerner with a troubled background trying to find his place in an elite university and desperate to be part of the inner circle of the magnetic, entitled few who he perceives everyone else is drawn towards. On the other hand, this is a well written Gothic horror with some creepy passages and a perceptive study of unrequited love, guilt and grief. I think I choose to appreciate the latter, especially as there is a good twist at the end!
Thank you to netgalley and 4th Estate and William collins for an advance copy of this book

Brideshead Revisited meets Saltburn with a very dark spin, Kate van der Borgh pulls out all the stops and offers up a dark tale or of northern lad at Cambridge seduced by the upper-class allure of the 'in' set and failing to fit in at every turn. It's a lovely telling of an age-old story, and it has a few twists and turns that are heavily foreshadowed before they happen. Gripping storytelling and a super creation of a malevolent atmosphere that takes right off towards the end.