I couldn't get into this. The time jump was one of the issues and the pace weren't doing for me. I loved another book of this author so I was excited to read this book but it wasnt for me. Wish I liked it as I also like academia :(

This book wasn't for me but if you like quirky main characters, unconventional story structures and well done body horror have no fear because there's plenty of it to go around.

Unfortunately, found this to be an absolute chore to read, which is a pity because I really enjoyed the Salt Grows Heavy!

I found the two timelines to be a complete hindrance to both my understanding and attachment to any of the characters. Knowing more about them later when they're no longer relevant to the plot did not endear them to me in hindsight. The "before" sections also seem to be out of order in a way that left me scratching my head, maybe it's intentional and I'm too stupid to get it but I found it more frustrating than anything else.

First person narration can be very challenging to get right and the main character certainly has a very distinct voice but I personally found the over the top verbosity mixed with snark to be difficult to read, like actually incomprehensible at some points.

I'm not opposed to being challenged by a book. I don't mind being confused, I can look up words I've never come across before decipher the meaning of a paragraph but if I'm going to put that work in I expect to be rewarded with a rich plot and compelling characters and I just didn't get that.

I was reading the eARC so I will say that perhaps there was still some editing to do but I found multiple mistakes (words missing in sentences etc.). There's a part early on where the MC makes reference to springing "like Venus from the peasant's skull". But it's Minerva who does the skull springing in myths right? Is that being done on purpose or is it just an oversight? That seems a bit nitpicky but I just can't take a "dark academia" book about demigods and anti-christs that doesn't get Roman/Greek myth correct seriously.

Thank you Tor and NetGalley for this ARC.

What a fever dream of a ride this was. It’s honestly taken me a while to gather my thoughts because this really was one of the goriest yet most complex horrors I’ve had the pleasure of reading.

The story unfolds through a dual timeline–the “before” and the “after” of graduation. In the “after”, or present, we’re pulled into a grotesque and relentless fight for survival stretched out over just a few days, every scene dripping with constant anxiety and gore. In contrast, the “before” timeline feels deliberately fragmented and disjointed, jumping across moments in a way that mirrors the confusion and instability of the world Khaw builds.

What stood out to me the most was just how intricate the details were. The level of precision in the writing caught me off guard, weaving horror and academia together so tightly that I found myself both horrified and oddly fascinated. I even came away having learnt a handful of new words, which felt perfect for a book that so strongly leans into its Dark Academia roots.

Overall, I really enjoyed this story. It’s the kind of book that lingers, and I’m already tempted to reread it because I know there is bound to be something spectacular I missed the first time. A strong 4.5 star read for me.

I really wanted to love this one because the premise hooked me straight away. Dark academia meets body horror set in a magical school where the students are on the menu for homicidal teachers? Yes, please.

But honestly, I struggled with it. The narration style is very conversational and unreliable, which can be fun, but I found it hard to follow at times. The back-and-forth timeline and the worldbuilding in particular didn’t click for me, it felt chaotic and I never quite got my footing. I liked the idea of the school, the survival race, and the tension of not knowing who to trust, but the actual execution left me confused more often than not.

Alessa's backstory was awesome if not extremely graphic (and sad/disturbing) but then she just became...idk... like I get it, you don't care. And I don't care for unreliable narrators.

Thank you to NetGalley and Titan Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Visceral dark academia but missing a certain something
—
The Hellebore Technical Institute for the Gifted is Hogwarts for the apocalyptically powered, magical beings who might destroy the universe at any second. Alessa Li doesn’t want to be there but after a year, they’re all about to graduate, or so they’ve been told. But they’ve learned nothing all year and the faculty are looking a little… hungry.

This was good but not great: there’s a missing heart to this novel, which is clear when you realise that the dual timelines cover up for the missing middle of the academic year, and the ensemble characters are the same at the end as at the beginning. The threat of violence from the faculty is highlighted at the end of the academic year, rather than a constant source of narrative tension, and the fact that we don’t know why the faculty has to wait to the end of the year is a plot hole. Even villains have motivations, even if it’s just hunger.

Three and a half stars

This book is very dark, gory and full of horror and drama. The Hellebore Technical Institute for the Gifted is the place to send people who are dangerous, evil, and often use their unusual gifts and skills for evil rather than good. They are a group of people you really wouldn't invite to a dinner party. The school's aim is to turn them into normal citizens by the time they leave. And yet, the faculty turn out to be more dangerous than the students.

On graduation day, the faculty go on a rampage of murder, killing most of the students. Some have locked themselves into the library, and are fighting for survival, including Alessa, who was kidnapped and forced to enrol at Hellebore. Who will be left alive?

I didn't enjoy it as much as I hoped I would. I found the time jumps a bit confusing, and that confusion tended to take me out of the story. If you are a fan of horror stories set in academic institutions, I would give this a go. It just wasn't really for me.

This was my third and probably final Cassandra Khaw book. I’d previously read their two horror novellas and found them underwhelming but the idea behind The Library at Hellebore made me want to give them another chance. Sadly, I had to DNF at 30%. There’s just something so laborious about their writing that I can never fully sink into the story and reading quickly began to feel like hard work. The dialogue also never felt real to me and I just got irritated at characters constantly snarking at each other and speaking in ways that no teenagers ever speak. Whilst an interesting concept there just wasn’t enough there that I enjoyed for me to keep reading and I think this is my last foray into Khaw’s work.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC.

This book needs to fall into the hands of Tim Burton!

This is wonderful, and a little bit gross. A must read, go in blind if you can.

Thank you to NetGalley and Titan books for this arc!

I left it a few days to write this review after finishing the book. The more I think about The Library at Hellebore the more I realise how much I enjoyed reading it! ❤️🩸🗡️

I loved the dark characters, the gore, the tension, the dark academia vibes and the final bloody scene 😍

The book jumps between two times, the year leading up to graduation at Hellebore and the final days after the graduation ceremony. The 'before' chapters give you insight into each of the characters remaining during the 'after' chapters and their relationship to our FMC (plus what powers they have, a little like X-Men but villainous). Not all questions are answered that you may have regarding Hellebores history and its faculty but they're not required to enjoy this bloody story!

Also, I was not expecting the final chapter to be what it was (avoiding spoilers) and it left me thinking, 'what??'

Creepy, eerie, gruesome.

If you love Netflix's Wednesday, then I highly recommend this book. It really filled a gap that was missing between the series breaks for me.

Students trapped in a school of monsters where the headmistress wants to eat them? Sign me up! The interactions between each of the characters were so well written. I especially loved Rowan, and his dry wit.

Set over a "Before" and "Now" scenario, the story jumps to what was happening at Hellebore before all of the students were slaughtered and only a few survived to play a sinister game.

I enjoyed this—at least, as much as you’re meant to enjoy a book like this. It’s graphic, often disgusting, and unapologetically disturbing. By the time I reached the end, I had to sit with my thoughts for a while, just to process everything.

And honestly? It achieves exactly what it sets out to do: unsettle and disturb the audience.

The cast of characters is incredibly interesting, each one distinct and memorable, which really helped pull me through even the most grotesque moments.

I’d absolutely recommend this to readers who appreciate unsettling, dark stories—but please, please make sure to check the trigger warnings before diving in.

Thank you to NetGalley for the e-ARC.

3.5 stars

"The library at Hellebore, however, was different. Appendage to the main campus, it acted only in the faculty's interest, which seemed to revolve exclusively around fucking us students over."

Genre: Horror/fantasy
Themes:
- body horror
- dark academia (aesthetically only)
- magic and dangerously gifted individuals

Overall, I generally quite enjoyed the book. Most of the intrigue to me was finding out what everyone's powers were and who was going to live and die. The pacing was generally quite good but it still took me a while to work my way through the book. Khaw uses a wide variety of vocabulary in her descriptions which was quite enjoyable to read, but sometimes felt like they were there for the sake of it, and the descriptions didn't always have much meaning.

It was interesting to read a story where I wasn't really rooting for anyone. All the characters were, in their own ways, pretty unlikeable and went from morally questionable to downright immoral. It didn't make the book less enjoyable for me as the characters were quite interesting, but I can see how there being no real 'good guy' could impact someone's enjoyment. The swapping back and forth between past and present was quite confusing at times, since the past was also split at times into two time spans that weren't differentiated between by the chapter headings (both were labelled as before).

The dark academia aspect was very surface level, and was mostly for aesthetics. The characters being in school at the time meant very little for the story and was basically just used as a setting for the book. It had no real influence on the story and the actual school parts were very minimal.

Overall an interesting premise to a story with a nice atmosphere, but the delivery wasn't the most enjoyable.

The Library at Hellebore is a deliciously dark horror novel, written by Cassandra Khaw, and published by Titan Books. A novel that leaves you wondering what you have just read, a blend between cosmic horror and dark academia, not afraid to explore some extreme situations, a visceral and macabre book that paired with Khaw's writing style makes it an unforgettable experience (not gonna lie, I love horror).

The Hellebore Technical Institute for the Gifted is the premier academy for the AntiChrists, Ragnaroks, world-eaters and apocalypse-makers; an opportunity for redemption, or at least that was what Alessa was told when she was kidnaped into enrolling. But now, with the faculty feasting on Alessa's class, a group of classmates and her have escaped to the library, trying to avoid the carnage; they are given an ultimatum: only one will survive, the rest needs to die in a three-day term, or all will be eaten by the faculty.
A diabolical situation that will put the group to the limit of their forces, told in a split timeline that will also shed light over Alessa's past and the complex and sinister world that is contained at Hellebore.

As you might have imagined by this point of the review, practically all the cast is composed of unlikeable characters, but Khaw has an ability to give them great depth; the dynamic between the different members of the group plays an important role on the whole plot. Using an unreliable first person voice for the narration is the perfect choice for this kind of story, an opportunity to make the reader doubt about the reality of what they are reading while also showing really gruesome scenes that I'm certain ticks some parts of your brain.

Khaw's prose is really immersive, contributing to the visceral and macabre atmosphere that is part of Hellebore; a setting which harbours many creatures that are the definition of cosmic horror. A really descriptive approach that enhances the horror at the core of this book.
I never felt the pace to be slow, despite the dual timeline; the alternation between them helps to play with the adequate amount of tension.

The Library at Hellebore is an excellent example of how enjoyable can be a horror piece that is not afraid to break the boundaries, that embraces and enhances the extreme aspects of it; a blend of cosmic horror and dark academia that was one of my highlights of the year.

Thank you Netgalley, Titan Books and Cassandra Khaw for the eArc of The Library At Hellebore.

This is my first book I've read of Cassandra's even though I have seen their name in my book circles. I was delighted to be accepted for this arc as I like a lit of Dark Academia. Our MC, Alessa hasn't enrolled in just a normal academy, it's one for the people who have dark, unrelenting powers. Monsters with hideous powers in the shape of humans. But that's not the only things that lurk within its walls.

This is one gore drenched narrative that spilled its guts literally. Told on 2 timelines which meld into the present perfectly gives us an unfolding story of the last person standing. There are so many interesting characters within this story who carry their own trauma, who want to win and sacrifice. Otherworldly and human. The narrative and plot line grabbed me from the beginning and if I could, I would have read it in one sitting. I was both repulsed and magnetised by some of the scenes which were visceral and once I reached the end. I wanted to read it all over again. I will be picking more of Cassandra's books up in the future and now its been released, I'll be on the hunt for an illustrated version !

4.5 stars for story graph, rounded to 5 stars for other review sites

this book!!! What a book! how does one even begin to describe what this book did. It has layers.
it is gritty, dark, grotesque, and full of unsurpressed anger.
murder is not taboo.
and the library wants to eat the students.
that ending left me gasping!
it did not quite managed to get to a 5 point star for me, partly because of the set up of the plot, partly because it wasn't fully explained the rules of this universe - that being said, I really enjoyed witnessing the metamorphisis of the characters even more so because it was so unexpected!!

Creepy but in a good way. This was entertaining and parts did creep me out. I really enjoyed the story and the characters were relatable.

I really found this book hard to follow and didn’t know what was going on half the time. I really really wanted to be a fan of Khaw but I think this book has solidified that she is just not my cup of tea!

This was my first Cassandra Khaw and I loved it, this is dark academia horror that absolutely bent my brain - it was so immersive and disorientating in the best kind of way.

Our main character Alessa has like most of the characters been taken against their will and forced to attend the Hellebore Technical Institute a place pitched as a path to redemption for those who have been identified as a risk to cause serious harm with their magic, but on graduation day the faculty show they are not to be trusted (this is an understatement!)

The prose is so atmospheric and Cassandra Khaw’s descriptions of we’ll say the icky bits is grotesquely beautiful, this is absolutely one to check your triggers for as there is a lot of body horror!

While not the same at all this book gave me massive Heathers x Tim Burton vibes it felt incredibly cinematic and for such a gory book I felt so much beauty 🥀 this pushed my comfort zone and I want to read more 🖤

I think this was the darkest of dark academia that I have read (and I thought A Deadly Education was really good but also dark). I did find it quite hard to put down and though it did not spare the reader from bodily waste and organs and to put it quite bluntly, completely horrifying deaths for those unlucky students at Hellebore that made it to graduation day. I liked the little snippets of before so you can get to know the people that ended up at that school either through voluntary enrollment or in the case of Alessa and others, kidnapped in the middle of the night and waking up at the school. Not quite sure who decided that it was best to put all the monsters in one place (as all the students are murderers, though some by accident) and let them have at it.

I did like Alessa though as well as her interactions with the others like Rowan, Portia, and Joanna, getting to know their powers and making them feel human despite what they can do. Lots of gore, gruesome body horror, and quite a bit of every person for themselves as the faculty declared only one can leave. And I was a big fan of the ending, twisted though it was as it was justified and I don't blame Alessa in the slightest. It was darkly fascinating and my favorite book that I have read by this author.

I am honestly not fully sure of my thoughts on this book!

Thank you for this arc from NetGalley.

Overall, maybe my closest relation would be like a car wreck. Its gory, disgusting, sad, and yet, you are hooked, staring closely to work out what's going on.

The writing and prose was beautiful, the descriptions almost poetic, as long as you ignore that they are about human remains!

Overall, I enjoyed the premise, but I think the time changes and interactions between the characters did leave me feeling a bit confused and lost on where we were going.

I would recommend this for anyone who watches the little shop of horrors in glee, but maybe not for everyone!

I would definitely read from this author again!