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celery's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Misogyny, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
booknerdery's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Bullying, Death, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Stalking, Murder, and Alcohol
maeverose's review against another edition
3.0
I wanted to read this to try out dark academia as a genre. I love gothic books and academic settings, but a lot of the common tropes within dark academia don’t strongly appeal to me (murder mystery, cults, obsession, unlikable characters, etc). After reading these stories, I at least enjoyed some of them enough to be interested in trying out more of the genre.
My Ratings and content warnings for each story in order of favorite to least favorite:
• Weekend at Bertie’s by M.L. Rio - 5⭐️
I loved the writing style of this story so much. I absolutely need to read something else by M.L. Rio.
My Ratings and content warnings for each story in order of favorite to least favorite:
• Weekend at Bertie’s by M.L. Rio - 5⭐️
I loved the writing style of this story so much. I absolutely need to read something else by M.L. Rio.
Content warnings: moderate: vomit, death, alcohol
• The Ravages by Layne Fargo - 4⭐️
Love me a sapphic gothic story
Content warnings: graphic: infidelity, moderate: self harm mention, sexual content, stalking
• The Professor of Ontography by Helen Grant - 4⭐️
Definitely more fucked up than I was expecting. This one is more of a horror story than the other ones.
Love me a sapphic gothic story
Content warnings: graphic: infidelity, moderate: self harm mention, sexual content, stalking
• The Professor of Ontography by Helen Grant - 4⭐️
Definitely more fucked up than I was expecting. This one is more of a horror story than the other ones.
Content warnings: graphic: missing person, body horror, moderate: sexual content, alcohol, gore
• Playing by Phoebe Wynne - 4⭐️
I liked how the writing style incorporated the music and how music was described in general.
I liked how the writing style incorporated the music and how music was described in general.
Content warnings: moderate: death, murder, religious bigotry, descriptions of food and eating habits that could be triggering.
• 1000 Ships by Kate Weinberg - 3⭐️
The writing style wasn’t my favorite, but I liked the overall story and the way it ended.
• 1000 Ships by Kate Weinberg - 3⭐️
The writing style wasn’t my favorite, but I liked the overall story and the way it ended.
Content warnings: moderate: sexual content, student/teacher relationship, romani slur, self harm, minor: infidelity, suicide, physical abuse
• X House by J.T. Ellison - 3⭐️
Loved the setting at the setup of the story, didn’t love how everything played out. I think it could’ve worked better if it were a novel or novella and had better written characters.
• X House by J.T. Ellison - 3⭐️
Loved the setting at the setup of the story, didn’t love how everything played out. I think it could’ve worked better if it were a novel or novella and had better written characters.
Content warnings: graphic: violence, murder, death, moderate: hazing, anxiety attack, gun violence, minor: gore
• Pythia by Olivie Blake - 3⭐️
Sci-fi dark academia. Took a while for me to care about it bc it was about a cult, but once I realized it had a certain sci-fi trope, I liked it a bit more.
Content warnings: mild: suicide, death, misogyny, end-of-world anxiety
• The Unknowable Pleasures by Susie Yang - 3⭐️
This was just alright for me.
Content warnings: moderate: sexual content, a straight female character fetishizes an imagined relationship between two men
• The Hare and the Hound by Kelly Andrew - 2⭐️
Unsure how I feel about this. It was a bit triggering for me. Parts didn’t make sense. It was predictable.
Content warnings: graphic: car accident, death, animal death, moderate: forced institutionalization
• Four Funerals by David Bell - 2⭐️
I don’t really understand the point of the story, if there was one.
Content warnings: moderate: school shooting, gun violence, death, vomit, anxiety, excrement, suicide
• Phobos by Tori Bovalino - 2⭐️
I don’t care about cults or murder so I was bored
Content warnings: graphic: murder, blood, moderate: sexual content
• Sabbatical by James Tate Hill - 2⭐️
I did not like the writing style and the story was very underwhelming. Certain parts didn’t make sense.
Content warnings: moderate: gun violence, mental illness, cheating, murder, minor: sexual content, abelism
Just going off of these stories, I think I can safely say I’m very bored by stories to do with cults. Obsession doesn’t bother me but I don’t particularly care for it either. The only thing I really discovered from this is I don’t necessarily mind unlikable characters as much as I thought I did. Curious to see how I feel about a full dark academia novel.
Just going off of these stories, I think I can safely say I’m very bored by stories to do with cults. Obsession doesn’t bother me but I don’t particularly care for it either. The only thing I really discovered from this is I don’t necessarily mind unlikable characters as much as I thought I did. Curious to see how I feel about a full dark academia novel.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Infidelity, Sexual content, Violence, Car accident, and Murder
Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Self harm, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Mass/school shootings, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Ableism, Body shaming, Eating disorder, Misogyny, and Stalking
Student/teacher relationship, missing person