Welcome to The Hellebore Technical Institute for the Gifted, an academy for the dangerously powerful and social outcasts. The school promises redemption, control, and a normal life. But of course everything is not as it seems. Many of the students are kidnapped and forced into this school, and once you’re there…you can’t get out.

From the view of our lead character Alessa, this horrifying story unravels across graduation and the blood days that follow.

Hitting shelves July 22nd, the newest Cassandra Khaw release is a fantastic new addition to the dark academia space.

I’m a dark academia girly for sure, but I like my dark academia DARK. And a lot of the books in the genre aren’t really what I’m looking for. But when I saw the premise for The Library at Hellebore, my hopes were high. And luckily, this booked knocked it out of the park.

This is an incredibly bloody, gory, violent, murderous battle royale story. The death scenes are so extravagant and gross and sometimes so sad….and I just loved every moment of it honestly. We follow a group of characters jumping back and forth between the present day timeline and how we lead up to this present point. This was my only sore point for the book because it is hard to become close to a lot of the characters when we’ve read their death first, then jumped back to learn more about them. But for a few of the characters, like Alessa and Rowan, it’s hard not to love them and feel like you’re a part of their story.

The school itself is absolutely incredible in how Khaw designed it. It’s covered in these creepy yet beautiful murals, changing layers, locked doors, and terrifying teachers. You get easily immersed into the world quickly. And the library is like a never-ending fever dream.

There’s also quite a few twists and turns in the plot that caught me off guard as well. It’s super fast paced as you’re jumping from different timelines and when a plot or character twist hits, it knocked me completely on my ass.

Overall, this is the bloody and horror-filled dark academia I’ve been craving. With every book Cassandra Khaw releases, they get stronger and stronger and I’m so happy to go on this journey with her as a reader. A big thank you to Tor Nightfire for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Pick up a copy for yourself when The Library at Hellebore hits shelves July 22nd.