Review Detail

Reader reviewed by ambeen

I have been really into the whole private-boarding-school-setting-with-a-secret-society-housed-within-its-walls idea. I love the Gemma Doyle Trilogy by Libba Bray and especially loved the secret society part of The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart. As a result, I was expecting a lot out of this novel which is set at a top school and is the headquarters of a secret society. Luckily, this novel delivers in the secret society capacity--more about that in a minute.

I found the beginning, even with a death in the first chapter, to be slow. I was uninterested until I hit about page 55. This is when the secret society aspect of the novel kicked into high gear. I was eager to continue and fully interested after this point.

What I meant above about the novel delivering in the secret society aspect is that it is what carries the novel. Maybe it's because I am extremely interested in secret societies, but it's what kept me intrigued. I think if the novel would have been more murder mystery and less secret society, I wouldn't have been as interested.

I also would like to point out that the characters did not really do much for me. Jan was the only character I really felt connected with, and he was not the main character. I felt like I understood him while the rest were just props for the secret society plot.

That said, I am still giving the novel four stars because I really enjoyed the secret society aspect and that was what drove me to the end. I would suggest picking this one up from the library unless you also have an invested interest in secret societies.