Review: The Library at Hellebore by Cassandra Khaw

The Library at Hellebore by Cassandra Khaw
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was provided an ALC of this book via Netgalley, all opinions are my own.

This is a strange one!  If you liked the way A Deadly Education was written, this is told in a similar style which I enjoyed, however this does bounce back and forth between "then" and "now" which made me feel like I missed something.  Frequently I hadn't been given that information yet, but with only the audiobook with was hard to reference. I had alot of "ah ha" moments with the reveals as the book progressed.  This is one of those books that I feel will make sense on a reread where you can really take in all of those points that you missed the first time.  Having read several of Khaw's books now, this on par for their writing style and you are either going to love it or leave it.  Khaw uses alot of deliberately descriptive words that you don't hear very often which again is going to appeal to some while it will be a turn off to others.

This book is fairly gory, so if you aren't a fan of descriptive gore, viscera, and blood this isn't a good one for you.  There is far more gore than dark academia.  The characters don't spend much time in the classroom developing skills or learning about their abilities.  Hellebore Academy is a place for children who have developed paranormal abilities or who are paranormal by nature.  Some students apply for entrance, but some like Alessa Li are going about their lives and appear at Hellebore in the next minute against their will. Alessa wants nothing to do with Hellebore, however she isn't able to leave the grounds.  Hellebore promises students they will be able to live normal lives after their tenure at the academy, but the education is strange and graduation day proves to be an even stranger and gruesome event.  Those who survive the graduation ceremony are locked in the library and must work together in the days they have left to survive.  This is filled with strange relationships, monsters, body horror, prophesies, and more.  This is one you really have to experience for yourself.  Once I understood the format of the book and the timeline I really became hooked into the story and was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it.

The narration was well done.  The narrator does different voices for the many characters and really captures the creepy tone of the academy.

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