This book follows a girl through her journey in her first year of college. However, this isn't your ordinary first year of college, in this particular school on this particular campus you give up your soul to a brilliant ghost for 4 years. They take control of your body at night, and you get the recognition for their work, just don't piss them off or else you might not last four years.

I really enjoyed this story that took me into the heart of a secret society with all sorts of spooky feels and strange traditions. The level of anxiety/anticipation that I felt as Tara began to notice strange events and delve deeper into the Magni Viri was enjoyable. The backstory that unfurled throughout the book was well timed, thought out, and believable in a supernatural way. Although the reader will have a good guess as to what is going on, the story is still satisfying with great characters, and spooky situations that will make a reader think about what they would do if confronted by these events. This is a dark story with a ray of hope that will satisfy mystery and horror readers alike.

Horror that builds slowly but surely as the story moves along best describes this novel. Most students experience major changes when they attend college. However, working hard towards a goal should pay off in ways that don't make you fear for your life or the lives of those around you. In "All That Consumes Us" author Erica Waters channels the innate drive of top students of the elite Magni Viri house into survival mode. They are performing at the top of their abilities and may not live to graduate.

Thank you to NetGalley for the e-audiobook ARC, all opinions are my own.

I fully admit that I was drawn to this book by its very eerie cover. I did not research much about it, but I was intrigued by the mention of a gothic story set at a college. I guess I was hoping for something supernatural along the lines of Harry Potter or The Magicians, with a mystery element, but that was unfortunately not what I got.

The story follows a freshman girl named Tara, who is struggling to find her place at school. After some curious events, she is invited into the prominent, extremely selective and secretive academic society on campus called Magni Viri. This opportunity is everything Tara could ever dream of, but she soon discovers a darker side to the organization, as her fellow students seem to be all consumed in their independent studies to a potentially deadly degree.

The premise of the story is captivating, but overall I found the writing to be lacking. There is a definitive atmospheric feel to the book, a general foreboding that puts you on edge throughout. I kept trying to figure out exactly what kind of book I was reading as I was reading it. Is it a mystery? A crime novel? A ghost story? I guess you can say that the constant questioning plays into the gothic style, but it was a distraction for me. I also did not really like the characters, particularly the main character Tara, which made it difficult for me to have a vested interest in her story. The book does have diverse representation, including LGBTQ+ characters and romance.

𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙠 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙉𝙚𝙩𝙂𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙮 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙃𝙖𝙧𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙏𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙫𝙞𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙢𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙖𝙣 𝙖𝙙𝙫𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙙 𝙘𝙤𝙥𝙮 𝙞𝙣 𝙚𝙭𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙖𝙣 𝙝𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙚𝙬. 𝙄 𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙖 𝙨𝙮𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙢-𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙪𝙙𝙞𝙤 𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙧𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 (𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙖 𝙝𝙪𝙢𝙖𝙣 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚). 𝙈𝙮 𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙚𝙬 𝙞𝙨 𝙗𝙖𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙤𝙤𝙠'𝙨 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙨, 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙣𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣.

This deliciously creepy ghost story follows a young woman to a prestigious college. Once there, she becomes involved with a student club that seems too good to be true. It is. She has to trust herself and her new friends to break free. This is a pure adventure horror story, but it's also an exploration of what makes young people vulnerable to dark forces and how they can band together for protection and power.

Tara is given the opportunity of a lifetime when she is invited to join THE Magni Viri house. Not only are the best of the best at the academy a part of the house, but her tuition will be covered and she won't have to work with the school custodian to pay her way. She soon find that things aren't what they seem. She begins this journey feeling guilty that she only got the spot because one of the members is found, by her, dead. She then feels guilty because she thinks people only like her because of her link to the girl she found. She is worried when her roommate seems obsessed with her music and can't seem to remember to eat, go to class, or go to bed to the point she collapses and ends up going to the ER.

She is soon forced to decide if she will continue to follow the rules and expectations of her new house and Magni Viri, or if she will find her own path. She is forced to decide if the members of the house are really her friends or just put up with her since she was invited to move into the house and their lives.

I enjoyed the story and will recommend this to select students and have already recommended it to some of my friends.

I was given the opportunity to listen to this audiobook by NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

A queer, dark academia ghost story is what this says on the tin and that's exactly what you get.

After discovering the body of a fellow student one day, Tara is offered her place in a mysterious on-campus secret society called Magni Viri.

The society churns out artists, prolific authors, politicians, etc. and answers Tara's financial needs, so she can hardly say no. Pretty soon, she starts churning out writing that she doesn't remember scribbling down.

This truly felt like a queer Supernatural episode. There are ghosts, yes, and there's possession. Probably for me the book's biggest success is its atmosphere - Erica Waters really knows how to spin a yarn that makes you feel as though you're present in the school. You can feel the chilly air. You can feel the ominousness of Tara realizing that she may not be in control of her own body.

My own personal challenge with this were that I didn't always understand the choices Tara made and I felt frustrated by that, but I think that they were probably authentic to a seventeen year old. Though queer - which I love - I wasn't sold on the nature of the romantic relationship, either.

Despite all of that, I think this is a pretty great read, especially heading into spooky season.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC.

Overall, this was an interesting gothic inspired, queer, dark academia novel. The idea that our creativity can consume us, is interwoven throughout the novel. Guilt, anger, self doubt, and love, are also things that consume us, and the cast of characters. The banishing of the ghosts at the end of the novel is rather symbolic of the way we reconcile that which "consumes" us.

The main character, and actually all of them, have vulnerabilities that lead them to be "preyed upon", prime candidates for possession. However, each just wanted a college education. I wondered if this was a commentary on the student loan crisis happening in the US.

The characters were diverse, and well developed.

The level of foreshadowing spoiled the "mystery" so I was reading to see how the story ended, but not necessarily "what" was happening. That was pretty apparent from quite early on.

I LOVED this book, not only for the story but because I love how much I related to Tara throughout the story. She has the worst social anxiety and always feels like people are mad at her and I feel like I live my life in a constant state of whatever that is. Anxiety? Yeah. Probably that. I am a sucker for a good dark academia book and this was a great read! you follow the story of Tara after her acceptance into an esteemed college. After she discovers one of the secret societies members dead, she finds out that she is next in line to take her place in this secret society. Clearly everyone in this society is hiding something. Tara starts receiving mysterious phone calls, feeling the presence of ghosts and her story only gets more strange from there.
Definitely for fans of Ninth house (only without the long list of trigger warnings)

I appreciate that the narrator laid out from the beginning that it would be re-recorded. I listened at 2x speed, and the high pitch was not pleasing. There was minimal inflection in the tone and no real distinction between voices, which made it tough to stay engaged.

For the story itself, Tara is a bumbling lead. There are many "convenient" moments when everyone spills "secrets" to make her life easier, and the laziness of not really needing to research or fight bothered me. The cast of characters wasn't well developed either, and that left me wanting for me.

The idea of ghosts inhabiting students' to finish their work was an interesting take. It's one I'd have liked to see delved into more. There's a real possibility, though, that I glossed over some important elements since I struggled with the narration so much.

It was a good story. Not great.

Overall: 4 stars

I'll tell my students about: alcohol, drugs, death, language, trauma, murder, magic, LGBTQIA+

**Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Audio for the free ALC. All opinions expressed are my own.**

I would like to thank Harper Collins and Netgalley for providing me with an ARC.

It took me a while to get into the story, but I decided to push through. The writing felt a bit repetitive and the characters felt a bit shallow in the beginning. However, once I got through the first part of the book, I really got into the story. The final part of the book really made happy that I decided to pick up this book. Overall, this book is very well written. There is a lot of attention to creating the atmosphere. I think that the paranormal elements were very well woven into the story. I loved the way that the ghosts were portrayed. All That Consumes Us was a great book that I would recommend for a creepy read.

All that Consumes Us is a spooky ghost story about ghosts of scholars and their spiritual grasps on a group of students in a college program. It is so well done and Waters keeps the creepy vibe very much alive through the whole book. I have never read anything else by her but I’ve added a bunch of her backlist to my TBR because how incredible I found her characters and atmosphere in this book!

My only complaint was the voice who read it (as it was an ARC audio) I disliked. At times it almost grated on my nerves. So suggestion here is to read it yourself vs listening to it because it is way worth the read!

Want a Halloween read? Look no further!

When Tara gets invites to join Magni Viri, a secret society on the Corbin College campus, her dream of being a writer becomes much closer to reality.

As Tara focuses on her writing she finds herself waking up with pages already written without any memory of starting them. She struggles to figure out what is happening as the secret society starts to close ranks.

If you want a secret academic society plus gothic, ghost vibes with queer characters, you’re going to love this one!

Not my cup of tea. I couldn't finish it and I feel like the beginning could be a little more exciting than what it was.

Tara enrolled in Corbin College to finally do something for herself. Even if it means she must work as a janitorial assistant to make it work. As a writer, her first choice for tuition coverage would have been as a selected member of the exclusive Magni Viri. A highly secretive society where all students room and board are paid for, and they have a connection to each other. A society who's membership practically guarantees a successful career. A society full of geniuses and people who change the world. Then a student dies, and Tara is offered membership. As she learns more about the organization and its members, she begins to feel a force surrounding her, she begins waking up at her desk with pages full of writing but no memory of even sitting down. As she starts to unravel the truth, her fellow members grow more secretive, and her own control of her mind begins to waver,

I will admit that I was totally hooked from the beginning. Every time I had to put the book down, I couldn't wait to pick it back up. Waters certainly created an engrossing narrative and world. I loved the secret society, the history there, the mechanisms of how it worked. This was very much a mature theme and content for a YA book. And I think that's where its downfall lies.

From the get-go, the fact that Tara is working as a janitor of all things, when multiple on campus jobs exist was something I'd expect to see in a Disney movie. It was such a juvenile attempt at showing a separation of class, not to mention to show how desperate Tara was to attend school. It felt more like something out of a wattpad novel then a dark academia. Then Tara's best friend from school, who is currently very obsessed with her boyfriend over talking to Tara, is constantly shown to blow Tara off despite none of Tara's comments about her giving the impression she was a jerk. Tara had pushed the friend away when they were still in the same town, then Tara needs someone on her side, and makes one singular attempt to talk to the friend. Tara attempts to call friend when she finds the dead body. Friend replies that she's with her boyfriend, sorry. Instead of then saying "I just found a body" Tara laments at being so alone. Like, I'm supposed to feel sorry for her? This is after Tara attempts to contact the friend about her mother not answering calls, her mother who is acknowledged as a terrible person who's done this kind of thing before. And understandably, the friend is not concerned about the mother's disappearance. Again, this is portrayed as them not being a good friend, and that Tara is all alone, but I just see this as a very immature vision of friendship.

That's to say nothing of the repetitiveness. Multiple times, Tara learns a piece of information, then decides she will fight back, then has a set back, and immediately allows her life to be taken over by the ghost because she doesn't see any point in fighting. This literally happens twice. It's such a major character shift then she just falls back into it. I can understand it possibly being a representation of depression, and the cycle of that, except it is repetitive and tiresome. Tara will make a large stance about taking.back control of her life, fail at a barely thought out plan, and basically shrug her shoulders and say "welp, no use fighting or being aware of my life I guess." Once would be appropriate. This happens blatantly at least twice and to a lesser extent three times.

Then there's the writing itself. I can't tell you how many times something will be mentioned or referred to in a way that implies I've read that piece of information, that it's something I as the reader were already aware of. Except it wasn't. References to family members, or medical treatment, or a whole host of things are referenced in that specific way that implies I should recall a conversation from earlier in the book. But that conversation never happened, there was nothing to go back to. Waters just constantly forgot she didn't write those scenes or cut the scenes and never changed references to them. I was left feeling like I missed a page countless times. It's not an enjoyable experience as a reader.

Overall, the writing style does negate a lot of the issues with the book. But if repetitiveness, juvenile writing around mature themes and characters, and missing context that is implied you should know are something that bothers you as a reader, I would skip this one. The dark academia, spooky elements are very fun, and made me give this the extra half star (for 3.5 total), but its weaknesses, which I hope are only because I read an early copy of the book, are very prevalent.

4.5/5

This was such a good read. I feel like it definitely gave "The Maidens" vibes which I loved. I really loved the main character Tara, she had me rooting for her from the very beginning. Such a unique and well done story.

Thank you NetGalley and Harper Audio for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.