4.25/5
Devoured (or should I say consumed) this excellent book in a day! It's the type that once you get sucked in, you won't want to put it down until you're done. Perfect for fans of dark academia and paranormal mysteries.

Tara is struggling to juggle college and finances when she gets her dream offer to join a prestigious academic society. But is it too good to be true?

While I wouldn't say it's on par with The Secret History (which is mentioned a weird amount of times) or Babel, this is still an interesting critique of academia and the lengths we will go to leave a lasting impact.

All That Consumes Us is a gothic, dark academia novel with nightmares, secret societies, and malevolent spirits!

I always love gothic novels AND dark academia novels, so this book was right up my alley! The atmosphere was intriguing, the mysterious aspects of the book kept me guessing (though I am happy to say I figured it out!), and I absolutely loved the academic discussions that took place in the novel!

But I did have some complaints as well. For one, it was too long. It could’ve been 50-100 pages shorter. I don’t think that there were a lot of unnecessary scenes, but I do think that the author is too descriptive. A lot of scenes could’ve been shorter. Being over-descriptive made the book drag at times. Another complaint of mine is that the main character kept saying certain things like they were a revelation, but they were quite obvious to the reader. I found myself saying “duhh” to her a lot😬 And my last complaint is that I wish that the main character’s dark thoughts had been explored beyond a certain point. In the beginning of the book, there was a lot of emphasis placed on dark and jealous thoughts had by the main character, but the dark depths of her personality weren’t explored as much as I think they could’ve been.

But overall, I did enjoy this book and it is a great read for anyone who, like me, loves dark academia and gothic vibes!

I received a free e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you HarperTeen and NetGalley for this arc. All opinions are my own.

Trigger Warning: parental abandonment

Tara’s adventure at Corbin College should be on everyone’s TBR this fall! Get ready for queer gothic spooks set in the Appalachian Mountains. This dark academia novel follows Tara’s freshman year of college. When the elite organization of Magni Viri loses a member, Tara is offered the dead girl’s place and her scholarship. An offer impossible to refuse, Tara starts living the life that Meredith used to have. But is Meredith really gone? With time to finally write and become the author she’s always dreamed of; Tara wakes up to work she can’t remember scribbling down.

Erica Waters’ prose will suck you in, her setting will charm you, and her atmosphere will captivate you. If you’re looking for the lines of reality to blur in an old Victorian dormitory, I’d highly recommend this new YA horror book.

We still have two months left in the year, but I think this might be my favorite book of 2023! All That Consumes us has got it all: old Appalachian college grounds, an MC who dreams of being an author, a secretive academic society that parties in a cemetery, possession by ghosts, and queer characters galore. What more could a reader want?

All that Consumes Us is a young adult, fantasy, horror, that packs in the paranormal with the unsure, loner college student vibe. Tara is a 1st gen college student who is an aspriing writer, but her collge dreams are being crushed by her loan and payment responsibilities. She works multiple jobs to get by and she is barely hanging on. It was her hope to be selected as one of the 6 students inducted to Magni Viri, an elite acaedmic society that covers all college expenses and is it's own internal friend group.

Tara isn't initially let into Magni Viri but a freak accident has now pushed her in, but it is too good to be true and there are secrets and weird things happening to her.

Tara was a great representation of a 1st year college student trying to get through her new life and support herself. There is a lot of self doubt and loathing of her time and effort, and it all comes to a head when she is chosen for the academic group. This is her answer to everything. She is a bit stubborn but is willing to overlook the quirkiness to progress her abilty while in college - I don't blame her.

The book does a great job setting the tone and the horror elements. It is not too scary but enough so give shivers. The overall theme was super interesting and I though it was well put together, but don't want to go into more detail - I don't want to spoil it for readers.

I think that former Goosebumps readers will enjoy this one, and anyone looking for a more YA speeed style horror will also enjoy. Overall a great spooomy read for October.

Thank you SO MUCH to Netgalley and HarperTeen for granting me access to the e-arc of this book. The review is entirely my own and has my honest thoughts and opinions!

It might be past Halloween, but I’m still not done with my spooky vibes and dark academia reads. And this was deliciously one of them. All That Consumes Us is a fantastic tale of coming into your own power, your own self, and realizing your self worth and owning it. It’s fantastically written and I enjoyed every second of being immersed in this tale.

Writing: I adored the author’s writing in this book. She has a talent for creating different atmospheres to match the location of the main character. Her writing is so descriptive and real that its almost easy to believe she’s writing this tale from personal experience.

Characters: I greatly enjoyed our main character. Tara is incredibly relatable and I think that’s what makes this story so spooky. It’s very, VERY easy to place yourself into her shoes and see yourself as the main character, making the choices Tara makes and suffering the same way that Tara does.

Additionally, this story hosts a fantastic range of characters with representations from all over. BIPOC, Disabled, Gender Queer, LGBTQIA+, Trans - honestly, you name it. This book was written so that anyone could pick it up and find someone who represents them, and I LOVE seeing that in stories.

All the side characters are fully developed and have their own struggles and growing pains that they also go through along side our main hero, Tara. Every single member of Magni Viri are completely fleshed out. They all come alive brilliantly on the pages.

Plot: The plot starts out slow, but about 50% through it picks up. The author is very talented at keeping her secrets while giving incredibly teasing hints of foreshadowing, and then once the ball drops and the truth is revealed, the plot train takes off and doesn’t stop until you’re breathless at the last page. It’s seriously fantastic! I was on the edge of my seat for a good deal of the story once the curtain was lifted on the truth about Magni Viri.

Enjoyment: I LOVED THIS. 100% would read again. And absolutely do recommend!

4.5 stars.

Really enjoyed this one. Will definitely add it to the Dark Academia Instagram post I'm working on.

Now, this is the type of Dark Academia that I love. A lot of the ones I have been reading lately were either too full of drama or didn't have enough of the DA atmosphere. I like my DA with a side of supernatural or murder/mystery, and this has BOTH. It also mixed in queer characters and found family. This was just -chefs kiss- a lovely dark little story.

Will add a link once I make an Instagram post.

the atmosphere all throughout this was the best part of this entire read, it was eerie and perfect to be read on a foggy/rainy day. it was a bit slow at times but that didn't change my overall enjoyment while reading! I'm a sucker for a dark academia vibe, especially when it's sapphic!

Atmospheric, tense, and eerie. This book’s strong point is definitely its vibe; the author perfectly captured that dark academia feeling. However, the atmosphere was probably the only thing that kept me from putting this book away. The plot did not vary much from other books in this genre, and the characters felt flat. Overall this book had potential and many positive factors but was ultimately disappointing.

ALL THAT CONSUMES US nailed the spooky, dark academia atmosphere, even if the pacing and reveals were a bit clunky. It was still a fun spooky season read with and I would definitely recommend to YA readers. At first I thought the characters acted way young, but then I remembered they were only freshmen in college! That's still young af.

This dark academia book follows Tara Boone as she joins the mysterious academic society on campus, Magni Viri. It seems like a dream come true: free tuition, built-in friends, and a guaranteed future. However, there is a cost to joining Magni Viri that no one seems to want to share with Tara. She eventually finds out what she has had to give up in order to belong to the society, and she decides that the cost is too high. She finds a way to break herself free of the chains she never asked to wear. The book is definitely ghost-y and dark and has a diverse cast of characters. While at times formulaic, it is a great spooky season read.

Erica Waters has been one of my favorite authors since I read The River Has Teeth a couple years ago, and this spooky dark academia novel did not disappoint!

Secret society, ghostly possession, and strange rituals combine in this story about an aspiring writing at Corbin College who gets tangled up in the mysterious Magni Viri, an exclusive group of students chosen because of their academic excellence. But what exactly is the price of that excellence…?

This was the perfect creepy fall read with a side of sapphic romance! I also appreciate that one of the main characters had a chronic illness, rather than a side character that didn’t get much page time.

Thank you NetGalley and HarperTeen for this arc 🍂

Back home, Tara was the strange girl who read books at football games, who would rather study than socialize. Growing up in a trailer park, all she ever dreamed of was becoming a writer, someone whose stories mattered, Well, that’s not quite right. Tara wanted to be known. To be famous. To have her books published, read, and loved, to be admired and respected even beyond her death. She wanted to go to college and learn to write. Instead, she’s working as a janitorial assistant while she studies to become an English teacher, teaching students to admire someone else’s books. Tara’s even more alone at Corbin College than she was at home. There, at least, she had one friend. Here, it’s just … nothing. And then, Meredith dies.

Meredith was a member of Magni Viri, the secretive academic society Tara wanted to join. Magni Viri is the whole reason Tara came to Corbin College. Now, with Meredith’s death, Tara might just get everything she wanted as O’Connor, the director of Magni Viri, summons her. It turns out there’s a new opening and Tara’s just the person they’re looking to fill it.

All That Consumes Us leans heavily into atmosphere and mood; Tara’s isolation and loneliness, and her desperation to belong, to be part of something — even if just on the fringes. Tara isn’t exactly a nice person. She’s selfish, self-centered, and very reactionary. On being offered Meredith’s position, she’s delighted, with little thought for Meredith’s friends, who are now her friends, or Meredith’s roommate, who lives just down the hall. She’s constantly surprised that Meredith’s boyfriend isn’t delighted to be her friend. After all, she too was touched by Meredith, as she was one of those there when the body was found. It’s not that Tara is cruel or spiteful. She’s just in her own head (and so are we), and not overly concerned with other people until and unless they cross her path. Her flaws make her, in many ways, the perfect star of a ghost story, because she feels everything so deeply, obsesses so much over what others think of her, and makes all the plot necessary choices for perfectly selfish reasons. However, rather than change and grow as a character, Tara feels like just a leaf in the autumn wind being pulled along by the plot until the book ends.

The plot itself leans heavily on the dark academia vibe, and does it well, keeping the tension between magical realism, madness, and paranormal for much of the book. The first third is strong, the middle had some very interesting moments, and then the ending didn’t quite stick the landing for me. A lot of threads are left dangling, a lot of connections between characters are brought up and then dropped in favor of an easier path to the ending, and the ending itself felt like it belonged to a different book than what the first third was building towards.

The side characters and their reasons for being part of Magni Viri gave Meredith — and eventually Tara — a friend group with a wide array of diversity in background and sexuality. There’s Wren, who uses they/then pronouns and likes music; Azar, who is gay and excels at robotics; Jordan who is black; Neil who is straight; and Penny, Tara’s love interest, with a chronic pain condition. As a group, they mostly worked, but they felt there mostly to herd Tara along the path towards the answer.

The story had a meandering feel, for all that the pace moves along quickly and the writing flows smoothly. I was caught by the first third of the book and enjoyed the initial reveal of what was going on, but as the story continued, I found myself less invested in what was happening to Tara. It’s not that the story was poorly done, it’s just that for me the question of whether it is a ghost or madness was the fun part. The story answered that question so early on in the book that the eventual march to the end felt long and a little flat for me.

Horror has always been a tricky genre for me. When it works, it works. When it doesn’t, it doesn’t. Like comedy, I think it’s going to be very subjective for each reader. If you give this book a chance, I hope you enjoy it! It’s very well put together with a lovely gothic flair, and will make for a fun autumn read.

I did not finish this book. I think it had a good foundation but the writing felt lackluster. The main character felt flat and only some of the side characters felt real. I wish the setting if the book was high school or an early college program with high schoolers. These characters didn't act like college kids, instead they fit more into 9th or 10th graders. I don't think this was a bad book I just wish it had a setting that made more sense for its intended audience.

"An oath to live by. A dream to die for."

**4.5 stars**

Thank you so much to NetGalley and HarperTeen for the free eARC!!

Tara is a lonely freshman at Corbin College and has her sights set on the mysterious society Magni Viri. The society is known for having great students doing advanced research and creating masterpieces in writing, art, and music. After Tara discovers the body of another student in Magni Viri, she is coincidently offered the student's place within the secret society.

When Tara arrives at Denfield Hall she starts to notice that all of the students within the society look haggard and worn. The students are doing such advanced research that Tara wonders how she was even considered for Magni Viri. However, before she realizes it, Tara starts to lose time and finds that she has started a book but it doesn't seem like it is something that she would normally write. Could this be too good to be true or is Tara really not in control of her own body?

This was a fantastic spooky little read. Erica Waters did a wonderful job at building up the dark academia atmosphere during the whole book. I felt like I was really at Corbin College with Tara and her friends and was hooked from the beginning. I could not believe where the story ended and am so glad that Erica wrapped it up the way that she did. I highly recommend this book during this spooky season!

Thanks to Netgalley and HarperCollins for the ARC of this spooky secret society story!

This was perfectly atmospheric and creepy. A really interesting look at the price of fame, I found this to be very compelling. Just right for fall reading.

Screaming crying throwing up, this has the vibe and the energy that I was wanting from a spooky book. The setting, the characters the emphasis on hope and love and art. Gah. Yeah. Good

Tara is a student at Corbin College and works two jobs trying to pay for what her partial scholarship didn’t. She wanted desperately to get into Manny Hall for the free tuition but tied with someone else who they picked she feels isolated going to school with all these rich kids including her roommate who isn’t that nice to her. She finds people she does talk to about the kids from Manny Hall act a little cultish and only hang out with each other. Despite that however she would still give anything to be a resident in soon she will get her chance because ,Meredith the girl that won the tie is found dead in the library by Tara and her professor. So after Tara attends Meredith‘s funeral she is shocked when the director of Manny Hall invites her to take the dead girls place. Tera it’s shocked but definitely wants to do it even though she’s heard from her boss and others cryptic warnings about Manny Hall. After moving in tell her it’s happy she doesn’t have to pay tuition and she now has people to talk to it isn’t long before strange things start happening and eventually she feels like she may be going crazy. It seems like their are those who previously lived at Manny Hall and don’t want to leave. She feels she is being haunted by Meredith but that will just be the tip of the iceberg. I love books that have a good forest scene in it and All That Consumes Us definitely does it is almost a second character I think Erica Waters story in this a story I highly recommend if you love possessions in hauntings you’ll definitely love the story I want to thank random House publishers and net galley Thor my free arc copy please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review did a great phenomenal job riding this spooky collegiate haunting. I love a book that involves a forest and in all that consumes us by Erica waters the forest is like another character don’t think you know the trope after reading the summary this is very much an original thought novel I loved it and highly recommend it I want to think harpers Ann Ned Gallie for my free Ark copy please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

3.75 stars

I really liked the premise of this, a dark academia with a paranormal element and queer main characters. It's perfect for October and a quick read to get you in the mood for fall.

The first third or so felt so slow to me. We're introduced to Tara and there's a death very early, but after that it felt like not much was going on besides Tara meeting the other first years and developing a romance, which I wasn't a big fan of. Once Tara starts to write and dream, things ramp up and then I was pulled into the story.

This was a fun idea that I haven't read before and the cover art is so perfect!

I voluntarily read and reviewed this book. All opinions are my own. Thank you to HarperTeen and NetGalley for the copy.

I haven't delved very deep into dark academia, but it's definitely something I want to read more of. I felt the overall horror in the book was pretty light, but still intriguing and enjoyable. I would definitely file it under gothic and it ticked that box wonderfully. I loved how engaging the overall writing was and never really felt like I was struggling to get through the story. It was full of twists and turns and kept me thoroughly engaged, a great October read!

Gothic dark academia is something I will read over and over and over and still want more of it. I love them. I love the creepiness, the secret societies, the dark twisted plot line of Gothic, eerie within these worlds. And All That Consumes Us was all that. We meet Tara who we learn wants to be an author, (right away, love that.) After finding a student's body she is offered a place at Magni Viri, a secret society. This society helps not only financially but in other ways too. But when she starts noticing things odd, weird, and creepy things going on she starts to question her choices. I won't say anything more as I don't want to give anything away. But I have to say I enjoyed how things unfolded, I like the reviles. There's a lot of ups and downs in the book. The main character, Tara, feels and states that she is alone and has no one she can count on. (It feels like the author really, really wants to get that point across.) There is a little tiny side plot that has to do with Tara's mother and I feel like that is not really needed.
I enjoyed the ending classic dark, gothic acaemia feel to it. I like the themes of found family, friendship, and learning that your dreams have limits. There is a bit of a romance between Tara and someone, it was sweet. Not over the top, but a good balance to the eerie world. There queer rep, and it help well written.
I have to note that I was a bit surprised by the author's writing style. She does such a good job of description, the tone and the settings of this spine-chilling world was probably my favorite part. There is a scene with a mirror that gave me chills while reading it.
It's a creepy and twisted story of a dark academia of horrifying truths of what people will do just to reach their dreams.