I adored Erica Waters first two novels and was a bit more lukewarm on her third, and unfortunately this one has more in common with the third than her earlier efforts, for me. I was not the biggest fan of the main character's voice, so it was hard to get into the novel. All of that being said, I'm a hard sell on dark academia more generally, so it was always going to be an uphill battle with me and this book. I know it will be perfect for so many other readers.

Thank you so much Netgalley for approving me to read this arc in exchange for a review.
There were so many creepy factors that I loved about this! Absolutely devoured this book.

Whenever a mediocre YA take on "dark academia" gets compared to the Secret History, I lose another one of my nine lives like a bedraggled cat. Once again, someone has tried to take on the genre without understanding that the story that created this trend is beautiful but fundamentally farcical, and the characters intentionally unlikeable. I wasn't especially fond of Tara, but this is mostly because of her terminal diagnosis of "not like other girls" syndrome. I could understand and relate to her feeling isolated from the more privileged sectors of the queer community at the school, but ALL of the characters Tara does not like are cast as one-dimensional mean kids, all of whom we are meant to see as worse than Tara because they have not struggled in the same way that she has. It never sits well with me when YA novels intentionally or unintentionally press home the idea that trauma and misery must be visible in order to be salient. Tara does some learning on this front, but the execution felt clumsy. If you are looking for a better examination of class and privilege at elite liberal arts colleges, just read Ninth house.

Thank you to NetGalley for the arc,
All that consumes us by erica waters is a solid 3.5; with a slow start, the dark novel struggles to draw me in from the early pages. This lasted up until I was around a quarter way through until the action started to pick up and gave a wonderful depiction of grief and a perfectly eerie atmosphere. All that consumes us shines brightest when it's the romance between Tara and Penny. I would have loved for the novel to delve deeper into the group dynamics, but overall this novel is a pretty good southern gothic romance.

An incredibly solid book overall by Erica Waters that did in fact include great love, great art, and great evil! All that greatness only got greater in relation to itself to create this incredibly thrilling fantasy novel that kept me up for hours.

Hmm, I’m not sure how I feel about this one. After glomming Erica Waters’ backlist and loving them all. I was really excited for her upcoming novel. I think, though, it made me realize dark academia may not be the subgenre for me. I love a lot of the themes, especially owning your own identity and finding the strength inside and the power of chosen family, but in some ways this was hard for me to get through. I did love the latter half as things were being by revealed and things were really picking up. I also really enjoyed picking up the clues and hints about what was going on, and seeing all the puzzle pieces came together. This is also delightfully queer in so many ways, and I love how much that played into the built community without being an overt Thing, if that makes sense. All around, I love Erica’s writing and will definitely be keeping my eye for what she’ll write next, but this was not my favorite and I think it was mainly the academic setting - I have no desire to be back in college or school lol.

I have some mixed feelings about this book, but overall it was entertaining and I enjoyed reading it.

All That Consumes Us is about a girl, Tara, joining a secretive academic society that ends up being more sinister than it appears. She starts getting strange phone calls and waking up more exhausted than normal, and the stories she writes have turned dark, eerie, vengeful.

To be honest, I was pretty hesitant after reading the first few chapters of this book. I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to finish it. The story starts with Tara wallowing in depths of self pity and being a rather flat character. Even after finding the body of a student in the library, her reactions didn’t quite make sense to me—the obsession with Meredith came out of nowhere and was a bit creepy.

After that, though, the plot began to pick up and I was hooked by the mystery. It was well-paced, creepy, and intriguing. The way history was woven into the story was absolutely fascinating, and I loved the unique supernatural elements. (Isabella’s story was so cool, and the whole thing with Cicada… I loved it.) The ending wrapped everything up nicely, too.

Overall, this definitely wasn’t my favorite book. I didn’t love most of the characters, and some elements of the plot didn’t really make sense. But I did enjoy it, especially as I got further into the story. If you enjoyed books like A Lesson in Vengeance or other supernatural-feeling dark academia mysteries, this one’s for you!

Overall this book was fun read with lots of twists and turns. It is short and sweet with strikingly beautiful descriptions. The writing style is the perfect blend of modern language and Shakespearean metaphors. The complex romance echoed the real confusion of human emotions and betrayal. On the other hand the main character Tara at times felt a bit “I’m not like other girls” especially at the beginning in relation to her roommate Helena. However the sentiment does make sense because of how ostracized she is by her classmates. Towards the middle of the book Tara changes her mind quite literally every 2 pages. However I would still recommend this book to people who like gothic and spooky vibes. (It also gave me some good gothic literature recommendations)

True Rating: 4.75 stars

Erica Waters dedicates this book to those on lonely paths. This is the perfect way to begin.

All That Consumes Us is a Dark Academia novel centring around Tara Boone, a freshman student at Corbin College, home to the Magni Viri, the school’s very own secret academic society, shrouded in a level of mystery and judgement from the rest of the students. Tara is originally not accepted into the elusive secret society, but upon the death of Meredith, a creative writing major. Being a part of Magni Siri meant free room and board, tuition, and a stipend— something they give to ensure that the students can focus on what they’re working on— and nothing else. She finally has the time to write and have real friends in the loneliness of Corbin College, but she quickly finds that there is more happening at Magni Viri than she could have ever believed.

Waters’ writing is unbelievable in this novel— each sentence had me wanting to read more. Like other novels in the Dark Academia genre/trope, I loved the atmosphere that Waters was able to capture in her storytelling. That being said, the best part of the book was the cast. I know that Tara is the type of main character who would get critiqued, but I genuinely find her actions relatable despite us being so different. Every character was incredibly important to me, and the representation that this book achieved was stellar.

I truly also loved the way Waters was able to keep me guessing— the plot twist was not what I was expecting out of this work. At all. I had to stop for a minute when something quite major was revealed. Additionally, I am a fan of the way the author discussed Dark Academia, a genre that glorifies academic burnout, pushing yourself and heaps of ambition, whilst also discussing the notion of privilege in academia.

This is by far one of the best books I have read this year. It needs to be on everyone’s TBR. Immediately.

Thank you to HarperCollins and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

A queer, dark academic gem that also dips into a suspenseful horror novel. I was immediately drawn into this world, and like any good ghost story, It just wouldn't let me go. Filled to the brim with wonderful world building, magic, mayhem, madness and a healthy dose of gothic horror. *chef's kiss*

Overall, I enjoyed this book. The idea of the mystery is very compelling , even if it's more of a mystery to the protagonist and not so much the reader, and I feel it is a good jumping off point for someone who maybe trying out the dark academia genre for the very first time. It is still pretty flawed. I feel the focus should've been on more of the side characters and their struggles than the protagonist herself. It was fun piecing together their roles within this mystery and wish to have been able to see more of their characterization fleshed out. And a lot of the choices the protagonist makes throughout the novel doesn't exactly make a lot of sense. It is obvious it only serves to prolong the mystery and there's a lot of flat out references that I'm sure helped inspire this novel but otherwise took me out of the book as a reader.

This book had a creepy and eerie plot to it. It’s ask LGBTQ friendly. Any thriller that adds a paranormal element is a bonus for me. The whole atmosphere was very spooky. If you’re a fan of secret cult like societies TBR. This is the book for you. I got more YA vibes or it would be perfect for a college student, but I still liked it all the same. I just finished binge watching Wednesday and this book had some similarities so I wasn’t mad about it!

I love this book. I love the similarities between our main character and what haunts her. This was a well written story and I was glad to see things worked out the way they were. I wish the author had done more research on concussions but that is a section that takes up maybe 2 pages of the book so no big deal.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC of All that Consumes Us by Erica Waters.

Tara is a college student who is struggling in every way. She has very little support, little money, and other than her grumpy boss at her janitor job, no friends. And she is deeply envious of the neighboring school, Magni Viri. The students there are not only academically elite, but also seem borderline possessed with a haunting drive to excel in their studies. So Tara finds one of their students dead in the library, she is shocked when Magni Viri offers her a position at the school. It's not easy to replace a diseased student, but Tara would be crazy to refuse.

But it doesn't take long before Tara begins to notice that something is just not right at Magni Viri. The students look starved, they don't sleep, theyre almost zombie like. But even more upsetting, Tara is finding herself writing a whole piece of brilliant literature that she KNOWS she's not responsible for. Who is in her head, and how many other students are going through the same thing?

Man, this was the exact type of book I think I would have LOVED as a college kid. It has queer and non-binary characters, misfits, betrayal, romance, and a creepy plot, full of haunting and history. Very fun, and a great spooky read.

The premise of this work had me absolutely intrigued. I am a sucker for dark academia, cults, secret societies, ancient things, etc. So, you could understand why I would be so excited for this! I really enjoyed the setting of this--a small college. I felt like it was even more intimate and heightened the spooky feelings/atmosphere even more. I loved the little fantasy moments/paranormal encounters that were sprinkled through, and I think they were a great vehicle to push the plot and stakes along. I don't want to give away too much, because I think that going into it a little blind/without too much information was the best thing for me. If you like nonbinary and queer rep, secret societies, ancient spookiness, cults, and/or dark academia then you're probably going to really love this! I cannot recommend this enough, it was great!

All That Consumes Us by Erica Waters had an atmospheric setting that wonderfully drew me into its world of Corbin College's elite academic society, Magni Viri, and the mysterious secrets that it held. The plot was intriguing and had me turning pages, trying to unravel the mystery. However, the characters were one-dimensional and poorly developed, leaving me feeling disconnected from them. Even though the story was written in first-person present tense, there was a distant quality to the writing that prevented me from fully immersing myself in the story's action. Therefore, while I enjoyed the book's mysterious plot and atmospheric setting, the weak character development and distant writing style held me back from fully embracing the story.

This book is great for fans of dark academia, incorporating classic spooky elements while still feeling fresh. The small elite college setting captured the intensity of campus life, creating tension from the very beginning.

Two central dramatic questions stood out to me: 1) how far will the MC, Tara, go in order to find a sense of belonging? 2) what rots at the center of glamorous-seeming institutions? The fantasy elements work well to put these questions in conversation with each other, while also creating a delightfully spooky atmosphere. While some of the themes and topics are heavy, the narrative stays light on its feet.

I’d recommend this book to readers who like fantasy elements in a grounded setting, queer friend groups, and dark secrets around every corner.

Secret, cult-like societies in a dark academia setting, where paranormal encounters and death-defying mysteries are basically a given? Erica Waters’ ALL THAT CONSUMES US had me at hello.

Admittedly, the story has a laboriously slow start. It takes about ten chapters before converging plot lines start to clarify, and the ghostly energy at the heart of the story really begins to rile up to more than occasional jump-scares. But once you’re locked into what’s at stake in ALL THAT CONSUMES US, you’re hooked, and Waters doesn’t let you go until the very last cicada screams.

*Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC.*

I cannot recommend this book ENOUGH! Please pre-order it/buy it when it releases because... Oh my goodness. 5/5 stars completely I love this book so much. We got secret societies, we got a sapphic/queer MC, we got NONBINARY rep and... supernatural happenings? My goodness I completely soared through this book and I just loved it so much! I know I already read it, but when the physical copies hit stores, I'm going to speed to the bookstore to pick up a copy! :) (NetGalley Review!!)

Thank you to Penguin Teen for providing me with the eARC! I was very into the idea of a secret society, especially one based off of the arts and etc. I was very on board with everything until the reveal with who exactly was haunting Tara. For like a decent 20 or so chapters, we believe it's a passed on student but then it's suddenly the founder. Although I do like where she went with how all the Magni Viri students became so incredibly talented, I feel like it would have made more sense to continue with the student haunting. Also, the haunting dragged on a bit longer then it should of(at least to me), it felt sort of predictable, some parts, not all. Like oh m being haunted and OFC it's an angry student who suddenly died and we believe this for longer then we should have (at least to me). I do like how it ended though, everything got tied up