Firstly, thank you to NetGalley and Tor for the e-ARC!

I wanted to love this, and there were aspects of it that I did love: Alessa is such a compelling character, and the body horror was VISCERAL. (The descriptions of the Librarian were nightmare fuel in a good way). However, the pacing felt off -- the alternating between "Before" and "After" the Big Twist didn't really work for me. I also really wanted more worldbuilding. Supervillain boarding school in a world where magic suddenly came back is such a cool concept, and it just doesn't get fleshed out. The focus was more on Alessa's internal life and her personal experiences. I feel like this would've worked better for me either as a novella or expanded into a duology. All that being said, it's a fun read especially for body horror enjoyers.

When I first read the blurb for this book, I was really worried that it would be too similar to

I am thankful to report though that this is an entirely different beast of the dark academic breed.

The premise of this story is really darkly delightful. Khaw does not shy away from elements of body horror and withholding information from the reader until the right time. It was fun if not a bit jumbled at times. The now/past format is not exactly kind for clarity in some sections.

One thing that kept me from fully enjoying this read though was a sense of repetition due to obscure words being used in too quick of succession. I don't mind having to look up definitions but this was a lot. Also words "oil" and "oiliness" appear way too frequently for me not to notice.

There was also a few hiccups in how certain scenes are told. I had a hard time picturing a few moments early on.

Very well written as I think only Cassandra Khaw could have done. The setting quickly becomes terrifying and there is all kinds of detailed gory violence, but with nearly poetic language. Most of the characters are broken or damaged in some way and we see them trying to make the best of a very bad situation. There is also a lot of interesting (if usually horrible) magic in the book. I would definitely not want to live in any of the author's novels and some of them (like this one) would probably be too intense for me even as a movie, but they are very powerful as a book that I might have to put down for a day or two sometimes.

Dark academia with a brutal gory twist?! Stop this was AMAZING!!! I have no other words, I was entertained, disgusted and enthralled all at once!

This book was visceral and gory, and such a fantastic read! The whole premise of a school for those that are basically magical forces of nature, sounded so good, and I really enjoyed seeing how the story played out!

This is a book that plays around with the timeline, of the now when they're graduating and it all went wrong, and from when their school term started, with Alessa getting abducted. The way that it gave us all the information that we needed about what was going on, it was a great narration choice!

One thing that I really wanted to know, was what the situation was with her roommate. Because of the way it starts, it's the aftermath of what happened, and I was so unbearably curious. So that was in the back of my mind as the story progressed, before and after that event, whatever happened and why.

Of course there's the threat of the faculty trying to eat them all, but there's also the threats of all the students that made it into the library. I wanted to know how they were going to get out, and who, because there were a lot of high emotions and conflicting desires and motivations in their fight for survival.

Loved reading this book and I can't wait to read more by Cassandra Khaw!

I am a huge fan of Khaw's prose and style of writing. Their ability to marry poetic with stomach-churning is unparalleled...I however, would have liked to see a bit more world building...like I wanted MORE and I don't think that's necessarily a negative take.

I will continue to read everything they write. You will still find the incredible prose Khaw excells in, that's for sure.

A wickedly cool premise that didn’t quite stick the landing.

I wanted to love this one. A school for world-enders and apocalypse-makers? A brutal dark academia setting where the faculty literally devour their students on graduation day? That’s the kind of diabolical, high-stakes concept that should have had me devouring the pages. And in some ways, it did. The atmosphere is thick with eerie tension, and the writing is sharp, lyrical, and dripping with dread. Hellebore Technical Institute feels alive, pulsing with danger, secrets, and the kind of horror that lurks just beneath the surface.

But here’s the thing: the execution didn’t fully match the hype. The pacing felt uneven—slow in parts where it should have been breathless, and then chaotic when I wanted more time to sit with the tension. Alessa is an intriguing lead, but I never felt fully connected to her or the other characters. The survival horror aspect was fun, but without deeper character development, the stakes didn’t hit as hard as they could have.

That said, if you’re looking for a vibes-first book with killer dark academia aesthetics, morally gray characters, and a nightmare-fuel setting, you might have a blast with this one. It’s viscerally dark, which I appreciated, but I just wanted more—more depth, more tension, more time to care before the blood started spilling.

A solid read, just not quite a favorite.

The way I felt about this book is mystifying. All at once, I was entertained, confused, disgusted, intrigued, and baffled. While at times I did enjoy the writing style, at others it felt choppy and disjointed. This book was presented as dark academia, but I struggle to place it in that genre beyond taking place at a school and there being magical/supernatural elements. I was so intrigued by Alessa and Rowan (separately as characters, as well as their dynamic) but it felt like that potential was never reached on any of those fronts. There were so many times when I was reading and I had to stop to go “wait…WHAT just happened?!” (and not always in a good way). I wish more had been done around character-building, as well as world-building (even just more about Hellebore itself).

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group for the ARC!

Cassandra Khaw has a specific almost euphoric style that I've come to absolutely adore. Their monster girls are genuinely monstrous and their struggles to connect with others are incredibly touching amidst the carnage. This is a no-holds-barred gore-fest in which one of the most tragic figures is also the most disgusting, and it genuinely broke my heart by the end.

Thank you Netgalley and TOR for the eARC.

Based on the description this looked really cool. It seemed like it was going to be some sort of monster battle royale-esque kind of story. So I was really excited and usually TOR almost never misses for me.

Unfortunately, I don’t know what it was, but I just couldn’t really sink my teeth into it? It just felt like it was missing something which seems like an insane thing to say because:

Alessa was fantastic and I loved her voice.
Rowan had some good moments.
Gracelynn doesn’t get enough credit.
The prose was descriptive but not in an overdone way
Horror! Oh the horror!!! :3 (Though, I definitely recommend marketing it as such. It will have a lot of a appeal to fans of that genre meanwhile I don’t know if the fantasy fans might take to this.)

Thing is the storytelling itself was giving me whiplash. Like I’m fine jumping into a world I know nothing about and you get piece by piece of information, but there was not a lot in the beginning to really get your bearing. Between the time skipping and the rapid fire introductions of new characters there was just no time to really get a good footing on the story.

This title was a little gory for me. I could not get into it and only made it a couple of chapters in.

'The Library at Hellebore' is absolutely dark and twisted. It's about some magic inclined college students who are sent to Murder Hogwarts, because their powers are likely to destroy the world. It's incredibly messed up and gory, but also delightful? The whole book of a mix of these gorgeous, twisted lines and straight-up disgusting body horror. Like, there is a character who can divine the future using his own entrails! Visceral and viscous and vicus. Full of body horror, death, and absolute weirdness. I might have to buy a copy for my own shelf when it comes out in July. 5⭐️

"It is the nature of people to overcomplicate things: we want there to be nuance to evil and dimensions to good. The truth is often simpler than that."

Thank you Netgalley and TOR for the eARC. I was originally drawn to this because of the comparison to The Atlas Six (& I tend to like books TOR publishes), but aside from being in a school there wasn't any dark academia elements.

This left me with mixed feelings. On one hand I was entertained and wanted to know how things panned out. I liked the author's prose, and the characters Rowan and Alessa.

On the flip side, the book could have used more world building and character development. At times the narration felt choppy.

I think this also leans more towards body horror rather than a fantasy book? I wanted to love this more than I did, but the execution fell flat.

Whew. okay this one is DARK. I didn’t fully expect that even though I should have based off the author. but I loooved it. the dark academia vibes mixed with the fantasy were just phenomenal

Visceral, violent, and disturbing, The Library at Hellebore is an ode to anyone who ever felt different or 'wrong'. The students are calamities and apocalypses made flesh, the teachers ominous and hungry. Khaw's prose is in full force, sweeping the reader into the twisted atmosphere of Hellebore and trapping you as surely as the students.

Khaw continues to astound me with their character designs, coming up with unique backstories and abilities that I can't stop thinking about. I struggle to choose a favorite character, and found myself even loving the ones I hated because of how masterfully they were written. Khaw's grasp of eldritch horror is otherworldly, somehow managing to capture the incomprehensible and put it into words. In many ways, it's a fever dream printed on paper, but it's also full of emotional human moments to ground the gory chaos.

This is everything my dark academia heart could ever want! It was twisted and had body horror so be aware of that. This will put you in your feels but not in a mushy way, you may look in your own mirror and question yourself. Absolutely brilliant!

Let me start of by thanking Tor and NetGalley for the e-ARC of this book. Now, for the record, I am not a huge horror and gore person but if anyone tells me that something is a mix of A Deadly Education and The Atlas Six, I am there. That being said I desperately would have loved to love this book, but the execution of it fell far flat for me. The narration is choppy and adolescent without the wit and sharpness needed to make it a cutting and compelling read. I think once the audiobook is released I would listen, as I think a lot could be done with a really great voice actor. In all, I found the characters flat and cartoonish and the language stilted. Even at the climax of the action, I was more just bored waiting to find out who survived than I was hooked on every twist and turn and terrible choice they had to make. Additionally, with the kidnap and forced to attend premise, it lacks the element of choice that makes books like The Atlas Six and A Deadly Education tick. The idea that these children are literally forced to kill each other after being kidnapped and traumatized takes away the moral complexities of picking between difficult choices which are what keep other similar books bringing us back for more.

The Library at Hellebore by Cassandra Khaw, an interesting premise that didn't fulfill for me. I do think others will enjoy and thank you for giving me a chance with this book.

When I first read the synopsis I thought "oh a dark version of House on the Cerulean Sea" and man...this is DARK. But fun! I don't read much horror so this really freaked me out (I'm a baby) but if that's what you're into, than this is the book for you!

This one was a wild ride. It was whacky, inventive, intriguing, and freaky in a way that only Cassandra Khaw can do.