An absolute banger! Not only is the cover just gorgeous, but the story itself was so good!

It's an afterlife story with a dark academia setting. There's six main characters all with their own POV chapters! I loved that! They are Reapers, which are dead teenagers that help souls pass into the afterlife and they end up in a HIGH STAKES trial!! AH! Only one can win and the prize is moving on from the afterlife, but also no body knows what that entails. Y'all this was SO GOOD.

I loved that this had the dark academia feel to it but make it "afterlife" style. I am not always a big fan of YA books but this one was done really well. This was so unique and I actually really enjoyed the multi pov!

If you ever judge a book by its cover let it be this one! I LOVED THIS BOOK, I was caught off guard IN THE BEST WAY because I indeed needed it solely based on the beautiful cover.

This story takes place in an afterlife/ dark academia setting. The “boarding school” is the home to the Reapers (dead teenagers lol) who help souls pass to the afterlife. You have 6 main characters/povs and if you think you’re going to be overwhelmed by that, YOU WONT! Each one of their stories will have you hooked and I can shamelessly say, I have no favorite. I love them all….𝒐𝒌𝒂𝒚 𝑰 𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒅, 𝒊𝒕’𝒔 𝑨𝒖𝒈𝒖𝒔𝒕.. 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝑨𝒖𝒈𝒖𝒔𝒕 , 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝑨𝑳𝑾𝑨𝒀𝑺 𝒃𝒆 𝑨𝒖𝒈𝒖𝒔𝒕

The main 6 characters wind up in the “Decennial” — a trial amongst a dozen where one can either ascend and become an afterlife elite or simply pass on to the afterlife, leaving the school behind… except nobody really knows what lies beyond. But these characters each have their own goal in mind and the ending was twisted!😵‍💫🫠. The trials were intense and remarkably high stakes. Even though they are already amongst the non-living — like the blurb says there are worse things than death.

I’m so happy I stumbled across this ARC. I am now proudly apart of this ‘Immortal Consequences’ fandom and can’t wait for book two! Thank you NetGalley & Random House Children's/Delacorte Press for allowing me to read and review this eArc.

Thank you for granting me an advanced copy of this! I was excited to read this. I like dark academia- and this book delivers on academic rivalry, angst, betrayal, brooding, gothic vibes, and sinister mysteries. We follow 6 students at Blackwood academy, a boarding school in the afterlife, as they compete to change their fate or wander in purgatory forever. At first I wasn’t sure about reading 6 different POVs, but they are all well written and complex characters. The romantic pining in this book is next level. Thoroughly enjoyed this!

In Immortal Consequences, we follow six characters, referring to themselves as "unfortunate acquaintances," whose afterlives are intertwined as they compete in four trials for the opportunity to become Ascended and remain at Blackwood Academy. Each has their secrets and their own reasons for competing. As they encounter unusual occurrences at Blackwood Academy and within the trials, they begin to investigate and come to understand the precariousness of their situation.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. The premise was interesting and not something I've seen before. However, it did take some time to become invested in the characters and the plot. The first half of the book primarily focused on setting up the story and giving us an introduction to the characters. During this time, we get to see fragments of each of the 6 main characters and how they interact with each other, but as each has their secrets, we don't really get to know them well until later on in the story.

For me, after the 50% mark, this story took a turn for the better. I became much more invested as the 2nd trial began. At this point, the stakes were raised, we learn more about the characters' past lives, and we get more on-page scenes that showcase the characters' relationships with and feelings for each other.

By the end, I was invested in the story and rooting for the characters, and considering this book ends on a cliffhanger, I am intrigued as to what will happen next! I look forward to reading the next book in the series.

This was one of my most anticipated reads of 2025, and I was not disappointed. I saw a few of the author’s posts back in early January and knew I had to get my hands on this book. Thankfully I received this arc (many thanks!!) and got to read it before everyone else.

I gave this a 4.5⭐️. The plot line was entertaining and had lots of plot twists and plenty of fun characters telling the story. However, the story being told from 6 povs was a bit much for me. It was a little hard to keep track of who was who, and who was doing what.

All that aside, this was sooooo fun and I cannot wait for book two and whatever else I. V. Marie writes!

I really enjoyed this as a opening chapter in the Souls of Blackwood Academy series, it has that element that I wanted and enjoyed the overall feel of this genre. The characters were everything that I was hoping for and thought the use of the Academy element worked well in this concept. I thought the use of purgatory worked overall and am excited to read more in this series and from I. V. Marie.

Immortal Consequences reads like the best kind of supernatural CW drama—The Vampire Diaries meets The Atlas Six, with a sleek afterlife-academia twist. The world is fresh, the purgatory setting is genuinely intriguing, and the plot is full of juicy twists, secrets, and betrayals. If you liked The Atlas Six but weren’t a fan of Olivie Blake’s prose or dense narrative style, this one delivers the same elite-academy-meets-perilous-competition vibe without getting bogged down in the weeds.

That said, it does feel like a debut. The first act dragged for me, and some of the character dynamics felt a little too familiar, like echoes of other popular fantasy casts. I wanted more nuance, more emotional specificity—but I also get the sense that Marie is just getting started. Once the competition begins, the story gains momentum fast, and the enemies-to-lovers thread adds tension that pays off in a satisfying way.

Despite a slow start, I found myself pulled in by the end. I.V. Marie has a strong voice and clear vision, and I’ll likely keep reading the series. With this kind of premise and polish, she’s one to watch.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

5 ⭐️

Review:

This is easily one of my favorite books! I’m normally down for anything dark academia, but this exceeded my expectations. And we also had a little bit of banter, enemies to lovers, longing, and friends to lovers! Seriously perfect. ✨ The world building was set up perfectly to explore more of the afterworld in the next book while still being explained enough for this one. And there was actual personalities for our six main characters that made them easy to discern while reading. Which is great for me because I can get confused easily. This book isn’t even out yet and I need the other already!!

Summary:

Being chosen to attend Blackmore Academy after death is an honor that not everyone is granted. And every decennial one student is offered the opportunity to become one of the ascended. Someone who gets to stay at the school as a teacher of sorts instead of reaping souls for the rest of their eternity. Or worse, forgetting their memories entirely. And for Irene, Masika, Oliver, Emilio, August, and Wren that’s exactly what they’re hoping for. But what they aren’t expecting is to have to compete in a set of trials for that spot. How will their friendships or feeling for one another be able to survive? Because nothing in these trials are what they were expecting. Unknown danger is lurks in every shadow.

Favorite Quote:

“You are me affliction because it takes everything in me not to rip apart my principles and act upon my longing. I have an impulse to be with you all the time. To be physically near you. It’s exasperating. How often I think of you.

Then why don’t you do something about it.

You think I haven’t been tempted to? That I haven’t dreamt about it? That I haven’t driven myself fucking mad with the torment of my own thoughts?”

Tropes:
•dark academia
•banter
•trials
•enemies to lovers
•friends to lovers
•betrayals
•trauma

Wow. Where do I even begin with this one. This was, simply put, exquisite. When you hear “magical academy in purgatory”, a certain vision comes to mind, and I.V. executed brilliantly. This world felt so alive (ironically), I could practically taste the mists of the outer edges on my tongue. The gothic architecture, the moody environment, it was perfectly built. The characters were undoubtedly my favorite part of this experience. All six of them were crafted with such love and appreciation, I seriously couldn’t even pick a favorite out of the group. They all were so unique and twisted in their own ways, and I loved getting to know them as their stories were revealed. The banter, the wit, the sarcasm, every bit of it was delectable. It felt like I’ve known these people forever. And don’t even get me started on that ending cliffhanger!! It’s a special type of pain to be so desperate for the second book to a series where the first one hasn’t even been published yet. Seriously thank you guys so incredibly much for the opportunity to read this ARC, I’m so grateful and have made it my mission to tell as many people as possible about this story.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC of this book. Overall I would rate this book 3 stars. I really wanted to love this as it contains many of my favorite tropes like Dark academia, enemies to lovers, magical competitions... but Something about this book just never quite clicked for me.

To start with the positives I thought the world building and premise of this book was incredibly unique. I also enjoyed most of the characters, especially August, Emilio, and Olivier. Who doesnt love a good tortured soul? Nothing about this book was bad necessarily, but there wasn't a whole that was great either.

Despite the unique world building i never felt like I was reading anything new. The dialogue between characters felt incredibly juvenile, and I felt like I never truly understood certain characters motivations. As readers we're kept in the dark about a lot, which is fine, but it also just made a lot of things feel unnecessarily complicated and superficial. Things happened because... and you're just supposed to go along with it. For example, there are two characters in an "enemies to lovers" romance, and there is so much tension between them because they can't be together, but why? I never felt like anyone gave me a good answer until one character revelead a secret in the last like 5% of the book. But that still didn't make the previous 95% make sense. Why did the "will they won't they" make sense for the other person? Why did they play this cat and mouse game for so long with no follow up questions? Apologies for being so vague, but is difficult to talk about without spoilers. I felt like that tension was included because that's what all romantasy books have, not because there was a valid reason.

The plot also felt very predictable. I don't know if it's because I read a lot from this genre, but I saw almost every twist coming long before it happened. I also got very tired of every character being so closed off and unwilling to share their feelings with the people they cared about. Especially since some of them knew each other for hundreds of years. It just didn't feel like how people would really act around each other. Lastly, I really wish we got a bit more world building explanations. Parts of it felt unfinished, which i felt like could have been fixed if we had longer to enjoy the magical school part of the story. Also, it felt like a lot of the rules just kind of changed whenever the author needed them to change.

Despite my negative comments I didn't hate this book. In fact I think most people will really like it. I felt like it was fine for the most part and I still enjoyed reading it, especially once we got to the competition.

I am absolutely kind of obsessed with this read and it's a debut! There was a lot to love about this story. From its unique premise and world building to its cast of characters. I did eat up the banter between our two central povs, Wren and August. They are what had me turning the pages and love how their story played out. There is quite a few povs, six to be exact, and while that can make it hard to connect to characters it was done fairly well. They all were interesting and with such a clearly built world there isn't much to gripe about.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publishing house for the chance to review this arc. I can't wait to see where the story goes from here!

Yes!! Enemies to Lovers and Dark Academia! I love these tropes, and this book fulfills all of its promises. I like that there were six students this book followed. The ending!!! Omg.

Wow where to begin. A school after you ☠️, sounds like a new form of hell. We meet 6 students from Blackwood academy and we hear from each them in their own perspective and chapters.

It’s time for the annual deccenial where a student has to compete to win the title and prestige of being a defended.

But wait not is all that it seems. This story is filled with magic, trials, secrets, betrayal and fighting for your life in the after life. A great story can’t wait for book 2

I can't describe just how much I loved this book! I originally discovered it seeing one of I. V. Marie's posts on Instagram and was so intrigued seeing all the different tropes in it, while immediately being captivated by the plot. My expectations were definitely met while finally reading this book.
One thing that I really loved was the world building. A lot of times for fantasy books, I think it's easy to fall behind in terms of world building just because of how complex. Yet this book was so good at creating a new and unique world in the afterlife with a clear and easily comprehendible magic system. Additionally, the plot itself just felt like a breath of fresh air and kept me so captivated the entire time, especially the cliffhanger at the end.
I also really enjoyed having so many character points of views, and each of them were written incredibly well. The dynamics between each of the characters and their backstories made them each interesting and likable in their own unique ways. I think it's honestly such an amazing feat, to be able to write about so many characters and yet not take away from any of their values.
As someone obsessed with academic rivals to lovers, I couldn't help but be incredibly biased towards Wren and August. In all honesty, they were a large part of what sparked my initial interest in the book. I loved everything about their dynamic, from their playful and swoony bantering, to the tensions as they finally began to realize their feelings. Every time they interacted, I couldn't help but smile.
Overall, I would absolutely recommend this book to everyone!

I really enjoyed this book, one of my favorite tropes is a "a competition" and academy settings. I thought the plot was very unique for having common tropes and I loved the characters. Definitely recommend this book!

Fast past, exciting story about an afterlife academy in purgatory that will keep you on your toes. The story follows 8 of the main contestants in a competition to “ascend” from the purgatory afterlife. The book ends with a set up for the next. Thank you to the author and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this story.

Beautifully written with an exciting new take on dark academia. I found the concept of a school in the afterlife especially intriguing. The characters were well fleshed out and dynamic.

Enemies to lovers? Dark academia? Sign me up. Absolutely loved this one! All the characters were really well fleshed out and differentiated. The world building was well done. The ending had me SCREAMING lol. I need the next book to come out ASAP bc the cliffhanger has me in pieces.

4.5 ⭐️

What an amazing debut!

I really enjoyed this book! It was very easy to get into and the world was so unique and interesting. I loved all the different POVs and I loved the characters. The plot twists were fun and different and overall this was a very well done story. It didn’t feel at all like a debut. I genuinely cannot wait to see what the author has in store for the rest of the series! I would definitely recommend!