Ok, wow. I didn’t expect to love this book as much as I did. I haven’t read any of this authors books before but I’m definitely changing that asap because this book was so freaking good!

The Library at Hellebore is a fast paced dark academia horror novel that will hook you from the very beginning. I don’t know what it says about me that I fell in love with these morally grey characters and was rooting for them, but that’s what happened. This story is gory and bleak and emotional. I loved it.

I just finished reading The Library at Hellebore by Cassandra Khaw. I received an eARC from NetGalley.

Alessa Li is part of a group of people who were were in the line of fire when magic came back into the world. The world governments, surprised by this development, and wholly unprepared, have set up a number of schools and spaces for people who are magically gifted. They need to keep the public safe after all. That is how Alessa ends up kidnapped and sent to Hellebore-- the baddest of the bad schools. Everyone at Hellebore is extremely magical, but in a could-end-the-world-without-breaking-a-sweat way. Upon graduation, there's one final thing-- the Hellebore faculty is going to eat the entire class. That's how Alessa finds herself locked in the Library, on the day of graduation, with a handful of her dangerous classmates, trying to survive.

I love Cassandra Khaw; I fell in love with The Salt Grows Heavy, and haven't looked back since, so naturally I jumped at the chance to read this. In the beginning, it seems like Khaw is playing with the "magical school" trope. But of course she's going to do it in a way more sinister way.

Alessa is a great MC-- she comes from a troubled upbringing, and brings her skepticism with her. She's wary, mistrustful, and cunning. Her power is so cool-- I won't spoil it here-- as are most of the powers that exist within the walls of Hellebore. (Hello Antichrist!). The timeline jumps back and forth between Alessa pre-Hellebore, and the current Library timeline, which helps kick the action off right from the start. This book needs no slow build, it starts horrific and then continues to get more and more horrific as it goes.

A really fun, dark, NA-ish take on the magical school trope.

If you've ever felt othered, on the outside, weird, different, or unwelcome, this book will resonate with you. A school of misfits, dangerous to the last, is being trained here at Hellebore to be "helpful" and "worthy" of returning to the 'normal' world. Strange classmates, stranger teachers, in a labyrinth building of weird, our motley crew of characters faces one impossible challenge after another. Alessa Li is a rarity at Hellebore, not chosen from a bed of desperate applicants, but kidnapped and forced into attendance. The classes are weird and often non-sensical, the people are mostly unlike anyone she's ever known, and the staff? The staff is hungry.

By the end of this book, I was broken. My heart hurt so much for those we lost, and my anger at the treatment of these people, and Alessa in particular, went from burning hot to apocalyptic. I can't give a more solid recommendation than if you're ready to lay all your emotions bare and have them played like a violin, this is it folks, this is where the pantheon of feeling lives and in some cases, dies. Absolutely 10/10 stars, perfection.

Every single book that I've read of Cassandra Khaw's has immediately become one of my favorite books of all time and The Library at Hellebore is no exception. Their horror is funny and tragic and gross in the most perfect way and utterly enthralling. I loved the way they played with time, teasing both the tragic beginnings of our main character at Hellebore and the gauntlet that the survivors ran through after graduation. It was interwoven perfectly and kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. I would read another ten books about the residents of Hellebore and their school tribulations. I absolutely ate this book.

This book feels like A Deadly Education meets Gideon the Ninth with a dash of The Magicians (the show), and I am HERE for it! It's going to be a beautiful physical book and I cannot wait to reread it during spooky season already!

Okay, wow, the voice - THE VOICE. I went into this book with such high expectations and it met at every turn.

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!

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.

'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⭐️

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!

I'm not quite sure how to feel about this book. It was interesting and strange and disgusting all in one. I know I never want any to be at hellebore. The characters were interesting and entertaining. I'm still kind of in awe of the book and really not sure what to say. If you like disturbing books this one is definitely for you.

I finished this one at work and genuinely had to take a lap because that twist??????? Cassandra Khaw your mind is magic (and also slightly terrifying, but mostly magic)
The dual back-and-forth timeline took me a little bit to get into but overall? Easy 5 stars. This has all the hallmarks of a Cass Khaw book: lots and lots of gore, lots of darkness, descriptions of organs and orifices and creatures both queasy and captivating, a sprinkling of existential questioning regarding monsters and what makes them so awful in the first place and of course, garnished with the most lyrical, poetic and powerful prose.
I already want to go back in and reread this so I can catch all the foreshadowing bits I missed the first time round.
Also I think I speak for all librarians when I say I too crave death and wish I could spit acid at unruly patrons

OMG over the moon to see this approval hit my inbox! i can’t wait to dig in- this sounds amazing and the cover is stunning 💫 i will be leaving my review on goodreads and retailers to come xx

5*

The Library at Hellebore was a dark and twisted tale, through the darker side of magic that sometimes we shy away from.

Seeing the humanity wrought into "monstrous" characters reminds us of what it is to be human and what it is we'll do to protect ourselves and out friends.

Cassandra Khaw has an expert way of handling dark topics with respect and unflinching honesty, and it really drives the narrative of her work.

This is one of the bear books I've read this year. I'm definitely going to recommend that my library purchase this title.

I was excited about the premise of a magical school graduation leasing to a bloodbath where the professors may or may not be human and are definitely trying to ear the students. And Cassandra Khaw's execution of this premise was stunning. Without giving anything away, the plot was top tier. The narration is wonderful and I like the use of sarcasm and wit. I think descriptions can make or break a horror book like this and I thought these descriptions were really interesting. There's one point where something (I won't say what) is described as melting like butter and it was such a creepy way to describe that. I had to put my tablet down for a minute.

I will be telling horror fans about this one!

For weeks I have been craving a read similar in gore and horror to Nightmare on Elm Street movies. Enter The Library at Hellebore. I enjoyed this book from the opening scene of blood and carnage. I am not a fan of Dark Academia, but this novel hit. Maybe its because there wasn't the usual teen bickering, or possibly because the characters had already gone through so much they knew who they were and didn't need the typical YA/DA character developement. Either way, I am here for whatever book Khaw creates. The blood, the gore, the vocabulary, the descriptions. You can hear the skin ripping, the body parts exploding.

The Library at Hellebore is a wild ride—imagine a twisted version of Hogwarts where the students are literal world-ending monsters, and graduation involves surviving a faculty feast (and not the celebratory kind). It's dark academia meets body horror, with prose that's both beautiful and brutal. If you're into stories that are gory, gripping, and gloriously weird, this one's for you.

My goodness gracious. Lovely, bloody, hellish, heartbreaking, vicious, cruel, gory yet beautiful.

The lyrical beauty of The Salt Grows Heavy but in dark academia. The characters, the gory visuals, the anger, the violence. I am so here for it. Look at this muthafukin sentence:

“So I rent him in half: lengthwise and real fucking slow, suspending him in the air so his guts sheeted down on me like a porridgy red rain.”

My gosh. Every sentence is transportive to a lovely bitter hellish place. The timeline is completely batshit and I was lost amid the glory, but that still is an amazing place to be.

This is why I read horror.

The gothic, sinister elements paired with intense emotional stakes made me devour this book in one sitting. I loved the dark themes and the unpredictability of the plot. It’s the kind of book that grips you with its atmosphere and keeps you hooked with its twists and turns. If you’re into dark, twisted academia with high stakes, this will not disappoint. It’s everything I love about the genre, taken to an even darker, more diabolical level. A must-read for anyone who loves their academic settings with a side of horror.

Welcome to Hellebore Technical Institute, where the faculty wants to eat you and your classmates might be the harbingers of the apocalypse. No pressure.
Cassandra Khaw delivers a brutal, eerie, and utterly chaotic ride.

🔪 What I loved:
✔ A twisted take on dark academia with body horror.
✔ A diverse, messy cast of apocalypse bringers
✔ The tension? Unrelenting. The atmosphere? Suffocating!

If you love dark academia but want more blood, terror, and monstrous professors, The Library at Hellebore is your next obsession.

Dark academia/horror that is somehow super funny and heart wrenching. This was my first book of Khaw's but I'm so excited to read more! There's an incredible twist and I want to go back to before I read it so I can reread it again for the first time.

Cassandra Khaw is a master of deeply dark stories and complex characters who often border on unlikeable. But for Khaw’s work, the unlikeable nature of the characters often serves the story at hand, with unapologetic awareness of themselves that keeps things interesting along the way. This book is deeply visceral and horrific, starting the story off immediately with a traumatizing death that sets the tone for the rest of the book and tells us this: no one is safe, and there’s nothing these students won’t do to survive.

But what’s really going on is the mystery that we’re ultimately unraveling and who—if any—will make it to the end of the story.

The Library at Hellebore is horrific ride that challenges the most powerful and gifted students with survival at a school that is very literally eat or be eaten.

I have to DNF this, but not because it's bad! It is, like all of Khaw's writing, freaking phenomenal - sharp, glittering, brutal.

...it's just too scary for me! I have been desperately trying to enjoy Khaw's horror since I fell in love with their sci fi All-Consuming World, but I think it's time to admit I'm just FAR too much of a wimp! Alas.

The set-up is fantastic, and the characters are all messed-up or unlikeable in interesting and entertaining ways - in just a few chapters, I fell HARD for our main character, who is ruthless and wary and full of sharp edges, and every other character was vivid and - just ALIVE. I was hungry for everyone's backstories, and fascinated by the huge plethora of magics Khaw has come up with here - we have a literal son of Satan, but also necromancers, family lines dedicated (or maybe owned?) by things calling themselves gods, spider-girls...magnifique!

And the horror is HORRIFYING - I doubt I'm the only one who's going to be kept awake late at night by the horrors Khaw has pyrographed into my brain. It's not just the graphic ick, although there's plenty of that (I specify *ick* rather than *gore*, because of course there is gore, but gore is not intrinsically nauseating or even disturbing (in fiction!) unless you're very sensitive to it. Ick is the stuff that makes you nauseated, that makes your skin crawl, that has you whispering 'no no no NO' to yourself as you brace yourself to turn the page. AND THERE IS SO MUCH OF IT HERE.) There's so much - in the backstories, the emotion, the situation - that claws at your heart. This is the kind of horror that makes you hide under a pillow and yell 'I REFUSE THE REALITY WHERE THIS EXISTS.' Because it's not just terrifying, it *hurts*. It's the tragedy and the broken hopefulness, the desperation to be loved, the desperation to LIVE when you're pretty certain no one is getting out alive.

I would love to know what happens, how this ends. But I think I would need a whole new level of therapy if I continued reading. (This is a compliment.)

KUDOS, KHAW. I wish I was badass enough to read your stuff!

I think that the teachers may have attempted to digest me because my brain is goo!
This is a two readings book if ever there was one. I immediately want to double back, armed with tabs and a book about old gods and mythology. The decadence of even the most horrific of scenes...
Cassandra Khaw's writing is perfection!