The Society for Soulless Girls by Laura Steven (audiobook)

Pages: 406 

Publisher: Electric Monkey 

Released: 7th of July 2022 

Ten years ago, four students lost their lives in the infamous North Tower murders at the elite Carvell College of Arts, forcing Carvell to close its doors.

Now Carvell is reopening, and fearless student Lottie is determined to find out what really happened. But when her roommate, Alice, stumbles upon a sinister soul-splitting ritual hidden in Carvell’s haunted library, the North Tower claims another victim.

Can Lottie uncover the truth before the North Tower strikes again? Can Alice reverse the ritual before her monstrous alter ego consumes her? And can they stop flirting for literally fifteen seconds in order to do this?

Exploring possession and ambition, lust and bloodlust, femininity and violence, The Society of Soulless Girls is perfect for fans of Ace of Spaces, The Secret History and The Inheritance Games.

Trigger Warnings: Animal Death, Blood consumption, abuse

What I Have to Say 

I really liked the atmosphere of the book, but the ending let it down. I wanted more from it. I wanted a solution to the mystery that was as clever and well worked as the premise, but it just felt too easy, they didn't even try that hard to find out who the killer was, it just dropped into their lap. 

Also, not everything was explained. There was a whole bit with the cat that they gave no explanation for at all. It was built up but then was just left completely unexplained. This frustrated me the most because I hate when they just leave stuff hanging in books, it felt like the author just forgot about it. 

The narrators were okay. The two different voices were good to distinguish between the two girls and they did a good job of making it creepy and disturbing, but one of them couldn't pronounce Jekyll and said it wrong several times. 

In all, this book is good if you want just a creepy read, but don't expect much from the ending. 

3 stars 

My thanks go to Netgalley and Electric Monkey for providing me with this copy for review. 

The Cloisters by Katy Hays

Pages: 320

Publisher: Transworld

Released: 19th of January 2023 

Ann Stilwell arrives in New York City, hoping to spend her summer working at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Instead, she is assigned to The Cloisters, a gothic museum and garden renowned for its medieval and Renaissance collections.

There she is drawn into a small circle of charismatic but enigmatic researchers, each with their own secrets and desires, including the museum's curator, Patrick Roland, who is convinced that the history of Tarot holds the key to unlocking contemporary fortune telling.

Relieved to have left her troubled past behind and eager for the approval of her new colleagues, Ann is only too happy to indulge some of Patrick's more outlandish theories. But when Ann discovers a mysterious, once-thought lost deck of 15th-century Italian tarot cards she suddenly finds herself at the centre of a dangerous game of power, toxic friendship and ambition.

And as the game being played within the Cloisters spirals out of control, Ann must decide whether she is truly able to defy the cards and shape her own future . . .

Bringing together the modern and the arcane, The Cloisters is a rich, thrillingly-told tale of obsession and the ruthless pursuit of power.

What I Have to Say 

I loved the history in this. It put the academia in dark academia. It just created the perfect blend of dark twisted happenings and the study of tarot. I don't know how much of the tarot history was legit, but it sounded good and was really interesting to read about. 

I wasn't quickly endeared to the character, but I wanted her to succeed, especially because her descriptions of Rachel were really gay for a book with a hetero sexual relationship. I was interested in their relationship as well as the relationship with Leo. There's something about toxic friendships that really pulls you in a gets you reading. 

All in all, it was the atmosphere that really sold this for me. I could really feel how it would be to work at the cloisters and the energy of the tarot. 

(4 stars) 

My thanks go to Transworld and Netgalley for providing me with this copy for review. 

Atlas Six by Olivie Blake

 

Pages: 470

Publisher: Tor Books 

Release: 1st March 2022

The Alexandrian Society is a secret society of magical academicians, the best in the world. Their members are caretakers of lost knowledge from the greatest civilizations of antiquity. And those who earn a place among their number will secure a life of wealth, power, and prestige beyond their wildest dreams. Each decade, the world’s six most uniquely talented magicians are selected for initiation – and here are the chosen few...

- Libby Rhodes and Nicolás Ferrer de Varona: inseparable enemies, cosmologists who can control matter with their minds.

- Reina Mori: a naturalist who can speak the language of life itself.

- Parisa Kamali: a mind reader whose powers of seduction are unmatched.

- Tristan Caine: the son of a crime kingpin who can see the secrets of the universe.

- Callum Nova: an insanely rich pretty boy who could bring about the end of the world. He need only ask.

When the candidates are recruited by the mysterious Atlas Blakely, they are told they must spend one year together to qualify for initiation. During this time, they will be permitted access to the Society’s archives and judged on their contributions to arcane areas of knowledge. Five, they are told, will be initiated. One will be eliminated. If they can prove themselves to be the best, they will survive. Most of them.

What I Have to Say 

This book fascinated me. I really enjoyed reading it.

 First of all a little warning, this is not an easy read. The writing is dense and there is a lot of very science-like talk about magic. The magic system is elaborate and the writer has gone deep into the way it works. Don't pick this up if you mind a slow read. I could only manage it in small sections, because it tired me more than some books do. I happened to like the slowness and the sciencey stuff so it worked for me but different people have different tastes. 

Secondly the characters are all immensely dislikeable.  This was something I loved about the book. It was so interesting how the writer could write such horrible characters and still get you to like them and feel empathy for them. One of my favourites was Parisa who was one of the worst. She was callous and manipulative and I ate up every moment of it. 

The ending was the only thing that let me down a bit. And it was a big let down. The big reveal was told rather than shown and it felt really distant from the action. I was really disappointed because it would have been a really good reveal if it had been done better.  

That said, it really set up some interesting stuff for the next book so I'm excited to see what comes next. 

(3.5 stars) 

My thanks go to Netgalley and Tor books for providing me with this copy for review.