The Library at Hellebore - A Review
Thank you so much to Titan books for sending over this proof copy, I’m a little late to the party as the book was released in July but I have finally devoured this novel! I’ve been desperate to try a Cassandra Khaw book and when I read the description for The Library at Hellebore I just knew I had to read it.
Synopsis:
The Hellebore Technical Institute for the Gifted is the premier academy for the dangerously the Anti-Christs and Ragnaroks, the world-eaters and apocalypse-makers.
Hellebore promises redemption, acceptance, and a normal life after graduation. At least, that’s what Alessa Li is told when she’s kidnapped and forcibly enrolled.
But there’s more to Hellebore than meets the eye. On graduation day, the faculty go on a ravenous rampage, feasting on Alessa’s class. Only Alessa and a group of her classmates escape the carnage. Trapped in the school’s library, they must offer a human sacrifice every night, or else the faculty will break down the door and kill everyone.
Can they band together and survive, or will the faculty eat its fill?
My Thoughts:
Half dark academia and half cosmic horror, from the very first chapter this book does not hold back with the gore, it is incredibly in depth with all the graphic and gruesome descriptions of characters and scenes happening. I’m not one to be too shocked when it comes to body horror but this book definitely pushed my limits a little and I felt very grossed out at times which I both loved and hated.
I got about 80 pages in, which is about 30% into the book and I wasn’t convinced I was going to enjoy the book, as it’s only 272 pages and I felt the gore was trying to hide the lack of the plot but it did get better and in the end it was a wild ride of a read which blends dark academia and body horror into a great mix of psychological tension and physical gore and effectively uses a morally grey and unreliable narrator.
If you love the thrill of a dark book with the bloodiness of a slasher movie, this is the book for you.
