Harry Potter meets sad-girl lit as this taps into an adult’s innermost (but childlike) desire that they matter and are secretly powerful and unique. The FMC was especially likeable, so I found myself rooting for Lennon’s fight to maintain her moral compass in this gray environment. To complicate matters, everyone is unusually attractive, including her faculty advisor (Dante)–who may have a soft spot for her. This was such an intense and interesting, but odd, dark academia book. The weirdness and dreariness of Drayton’s campus reminded me a lot of Immortal Dark and Where Sleeping Girls Lie. Slow start but my awe of the well-crafted layers of mystery reveals secured this book a place as one of my best reads this year.