Something was missing from this book for me, and I still can't quite put my finger on what it was. The novel covers Ines' whole time at Catherine House, which is 3 years. And that's a lot of  time to fit into a single ~350 page book. Part of my trouble with this may have been the time period. I think focusing on about 1 year at CH would have allowed a deeper connection with the week-to-week experiences of the characters. But I also understand that Ines' journey of finding out what was goin' on at this place would make sense to take several years. I didn't love that we don't

ever get the full backstory of Ines' life before CH

. I guess feeling like Ines kind of didn't care about anyone or anything made me not deeply care about folks either. I think the creepy "What the hell is going on??" feeling is hard to achieve because an author has to give a little and withhold a little. And I think there was too much withholding. I'm still not sure I get the whole plasm deal. So, for me, the end

was really unsatisfying. I am fine with an ambiguous ending, but when the whole book has felt ambiguous, it just feels like more of the same.

I would try this author again, but this one wasn't quite what I was looking for. Like why was Ines there? How did she get away with so much?

This book is very tense and mysterious. If you are looking for a dark academia book this is a fantastic choice. The book follows a young student throughout her time at the school Catherine. The students are forced to give up everything to go to the school and study for three years and during their time they have some very interesting situations happen. This book has many twist and turns. if you want a book with a concrete ending and don’t want to think while reading this book may not be for you but it is great.

I did have many questions and thoughts after reading the ending. For one did Theo really turn on her and did her real friends know that he did. I think he turned on her and used her starting when he got rid of his music. Also at the end it makes a clear point that the footsteps did not have a limp and glo did. Do you think she got out? I’d like to think it was Yaya welcoming her friend and meeting her at the spot glow and her mentioned but that may be too hopeful. Third do you think the Victoria was brainwashed by m. Neptune and that is why she acts the way she does. Is he the real evil on or do you think she had Inez going in for testing planed the whole time and that’s why she was even accepted. So many questions I just wanna talk about it ahhhh so good <\spoiler>