What in the world?
Okay I went into this book thinking that there was going to be some sort of supernatural element to it, A bunch of university students on the eve of graduation going into the second basement of a rare books library to perform an ancient Greek ritual to rid themselves of all fear, following in the steps of Demeter trying to find her daughter Kore who eventually became known as Persephone when she was taken by Hades.
This book goes through each of our students back stories and what brought them to be spending time at the library, be it working there to pay bills. hopes to have it become a career, using the books for their education, or getting wrapped up in the ritual because they happened to be friends with someone,
Was this a book about magical rituals and ancient gods? No. Was it a book about pretentious students who all take themselves way too seriously, drop acid and end up killing each other over the night? Yes. I was really disappointed that nothing came of the rituals and that the characters were all unlikable and kind of terrible humans. The twist at the end was just kind of dumb when you realise that the lives lost were for absolutely no reason. However, it did keep me engaged until the very last page where I let out a groan of annoyance that that was it and no one was redeemed and a whole lot of nothing seems to be the outcome. No lessons learned, no growth in our characters, no enlightenment. Just the same jerks who now have shared trauma.
I would like to thank Poisoned Pen Press for providing me with and Ebook ARC in exchange for my honest review. If you are interested in reading That Night in the Library and supporting my blog, please click here for a pre-order
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