The Library at Hellebore

Let me start of by thanking Tor and NetGalley for the e-ARC of this book. Now, for the record, I am not a huge horror and gore person but if anyone tells me that something is a mix of A Deadly Education and The Atlas Six, I am there. That being said I desperately would have loved to love this book, but the execution of it fell far flat for me. The narration is choppy and adolescent without the wit and sharpness needed to make it a cutting and compelling read. I think once the audiobook is released I would listen, as I think a lot could be done with a really great voice actor. In all, I found the characters flat and cartoonish and the language stilted. Even at the climax of the action, I was more just bored waiting to find out who survived than I was hooked on every twist and turn and terrible choice they had to make. Additionally, with the kidnap and forced to attend premise, it lacks the element of choice that makes books like The Atlas Six and A Deadly Education tick. The idea that these children are literally forced to kill each other after being kidnapped and traumatized takes away the moral complexities of picking between difficult choices which are what keep other similar books bringing us back for more.