As a fan of the dark academia genre, I knew I needed to read the book that supposedly started it all. Well, I finally did. I really waffled between 1 and 2 stars...mostly because some (and I mean, some) of the writing is pretty good...but since I essentially hated this book enough to finish it, I went with 2 stars. However, I'm unbelievably disturbed by the fact that this book is so beloved. There is absolutely nothing redeemable about any of the characters in this story. NOTHING. They are (mostly) rich, pretentious, entitled snobs who seem to spend their time thinking only of themselves, doing crime, and getting drunk. I love a book with flawed characters, but this group of sociopaths weren't even entertaining or interesting. There wasn't a single hint of character development through the nearly 600 pages of nothing. You might say that's the point, but I just say it's lazy writing.

Oh, and don't get me started on the racism (N slur), homophobia (F slur), and ableism (R slur), none of which served the story in any way whatsoever. And incest. What was the point? This was randomly thrown in toward the end of the book, in the 200 pages where NOTHING HAPPENED. When authors do these things, it's the last time I will read their work, because while it says nothing about the story I read, it says everything I need to know about the author.

I used to sheepishly say I hadn't read this book yet, which shocked everyone. Now I can say I have and that it was a giant pile of steaming you know what.