Unhallowed Halls / Lili Wilkinson / Book Review

UNHALLOWED HALLS

Page Whittaker doesn't need friends. That's what she's decided, now that she's on her way to Agathion College. Only the best, the brightest get a full scholarship to such an elite boarding school. And heading to Agathion is exactly the fresh start she needs.

Agathion is everything Page wanted... kind of. The Scottish moors, the misty hills, the mystical standing stones: all of these things live up to (or, maybe, surpass) her expectations. And the rigorous intellectual debate is exactly what she dreamed, though it is a little light on literature (and heavy on ancient Greek texts). So what if the other kids are keeping her at a distance? That's what she asked for.

But something at Agathion doesn't add up. And as Page gets drawn into a friend group against her wishes, she starts to find more and more pieces that just don't fit. Something is happening here at Agathion, something dark. Sinister. And if she isn't careful, Page Whittaker might just find herself at the center of it all.

THOUGHTS

This book started so strong and then lost all that energy. I'm usually all for magic seeping into a story, so you know something's gone amiss when magic makes the book really take a sharp nosedive. But that's the case here. Or at least, that was my experience.

PROS

Mystical, Magical	Lili Wilkinson definitely nailed the vibe of these opening chapters, right from the start. The foggy highlands, the remote school built around a ring of standing stones, and the creepy feeling that there's something supernatural happening here: wonderful. Plus the casual relationship this book has to queerness is really nice. These characters can just exist, however they want, as whatever gender and with whatever magic they desire.
Serious Subject	In a book like this--a dark academia magic school book--I find either one or the other aspect is done well. Magic or academia: that's the choice. But this book doesn't make compromises. Though I've said the book takes a nosedive after the magic comes into the picture, that isn't the fault of the magic (the faults will be listed below). No, Lili Wilkinson takes both the academic portion and the magic portion seriously in this book, complete with requisite obscure academic references and dark and twisted magical interventions. I appreciate how well these two sides of the plot are married, at least in aesthetics.
High-Stakes Shenanigans	I do like a book that has high stakes, and the stakes here, well, they're pretty high. Like, world-ending high stakes. It adds a really nice sense of consequence to this magic school on the foggy moor.

CONS

The pacing in this book is... weird. The setup is really nice. It builds the setting, the main character, the sense of foreboding and suspense. And then... not much happens. It takes a while to get anywhere, and when we do get somewhere, things move so quickly that all sense of character development is just left in the dust. There was a lot of potential here, but it really wasn't that well executed. The transitions, the critical bits of character and plot development that would have made this book great, just didn't happen.	Pacing Problems
Hey, I get it. Not everybody's into ruthless characters. But I did find myself wondering if Wilkinson got some beta reader or editor feedback voicing some concern about these characters and the choices they were making. Because the plan as it was written in the near-final edition I read just didn't make sense. I'm going to tiptoe around this criticism for the sake of avoiding spoilers, but there's absolutely no way these kids weren't planning on killing people in the first draft. And they would, quite honestly, be justified in doing so. So the weird moralizing that happens in this draft feels... out of place. It doesn't make sense, because what do you mean they're undecided on what to do? You've already started on this path, and there is no other conclusion to the plan you've set in place. Also the weird wishy-washy way they don't trust each other didn't really make sense. There's basically a lot of back and forth that happens that doesn't serve the characters or the plot. It just makes everything... confusing. Like the author (or her initial readers) couldn't commit to the original vision of the plot.	Ethical Conundrums
I love a good magic twist, and this book was set up for that twist so well. But... it didn't work. It didn't work, because the main character, who is otherwise so skeptical, just kind of shrugged and said, Okay, there's magic now. Which was so out of character. So beyond what this plot was set up for. So disappointing. Everything, character-wise, happened too quickly, and her backstory (which may have set her up for this revelation) was revealed so poorly that it didn't work. And that's disappointing. Because magic should only make a plot better, not lessen the impact. Alas.	Magic Makes It... Weirder

Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐
4/10

Those who loved Danielle Paige & Kass Morgan's The Ravens will like this new school and its secret society life. Those who enjoyed Pascale Lacelle's Curious Tides will like the high stakes of this dark magic world.

Details Publisher: Delacorte Press Date: February 18, 2025 Series: N/A Add to Goodreads Buy it HERE

Note: I was provided with an ARC by the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions here are my own.