Anyone looking for a claustrophobic and unsettling story will find the perfect match with Into The Sublime, a self-aware YA thriller whose characters directly reference The Descent and As Above, So Below. With an unreliable narrator and slow nightmarish downward spiral into questioning reality that is reminiscent of The Luminous Dead, Kate A. Boorman cleverly creates an ominous, disorienting atmosphere that creeps the audience out by making our minds run wild with speculation about what dangers await the main characters.

The author takes her time showing the group dynamics unfold as Amelie and her companions navigate mundane setbacks and conflict before gradually introducing bigger threats and hints of possible supernatural occurrences. This isn’t the book for someone who wants a concrete monster revealed by the end of the first act, it’s for readers who delight in a story where the author delicately walks the line of portraying increasingly baffling and undeniably freaky phenomena taking place while still maintaining plausible deniability that nothing supernatural is going on. Personally I adore the tension and thrill when something afflicts the protagonists without being explicitly magical or paranormal, it’s always much more satisfying to me when that uncertainty is drawn out and we’re actively engaged in unravelling what on earth is going on along with the heroine.

Into The Sublime will appeal to fans of slow-burn psychological horror as a significant portion of the book involves teasing apart the clues dropped by Amelie about a tragic incident that involved her cousin which is the motivation for undertaking this search for a hidden lake out of local folklore about a one-eyed witch. The deeper the girls go into the cave system, the more it preys on their mental state and the more unreliable Amelie’s narration becomes. We only see H, Gia and Devon through her eyes, making them as innocent or sinister as she perceives them to be, and we’re led to entertain suspicions of one after another in turn based on the circumstances.

I always enjoy when social media impacts on the storyline in some way because in our modern society, technology is inescapable and affects our connections to fellow human beings on a daily basis, so it was a neat touch that the girls were strangers that connected through chance via Dissent, a group for thrill-seekers who completed dangerous challenges. Because the girls weren’t familiar with each other before this expedition to the wilds of Colorado, it was more plausible for Amelie to suspect that one of them could be deliberately toying with the group in a way that wouldn’t have made sense if they had all been friends from school.

The story jumps between a few timelines—while the majority of the book takes place in the first-person from Amelie’s perspective three months ago as the girls embark on their search for the witch’s cave, it opens with the surfacing of a body and Amelie’s subsequent email about it to a mysterious character, then at periodic intervals, her narrative is halted by a police officer who is questioning her directly after she’s discovered soaked in blood once she’s escaped the cave. The opening is deliberately ambiguous and sets up questions that are addressed (though not necessarily answered) by the end of the book, and while it may be jarring to some readers to be dragged from the depths of the cave out back to the normal world at random points, it’s a fun and effective framing device that makes it clear how guilty and unhinged Amelie looks to third parties. It adds an element of dread that takes the relief out of knowing that she survives whatever threats the group faces in the cave because what has she emerged to face in the real world, is she escaping the witch or a psychotic teammate or monsters only to be put in prison for murder? And just whose blood is she covered in anyway?

A well-written, spookily entertaining variation on the ‘trapped in a remote location’ horror trope with a unique creepy local legend and enough thrills and chills to keep readers on their toes. Its open ending that smartly ties off some loose ends while leaving others up to the imagination ensures this will linger in your mind for a while to come.

Well the cover was great. After that....this book was a whole big miss. I was tempted to give it 2 stars because at least I finished it, but honestly I struggled. I almost DNFed this book multiple times. Nothing makes sense in the end and none of the characters were developed at all. And then the ending, whatever to that. 

"Into the Sublime" follows Amelie Desmarais who is off to explore an underground cave/lake system in Colorado with 3 other girls she does not know. All of them follow an account called "The Dissent" that is about an "elite gathering of thrill seeker" doing border-line illegal challenges to "create chaos and control reality."

Even though we follow Amelie who tries to argue that it's not like truth or date, I went...um it is.

The three other girls are H, Gia, and Devon. When the girls eventually find the entrance (after following some directions) things change quickly. They lose and find each other, some of them see different things, and they all are searching for what they think the Sublime can tell them about themselves. The book jumps back and forth between Amelie's narrative to her telling the story to a deputy named Vargas. 

So let's start off with the characters. It's pretty obvious that Amelie is hiding some stuff and it's a long winding (boring) road to get there. 

H and Gia just felt paper thin to me.

Devon was the one we're supposed to focus the most on next to Amelie and I just went what in the world through most of the book and especially at the ending.

I got real tired of reading the words "the dissent", "the sublime", etc. Having a bunch of teens follow an anonymous figure that tells them what things to do just made me go, cool so we got Q for kids now?

The writing was not very good. I think the issue was that the narrative jumps back and forth between Vargas and Amelie telling the story. And it dragged. Either let Amelie tell the story and have Vargas come in at the end that would work. But having Vargas break in throughout and you get left additional information that in the end did not matter made me sigh. 

The flow as I said was bad, this book drags. I can see now why it had some DNFs. 

The setting of "The Sublime" should have freaked me out more. I do not like small spaces. Heck, I need drugs to sit through a MRI. But this didn't hit me at all. It didn't feel small. Frankly it felt super big and just had a few things here and there that supposedly were "dangerous." I think that having the book getting into the girls arguing, getting into what the sublime reveals about them (it's boring, whatever) you just forget that they are lost underground.

The ending was just a so I read this book for what now? Eh. It just didn't hit right. Great cover though.

This was a spooky and incredibly claustrophobic read, but in a way that was very edge of your seat. This is a story about four teenage girls who are thrill seekers of sorts. They all go down into this cave system that locals call “The Sublime” and only three come out…

Between Amelie recounting her memory of the events through the caves to police and the piece by piece we get of the girls’ time inside, this is a disjointed and jumpy story that felt creepy and at times, untrustworthy.

They all had their reasons for going on this trip and they all reveal secrets of their own in time, creating a gripping story that continues to lurk around corners and just out of sight of the reader.

This was fun but odd. I am definitely going to check out more from this author.

I absolutely love this cover ! It reminds me of a goosebumps book that has similar cover. This is advertised as a horror/thriller but I feel like it leans more towards the thriller genre. It's told in 2 pov's between past and present. The mc was sort of an unreliable narrator and made me question everything that happened. It was honestly a real page turner & I had a hard time putting this down. The atmosphere portrayed was my favorite thing about this book. It was soo spooky I loved it. The only thing I didn't like was that the ending fell a little flat for me but other than that I did enjoy the book overall. I think this would make a great movie. I would love to get my hands on a physical copy to add to my collection. Overall I give this 4 stars.

I'll be posting this review on Instagram on publication day at : www.instagram.com/chibichapters/

The description and cover are what reeled me in. I’m always down for some horror, and this book did not disappoint.
It reminded me of the movie The Descent (which I love!); finding a cave that not many people know about, keeping secrets from each other that really impact everything, things going from bad to worse as they descend…but it didn’t follow The Descent so closely that I knew what would happen.
I thought the author did a great job of balancing Amelie’s story to the cops in the present with the “actual” events in the caves; it was good to see the cop’s perspective as Amelie is telling this story. I also enjoyed that we as readers don’t get all the answers; it’s not cut and dry and I think it was really well-done, when it could have been frustrating.
This was quick-paced, spooky, and a great read in the middle of summer when it’s 100 degrees outside.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

"Into the Sublime" is like a YA, magical realism (sort of) version of the sci-fi horror The Luminous Dead AND I AM HERE FOR IT.

This super strange novel follows a group of four girls who go looking for the Sublime, an underground lake in Colorado that's the focus of local legend. Specifically, it's believed that, back in the day, a witch would show girls the way to the lake if they asked and the lake would change them in some way they wanted to be changed - if they could face their fears and get there. The witch ends up getting trapped in the cave but villagers with pitchforks, and a legend is born.

I'd honestly recommend going into this book as blind as possible, but here are a couple of vague thoughts to help you decide if this book is for you.

- While I was totally satisfied with the ending, this is not a book where you walk away with a thorough understanding of precisely what happened. The abject fear the characters are experiencing gives multiple events a dream-like haze, and there are inconsistencies between the account of what happened between some girls and between facts. I actually liked this, feeling it added a sense of realism to the characters and put you more in their shoes, but I know others might feel differently.
- This book isn't fantasy or sci-fi. There are things that occur that aren't really explained by the common understanding of reality, hence the above reference to magical realism, but this story doesn't fit into either genre.
- There was a subplot with the main character that I thought was given a bit too much page time, but this is a mild complaint and more personal preference than anything.
- There are multiple timelines as well as a framing device used in this story, that can be a bit confusing to keep track of. This is clearly intentional on the author's part and actually really adds to the ambiance of the story. I did end up flipping back to the beginning before reading the very last bit, but this was just me being effing excited about this story, not feeling lost.

So why not a 5-star? These are very minor complaints, but I thought a disproportionate amount of time was given to the main character and I would've liked to learn more about the others. That said, the main character is the one recounting the events that occurred, so it's understandable that the events would focus on her. This is also a YA psychological thriller and I'd say it's at the top of its genre. However, I would've loved it if this horror was written for an adult audience, though keeping the characters at their current age because that part was just perfect. I think the author could've leaned into some of her ideas more if this was geared towards a more mature audience, but this is likely a bias based on my reading preferences as well.

Regardless of any of the above info - can we all agree that this cover is creepy AF?

I love psychological thrillers! This was a quick read. I didn’t want to put it down. I highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys a good thriller. Here is part of the description below. Trust me. You want to read this.

When the cops arrive, only a few things are clear:
- Four girls entered a dangerous cave.
- Three of them came out alive.
- Two of them were rushed to the hospital.
- And one is soaked in blood and ready to talk.

I could not get into this book. Mystery books are not my favorite. I'm sure that others will like this book, though.

"A new YA psychological thriller from the author of What We Buried about four teenage girls who descend into a dangerous underground cave system in search of a lake of local legend, said to reveal your deepest fears.

When the cops arrive, only a few things are clear:
- Four girls entered a dangerous cave.
- Three of them came out alive.
- Two of them were rushed to the hospital.
- And one is soaked in blood and ready to talk.

Amelie Desmarais' story begins believably enough: Four girls from a now-defunct thrill-seeking group planned an epic adventure to find a lake that Colorado locals call "The Sublime." Legend has it that the lake has the power to change things for those who risk - and survive - its cavernous depths. They each had their reasons for going. For Amelie, it was a promise kept to her beloved cousin, who recently suffered a tragic accident during one of the group's dares.

But as her account unwinds, and the girls' personalities and motives are drawn, things get complicated. Amelie is hardly the thrill-seeking type, and it appears she's not the only one with the ability to deceive. Worse yet, Amelie is covered in someone's blood, but whose exactly? And where's the fourth girl?

Is Amelie spinning a tale to cover her guilt? Or was something inexplicable waiting for the girls down there? Amelie's the only one with answers, and she's insisting on an explanation that is more horror-fantasy than reality. Maybe the truth lies somewhere in between?

After all, strange things inhabit dark places. And sometimes we bring the dark with us."

Personally, I would have been out at the underground cave system, which I why I love to read about spooky things I would never ever do.

When four girls go looking for a mysterious cave, they find something that makes everything fall apart in the story. Let me explain...

Characters: H and Gia both only had 1 thing about them, and it was superficial. H loved horror movies but her whole thing was just wanting to have the horror movie experience. Gia was the super prepared Scout like character. There wasn't much depth to their characters. Devon disappears at one point, and I honestly would've liked Devon to have gone full villain. Amelie becomes distrustful of Devon, but other than some implications at the end, that really didn't add much to the story. Everyone's character kind of falls apart when they find the lake.

Atmosphere: This is where the book shines the most. The cave that they're exploring gives off a claustrophic vibe to it, and it's the perfect place for a horror novel.

Writing: The fact that this was set up as Amelie telling the story to the police officer makes me have doubt about what happened. It's sort of an unreliable narrator. I think that if the author leaned into that more, that could've been more interesting.

Plot: Again the plot falls apart at the lake. For a majority of the novel, they are trying to find this lake. Then they get to the lake, and Amelie becomes distrustful of Devon. Once they leave the lake area, the paranormal stuff just stops happening, and I wish that hadn't happened because there's still a sense of the paranormal by the end of the novel with the final chapter.

Intrigue: I was intrigued by how the paranormal aspects were going to play out. Then they left the lake, and there wasn't much intrigue past that point.

Logic: I felt like the book was following its own logic up until the lake scene. Then things were confusing and didn't make a ton of sense. Then they were trying to get out of this cave. The ending left me with more questions than answers.

Enjoyment: Just felt kind of meh. This could've been more interesting and could've leaned more into the horror aspects. Ended up giving this 3 stars.

Thoughts

This book comes with a solid premise, and it is decently executed. It's just not perfect. It's certainly a fun addition to the genre. It's very self-aware and pokes and prods at the conventions it employs. It just isn't scary (which is a problem in a horror thriller like this), and that's just too bad.

Pros
Strong Opening: Is there any better way to start of a thriller than with a body? A washed-up body sets expectations--high expectations--which is especially important in a story like this, a story that does not necessarily need to end with a body. There are many ways this story could unravel, and so having the body front and center sets up a sense of unease and distrust--and, of course, readerly anticipation.

Journalistic Style: This book flips between perspectives and angles, switching from the first-person account that Amelie gives and the more detached, journalistic third-person of the investigators on the scene in the aftermath. That cold, formal style is a good choice for the most part. It helps to frame a very subjective narrative in something tangible, concrete, and real. Amelie's story might otherwise be over-the-top and melodramatic, but having that grounding in firm, solid reality sets her high-key story in a brand new light.

Philosophic Horror: This book is rife with name-drops. One of the four girls on this treacherous descent is a horror buff, and she's not afraid to pull out references and point out all the little things they're doing wrong--if, of course, this were like a horror film. But it's not just the philosophy of horror cinema that makes its way into these pages. Real philosophy does as well--as the "sublime" title might point toward. Having this bit of philosophy undergirding the story laces the book with a sense of nihilistic dread which only goes to heighten the overall horror. This book is very self-aware, and I appreciate that.


Cons
Horror Trailer: Are you looking for something unique? Some wholly original, spine-chilling horror? That's not what you're going to get here. This book feels, on some levels, lie a horror film trailer--ultra spooky but not ultimately more than that. It's like a tease--all the elements to entice you in but nothing new in the end. Kate A. Boorman's storytelling is great; don't get me wrong. But if new is what you're into, this isn't it.

Slow Progression: Like the cops who get frustrated with Amelie's slow story, readers might feel similarly. Amelie really does string out this story to "tell it from the beginning." It unfolds so, so slowly--maybe too slowly for some readers. Certainly, parts of the spooky tale were diminished in tension due to the narrative length alone.

Not Scary: Slow progression plus low plot momentum gets rid of a lot of the spook factor here. It just doesn't feel scary. The storytelling is great--the atmosphere, the characters--but if you're looking for some spooky horror or psychological dread? Well, I just wasn't feeling it here, and you probably won't, either. Which is disappointing in the end.


Rating
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
7/10

Anyone looking for a weekend-trip-gone-wrong story after Kara Thomas's That Weekend will appreciate this new group of teenage hikers. Those who like a self-aware read like Victoria Lee's A Lesson in Vengeance will appreciate the name-drops and genre conventions of this new psycho thriller.

Into the Sublime is perfect for fans of The Descent. The story is a YA psychological thriller about four girls who descend into an underground cave system in the search of a lake of local legend said to reveal your deepest fears. When four teenage girls go missing in a cave for five days for only three to come out, while one is covered in blood, and only the blood-covered girl is willing to talk, you know you're in for a a mysterious, creepy read. It's hard to know if you can trust the narrator or not even as she tells a tale that could be supernatural or not. Is she changing things to deal with her guilt or is it what really happened? If you enjoy YA horror, this is an excellent book to check out.

Thank you NetGalley and TBR and Beyond Tours for the chance to read and review this book!

I will be posting my review on the 30th of July.

Four girls enter a cave, only three of them emerge five days later. This premise isn’t super original but it can be the foundation for a really good and thrilling horror book. In my opinion Into the Sublime struggled at some points to really bring out its potential.

First off, I didn’t connect with the characters. Over the past years I learned that I really have to connect with the characters to feel the story and in this book the characters didn’t do it for me. Amelie was whiny and unreliable, we only see the other three through her eyes and I don’t think Amelie is capable or truly liking somebody beside herself, so I as a reader didn’t get the chance to see their real character traits.

The story itself was creepy and suspenseful at times, especially the longer they stayed in the cavern and the air got thinner. I really could feel the dread that was going through them. The supernatural aspect didn’t intrigue me as much and I had the feeling the author didn’t really know if they wanted to lean into the supernatural or if they wanted it to be more in the characters mind, it felt inconsistent.

Overall I don’t regret picking this book up. I had fun with it and will definitely give the author a new chance with a different book.

Man, so freaking scary. I'm not a fan of tight spaces. Add the dark and some creepy sounds and I'm ready to have a heart attack. This gives you major The Descent vibes (as mentioned in the book) and I haven't seen As Above, So Below but I'll make it a priority. The characters are well developed and you can see this horrible, scary cave and lake. You can hear the scratching, smell the blood. And I like the ending, nothing too clean but some closure. Well done Boorman.

Four young women are on a journey to find an underground lake known as The Sublime in a cave system located in the White River National Park in Colorado. They know each other because they all take part in an online group known as Dissent. Dissent is a group of thrill seekers who participate on some unusual and sometimes very unsafe challenges. The girls have not told anyone of their plans and go into the caves ill prepared to take on the dangers of spelunking. Of course things go awry when the girls are in the caves. Our main character is Amelie Desmarais and she is our extremely unreliable narrator who is telling the story of what happened in the caves to the police. The story she tells is like a combination of the horror movies The Dissent and The Blair Witch Project. The atmosphere is very creepy and if you have fears of the dark and tight spaces, then this book is an excellent choice if you want to be scared. I didn’t find the book very scary (but I am a long time horror aficionado), but I did like the legend behind the lake. Overall I really enjoyed the book and it was a fast easy creepy read.

Into The Sublime by Kate A. Boorman is a YA horror novel that should be enjoyable for most fans of horror in general.

When the cops arrive, only a few things are clear:
- Four girls entered a dangerous cave.
- Three of them came out alive.
- Two of them were rushed to the hospital.
- And one is soaked in blood and ready to talk.

Certain aspects of this story worked well for me and others sort of missed the mark. The writing style and Characters all clicked with me and I found each of the characters Amelie Gia, Devon, and H to be relatable characters and rang true but they seemed a little shallow as well.
As others have noted this had a very Decent/Blair Witch vibe--and one of the characters even notes this in a sort of meta moment that made me sigh.
Another thing that I found was that I kept forgetting the characters were underground--I'm not sure why-- but the environment never seemed that oppressive or claustrophobic to me.
Thanks to #NetGalley, #MacmillanPublishing, and the author for the ARC of #IntotheSublime.

This book was a mixture between the <i>Blair Witch Project</i> and <i>The Descent</i> but executed in a way that fell flat on it's face. I kept waiting for something actually exciting to happen because the story has so much potential to be a horror story success, but I was mostly just bored. The character's backstories were confusing and lacked heart that made me not really care whether or not they survived their trip. The pacing was really jumpy and kept floating in between this past/present/nightmare narrative that was exhausting to follow and made me really want to DNF, but I pushed through hoping the story would get better.

I always fall for books with this plot. This was very Decent/47 Meters Down (the 2nd not the 1st). This story follows four girls who enter a cave without telling anyone around them after finding instructions regarding the lake on the dark web (sounds like a great, safe idea). Once they are inside, their own horrors start to bleed out and they slowly start to turn on each other. No story like this would be complete without untold secrets that conveniently come out during the worst experience of their lives. However, they find themselves in serious trouble when only three exit the cave.

I would have really liked a little bit more character building from the girls. But, I would still absolutely recommend this book to people who enjoy creepy YA books. Specially thanks to Net Galley for the opportunity to read this in return for an honest review.

Four girls enter into a cave... only three come out. Two of them are injured and rushed to the hospital and the remaining one is soaked in blood and ready to talk. The story follows Amelie Desmarais, a girl who’s been sick all her life but has somehow found a hobby in a now-defunct thrill-seeking group, she use to go with her cousin and best friend until a terrible accident that has injured her cousin Sasha. Now Amelie is ready to go on the trip that Sasha so badly wanted to go on, a trip into a dangerous cave to find a lake that the Colorado locals call “The Sublime” that is filled with lore... and believed will change you after you face your greatest fear. Along for the journey is Devon, Gia, and H. All four girls have their own reason for going on this trip but the moment they go into the cave things begin to get complicated. The story is told between present day ( with Amelie being interviewed by the cops) and past with her recounting the journey. The cave is dangerous... but there might be something in there with them, hunting them down, and the only way out is through, but as they begin to lose each other, and secrets spill out, who knows what will happen next as they are forced to face the darkness. Amelie has her own dark secrets and the story reveals her part in her cousin’s accident as well as what truly lead to the four girls going to the cave. The story had a nice “The Descent” movie kind of vibe to it but lacked the actual scare and good execution that the movie had. The story does have a lot of atmospheric parts, but the characters were hard to get attached to and the plot just wasn’t as interesting as I would have hoped. The overall ending was okay, I guess I was just expecting something a little more from a book with such an interesting premise and beautiful horror cover. Overall, it’s a good read if you like a little bit of horror so definitely give it a try, even if it was lacking for me it might be for you ( I’m a hardcore horror lover so I might have judged it a little harder than I normally would have).

*Thanks Netgalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group, Henry Holt and Co. (BYR) for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*