Though the dip in the middle nearly lost me, All That Consumes Us turned out pretty alright for me. I enjoyed the concept and the very diverse cast as well as the commentary about ambition and generational terror handed down, and after clearing the hurdle of the slower start, I was intrigued by the exclusive society Tara gets invited to on the heels of finding one of her classmates dead. Magni Viri boasts Corbin College's best and brightest, but as she becomes more embroiled in their secrets and haunting history, she realizes she may be in far over her head.

I think there was a good atmosphere here, but it turned out a bit too tell instead of show. Especially the found family aspect, which didn't hit as hard with many of the characters & Tara's relationship with them feeling either undeveloped or too quickly developed in the case of her love interest. This story has a haunting set of bones, but its construction doesn't seem to stick the landing. Everything was overly explained in a way that robbed a lot of the mystery and allure a bit too early.

I think this may have to do with it not having many of the elements that make other dark academia novels among my favorites - I love Tara being an outsider to their world in the socio-economic sense, and with so many students at this elite college who have a wide variety of studies to focus on, I was hoping for a bit more pretentiousness and infodumping. And after the reveal of why the plot takes the turn it does, I was instantly way more interested in learning about the queer yearning and necromantic obsession that caused a trail of ambition and death for generations of students than sticking with Tara's plot line. Honestly, if Erica Waters wanted to revisit this story as an adult prequel, I'd be first in line to preorder.

If you're looking for an atmospheric fall read with a little bit of spooky vibes, I would still recommend this for an easy read!

I picked up this book for the dark academia premise, and then I was up at all hours of the night to finish it. I genuinely did not see the twist coming, I was convinced that something else was going on. I loved the characters and the ghosts.

For the first half or so, I was afraid the story would be a little too simplistic for me, but the second half really made up for it. This ended up being a really accessible YA dark academia, that I think will be great if you're new to the genre, but will still be interesting enough for people who've read a lot of dark academia.

This book was so atmospheric and creepy! This is the perfect read coming up on spooky season! Perfect if you're interested in secret societies.

When I got approved for the arc I got so excited to read it. Sadly it took me a long time to pick this up and I regret that a lot because this was such a good read!

It took me a little while to get into the story because it starts of very slow but once I started to get a feel of it and realized where it was going I was immediately hooked and could not put it down. I loved the writing and the atmosphere so much. My only regret is that I read this in the middle of summer, I will definitely get a physical copy and do a reread in the fall, it fits the vibes much better.

The main thing I would say that stopped this from being a 5 star read for me though was that it focused more on the plot than the characters. The side characters especially felt a little underdeveloped for me sometimes, we didn’t really get to know about them a lot. I also felt like we didn’t get the know a lot about the main character, which especially at the beginning made it hard to care. But as the story went on I did really start to love the friend group and the main character grew on me a lot. I really loved the romance as well, even though it was such a small part of the book.

Overall if this is a story you think you would enjoy I highly recommend it! This one did not disappoint at all!

This book definitely kept me guessing right away. A fast paced, dark academia novel: I loved the gothic and spooky atmospheric vibes of the story. This will be a great read for the fall season.

We love a dark academia novel , especially one that has lots of intrigue and deception. I felt like this was a bit of a YA version of Ninth House--or at least in inspiration of that. It was great!

All that consumes college student Tara is two jobs, endless classwork, and the desire to become an amazing writer, alongside those who've been accepted into Magni Viri, an elite academic society on-campus that brings success to all of its members. When a student suddenly dies, Tara is given the chance to take their place and of course, she takes it. But suddenly Tara starts to lose time and wakes up in places she doesn't remember walking to, and worse, she notices that strange occurrences happen to her fellow society members and Tara wonders what sort of society she walked into.

I really wanted to enjoy All That Consumes Us. Fresh off the coattails of A Study in Drowning, I was ready for another atmospheric and haunting dark academia novel, and since I related to Tara's character at the beginning, I had high hopes that this would be one of those books I'd tell everyone about. But as I read on, it sort of felt like Tara was being willfully ignorant of the things happen to her and around her. I understand wearing rose-colored glasses, but there were a lot of logical conclusions she could've came to if she thought about it more a little longer. And it wasn't like there was some magic hindering her (well, maybe her writing has messed with her mind?), so I felt frustrated by the mystery of Magni Viri rather than intrigued by it. It felt like we tiptoed around it for too long without finding out anything to satisfy the mystery, which a slow and dark tale is characteristic of a Gothic story, but I wanted there to be more to grasp onto as we went on. The dread and the gloomy atmosphere were so strong, but I wish there'd been around Tara and her fellow society members, and more tension with the Magni Viri mystery throughout.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for furnishing me with this galley copy ahead of publication.

This is a truly immersive, atmospheric piece of character-drive dark academia. I really enjoyed the setting the supernatural trappings of the secret society, but I wanted more academia in this dark academia. It felt in many cases incidental.

In any event, this is certainly an impressive entry into the genre, if a little slow-paced for my preference.

Four stars.

All that Consumes Us is like a modern queer Lois Duncan novel. Thank you for an advance ebook in exchange for a fair review.

This book kept me reading from page one. The story was fast paced and the dark academia setting was lush and full of everything perfectly gothic and spooky that I could possibly want to read about during autumn. I do feel that the pacing could be improved a bit, but overall a very quick and spooky read!

Both Ninth House and The Dead and the Dark were fabulous, captivating reads for me, and I’m always up for reading dark academia.

Tara made it to Corbin College on her own with no support from family or friends. To her deep disappointment, she wasn’t accepted into Magni Viri, an elite academic society that would have covered her tuition and offered extraordinary opportunities. To help with expenses, she works on campus as a janitor as she envisions years of student loan payments in her future.

The tragic death of a Magni Viri student creates an opening, and although Tara’s saddened by the circumstances, it’s an opportunity she can’t turn down. For the first time in her life, she has friends (Magni Viri take care of their own) and a feeling of belonging she’s never experienced. If you’re thinking this story has a happily ever after, think again.

Vows made over graves in a dark cemetery, an unseen presence that seems to follow Tara, pages of writing in her own hand upon waking that Tara has no memory of – all chilling experiences that will keep you flipping pages to learn the macabre secrets. Before long, Tara’s health declines, and she begins to lose hours. Her life is at stake if she doesn’t learn what’s going on.

This story is haunting and full of atmosphere – you might find yourself looking over your shoulder as you read. Tara is an easy person to root for. With everything she’s experienced in her life, you want her to succeed. Parts of the story are a bit repetitive, and I skimmed through those sections, but the ending is highly satisfying. I also appreciated the addition of the epilogue at the end.

Recommended for fans of dark academia, hauntings, and eerie mysteries.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I tried. I really did. I was in my "I need good dark academia / horror" phase. But I got super thrown off and annoyed maybe not even a full chapter in? Might try again at another time, but this was a DNF for me.

All that consumes us was an incredible gothic tale, that I devoured during the fall. It was fast paced with enough tension to keep me going. Dark academia has always been one of my favourite “semi tropes” as people love to call it. But each and every time I read a new one I realise why I read dark academia to begin with. It was a privilege to read this and I’ve re read it twice since publication!

I forgot to leave a review for this, but I really enjoyed it! It's been out for ages, so I won't say much more than I need to for my star rating. <3

Loved the nod to The Secret History. Dark, gloomy academia vibes. Really loved the diverse characters.

Another YA dark academia book that seems to think it needs to just attempt to be a ninth House and it’ll be good. It wasn’t. I ended up DNFing this as about 40% sadly. The main character was unbearable and obsessed with being like someone else, which turns out isn’t super fun to read. Also the relationships were already super underdeveloped for already being 40% into the book. I feel like 20% of the book was basically meandering and kind of wasted time. I just didn’t care by the time we actually got to the interesting parts. This is a huge disappointment for me, but some other people may enjoy this one.

Thanks NetGalley for an e-ARC.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Edelwiess for the advanced copy of this book!

I really loved the atmosphere of this book. This dark academia follows Tara, who is a freshman at Magna Viri. From the outset she’s an outsider but her resiliency and need to prove herself are some of my favorite aspects of the character.

I found the queer romance to be absolutely adorable, but a bit underdeveloped. I would have liked a bit more detail. And honestly that’s my main gripe with the book as a whole. I just kind of want more of everything.

I was absolutely blown away while reading this book! Words woven to reveal deep imagery, steeped in dark academia vibes. The characters are crisp and vibrant, the story easily to follow and interesting enough to have kept me up past my bedtime reading.

Taking place at a college following the main character and her managing her way from an average student, on the outside looking in on a secret society to becoming one of them. But that’s where the story really begins!