I feel like this book had a really good build-up and then hardly any payoff. Dabos' "Mirror Visitor" series is one of my favorites, so this one is a bit of a letdown.

This book is more vibes than actual plot. Dabos does a good job setting the scene Here and it feels creepy but also very familiar. There are some slight dark academia vibes.

I've put off putting in a review for this title for awhile, because I've struggled with what to say. I want to start by saying I went into this book already a huge fan of Christelle Dabos; I absolutely adored the Mirror Visitor quartet and was practically salivating for a chance to read what she put out next. However, this one took me by surprise. I'm not saying it was bad, not by any means, but it had a very different feel to it from her other titles and it caught me a little off-guard. I kind of started to understand things more towards the end, but I was confused a bit for a lot of the book. I think I kind of see the social commentary she was going for here, but I struggled with it some. Still looking forward to seeing what Ms. Dabos does next!

I am a big fan of the author's Mirror Visitor Quartet, but honestly this was really hard for me to get into. The premise was interesting, but something was just off. Not sure if it was the translation-- it may read quite differently in French, so I have a hard time putting my finger on it. Still looking forward to the author's future novels!

I think ephemeral is the perfect word to describe this book. It's a dystopian dark academia, told from multiple points of view.

Each character's voice is distinct and meaningful. Which doesn't mean they are all likable. Oh, and a little trip into second-person, on top of everything.

Nothing and everything happens Here. And to understand, you just have to read it.

"I know a whole load of words, but few find favor with me. Speaking spoils everything. It's like telling a dream, and my dreams, they can't be told. Something's going to happen. Something has to happen. Here." - Madeleine

"And me, though I don't want to, though I've no right to want to, I smile, too. I'm the odd number, the jack of spades, the lousy kid..." - Pierre

"But walls having a laugh first thing in the morning, no, really, that I take very badly." - Iris

Unfortunately this book was very confusing and chaotic. I absolutely adore The Mirror Visitor series, but this one has poor plot and the characters are utterly unsympathetic.
Thank you NetGalley for providing an ARC.

This was a delightfully curious book.

Set in a French School, this book has multiple points of view. It seamlessly blends fantasy with reality as the children learn to navigate school and its social hierarchy.

With vanishing students, a student prince ruling the class and a prophetess testing her powers, this book creates a charming chaos that wonderfully captures the school experience.

Even a day later I’m still thinking about some of the characters in the book and puzzling how it fits together. This one will linger in your mind for a long time 👀

This is a really good one for fans of Deadly Education by Naomi Novik and has similar vibes to the last half of the Mirror Quartet with its eerie fantasy vibes. It’s definitely for a more niche group of readers, but fabulous in its way!

Thank you to @europaeditions for sending me a copy of this gorgeous book 😍

There is no doubt that Christelle Dabos has a unique and interesting voice, and I look forward to continuing to follow her career. I had a little difficulty getting into this book specifically, but I have no doubt it will find its correct audience

Dabos brings to life an extreme version of the pain and agony of your middle and early high school years using multiple narrators who, for the most part, represent the victims of the various ways tweens and teens torment themselves and each other. This is a very dark, creatively crafted work. I can think of several teens I have known as a teacher who would fall into this book and count it a favorite, but I think the majority would find it too confusing to follow.

Thank you to Europa Editions, Netgalley, and the author and translator for early access to this work.

Every once in awhile you read a truly unique book. This is one of them. It simultaneously reminded me of some of my favorite books and yet was like none of them at all. It reminded me of Dig by A.S. King bc you get these really weird/distorted POVs. It reminded me of Good Omens by Prachett and Gaiman bc it dealt with the end of the world. It reminded me of Katzenjammer by Francesca Zappia bc it was uniquely structured. This book takes the difficulties of middle school and portrays them in an equally disturbing and poetic way. I think it’s better to go into this book blind…and just read vibe checks.

I think I agree with a lot of the feedback I’ve seen, that the translation was just odd? It was interesting in a weird way, maybe just didn’t hit for me personally..

I have no idea what I just read... but I still sort of liked it, but also not.... This book is weird. I'd put that down to a translation issue, but I actually think it is probably just as weird in the original French. I am a huge fan of the Mirror Visitor quartet (well, the first half at least), which is also strange. I don't think I could explain the plot of this one, though, to save my life. It gave me a icky feeling in a lot of places and I couldn't figure out how the characters' stories would come together. Still not sure. Read at your own risk, I guess.

Dabos's new YA novel is not exactly what I expected. To me it seemed to have little in common with the Mirror Visitor Quartet, perhaps because of its high school setting, perhaps just because Dabos wanted to try something different. I can best describe it as a combination of Shirley Jackson, Naomi Novik, and Judy Blume, with a smattering of Gordon Korman, and a big dose of someone who casts high school drama in supernatural terms (Joss Whedon, maybe?). It's sometimes hard to follow, and it's rather gritty, but for all that, I ultimately found myself liking it pretty well. Dabos commits totally to her unusual approach, while showing her usual creative flair. But just know going in that it's not always the easiest read. 3.5 stars, rounded to 4.

I think this one was just a little off. I can't tell if it was the translation or what, something just seemed weird. I'm a little sad about it, because I had high hopes for this one, but I just couldn't get into it.

"The new novel from the million-copy bestselling author of The Mirror Visitor Quartet.

Welcome to the School of Here, an unsettling and peculiar place that is nonetheless familiar to us all. A place full of codes and unspoken rules that are passed down from year to year.

At Here, society is highly stratified, the pairs, friend groups, and outcasts are all ruled by a godlike prince. This year - as all other years - things are not at all as they seem. A self-effacing first-year student vanishes into thin air. A persecuted outsider delivers himself into permanent exile. A tyrannical upperclassman meets his match. A newly-minted prophetess tests her powers. And, behind the scenes, a cabal of students conducts a top-secret investigation into the unexplained phenomenon at the heart of it all. Back to school season marks the start of a time-honored cycle of revolution and rebirth in which each must play their part.

With Here, and Only Here, Christelle Dabos - author of the international sensation The Mirror Visitor Quartet - gives readers an intriguing and penetrating novel that explores the difficulties of fitting in and the private, individual choices that make up the sometimes abhorrent, always unpredictable Collective."

You really need to read it to understand.

I requested this book because Christelle Dabos wrote one of my favorites series, Le Passe Miroir, so I had high hopes this new book of hers would be just as great as her other ones but Here and only Here was such an strange book, I tried reading it multiples times but I just couldn’t connect with the story, maybe because it was told in various povs, or maybe the write was too off, either way I arrived at 15% and I just couldn’t do it anymore, I had to Dnf and I’m extremely sad about it.
Anyway I would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for an early copy of this book.

What an exceptionally odd and mysterious tale of teenage outsiders at a school of paranormally gifted students. Being included has never felt so uncomfortable! Told from multiple perspectives of different social classes, students must deal with the time-honored tradition of returning back to school to see who they are partnered with, if they’re the lead in that pair, and so much more. Not to mention a kid who completely has disappeared, it is certainly a meandering story of equal parts unsettling and curious. I was not expecting to find this a surprisingly interesting read.

Here, and Only Here by Christelle Dabos, translated by Hildegard Serle, is a fun, quirky book set at school where odd things happen. This multi-narrator book features one student from each grade level, members of a secret society, and a teacher. Through these narratives, you learn about the unspoken rules Here. Dabos' writing (and Serle's translation) are witty and engaging. I quickly came to care about the students Here and was eager to learn what would happen to them. While this book has a different feel than Dabos' Mirror Visitor Quartet, it was equally well-written and engaging. Highly recommend this book for a fun back-to-school read!

I'm a huge fan of The Mirror Visitor quartet, so I was very curious about what Dabos would do next. Unfortunately, this book didn't hold my interest. I was a little skeptical about the boarding school premise, but figured it would pan out. Maybe it did, I don't know because I stopped reading halfway through. I don't think the multiple POVs were a good choice, I think all the characters were not very distinct or memorable and all the fragmented details were difficult to follow. It honestly reminded me a lot of A Storm of Echoes, which is inarguably the weakest book in The Mirror Visitor. Thanks to the publisher for the copy.

Ooof, this translation is rough! I feel like maybe an AI translator may have done a better job. I can’t follow this at all and my French isn’t good enough to try the original.

Story Synopsis: Here is a very special place - one that we all know in some form or fashion. Here has unspoken rules, classifications, and behaviors that you must follow. If you break these unspoken rules, you will be punished. You may become invisible, get beaten up, or cause emotional upheaval. In this case, Here is a strange school that seems to operate outside the rules you and I know to be true. Yet, it’s very familiar. The world will change because of Here.

Why does this book beguile? I have no idea what happened in this book. I found it compelling and enjoyable but was in the dark for most of it. Around 85% through the book, I started putting the pieces together, and by the end, the book made a ton of sense. The best part about Here, and Only Here is that the more you think about it after you finish, the more you understand it. Yet it’s still utterly beguiling! This was a brilliantly done book in just 200 pages.

It’s worth noting that this is classified as a YA/Middle-Grade novel. However, the language can be strong for more conservative readers. The characters are probably in the 13-15-year-old range and dealing with some adult things with adult language.