Big thank you NetGalley and to the publisher for the chance to review this book pre-release. Darkly was SUCH a good book. It had a great premise, dynamic characters, and I loved the twists and turns. It was entertaining the whole way through, and instantly hooked me!

A really enjoyable read! Although classified as young adult, it is definitely a treat for adult readers as well, with literary prose and a fast-moving plot. And the author's worldbuilding (if that's the right word) is incredibly creative.

The tale is primarily told from the perspective of 17-year-old Arcadia (Dia) Gannon, who lives in a small Missouri town where she and her mom operate a struggling antiques store. Dia's life changes dramatically when she's selected, along with six other teenagers, for an internship with the mysterious Veda Foundation. Louisa Veda created incredible board games that were wildly strange and popular, then died under mysterious circumstances. Now the teens face danger and intrigue in an attempt to find an elusive missing game. This definitely kept me turning the pages as quickly as possible to find out what happened next!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Truly a perfect read for spooky season (or any time, let's be honest). Pessl's worldbuilding is exquisite and immersive from the very start -- I can't imagine any reader who won't come away from reading this wishing Darkly games were actually available to purchase! The twists felt natural and the sense of urgency throughout made this mystery truly impossibly to put down. Board games will never be quite the same again!

DARKLY is a twisted, heart-pounding, page-turning story about what a person would do to uncover the truth. It’s a combination of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Clue, and The Goonies—all the best pieces of those puzzles.

I can’t say enough good things about this story! The writing was eerie and imaginative and suspenseful. It made me feel like I was there, on the island, on this dangerous adventure uncovering the true secrets of the DARKLY empire with Dia and these seemingly genius teenagers.

But nothing is ever truly as it seems—is it?

If you love suspense, mystery, with familial secrets and an unsettling gothic atmosphere—you will love this book!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

This book went a little bit over my head. But if you have enjoyed Marisha Pessl previous books, dark academia vibes and mind bending puzzles. I personally gave it a 2 star but I do think many will enjoy it. It just wasn't for me.

Thanks to the publisher for the ARC.

Pessel does a good job setting the stage for an intriguing story. 6 teens sent to a remote island with no idea why they were chosen…definitely creepy and intriguing. As the story continued to unfold the reader is effortlessly pulled along for the ride, trying to keep up with the fast paced action.

This is all I’ve ever wanted from a book with my only compliant being that it had to end!

Outsmarting a devilish board game has never been hard for Dia as it gave her a chance to escape a life just as ordinary as the antiques she sells so when an internship from the estate of the developer pops up she finds herself spiraling through a labyrinth of deceit and Deadly with a group who are just as eager to solve the mystery but maybe not for the same reasons.

Where to begin?

The storytelling in this is so beautifully crafted as we slowly unravel the secrets behind the skeletons locked away in the closet of infamous genius creator Louisiana we also just play the lost game Valkyrie. Both of these mysteries circle each other and gain speed the closer we get to the end shattering once they meet in a way that was so satisfying and scratches that itch I look for when it comes to books like this.

There’s so much I want to share about the plot and how beautifully paced it is to set up suspense and red herrings but any details could give it away for the next reader and we can’t have that now can we?

The characters were amazing in this sort of Breakfast Club like way where they all come from different walks of life and part of figuring out the game is understanding those you are playing with, or against in some cases. Dia was perfect as this strong yet uncertain narrator who holds her own even when she feels like she’s falling behind but she’s crafty in a way that as a player she is rewarded for simply paying attention and I couldn’t get enough. I loved the deceit and skillfully crafted dance all of the interns partake in as they try to win the game and outsmart the thief who took it as well as each other as there can only be one winner.

I’ve read a few other books where they have this sort of setup but truly I cannot express just how well done and creepy this was in a way that I would love to play but understand I would absolutely lose.

**special thanks to the publishers and netgalley for providing an arc in exchange for a fair and honest review**

"A must-read thriller that will keep you guessing until the very last page from the New York Times bestselling author of Night Film.

There's nothing special about Dia Gannon. So why was she chosen for an opportunity everyone would kill for?

Arcadia "Dia" Gannon has been obsessed with Louisiana Veda, the game designer whose obsessive creations and company, Darkly, have gained a cultlike following. Dia is shocked when she's chosen for a highly-coveted internship, along with six other teenagers from around the world. Why her? Dia has never won anything in her life.

Darkly, once a game-making empire renowned for its ingenious and utterly terrifying toys and games, now lies dormant after Veda's mysterious death. The remaining games are priced like rare works of art, with some fetching millions of dollars at auction.

As Dia and her fellow interns delve into the heart of Darkly, they discover hidden symbols, buried clues, and a web of intrigue. Who are these other teens, and what secrets do they keep? Why were any of them really chosen? The answers lie within the twisted labyrinth of Darkly - a chilling and addictive read by Marisha Pessl.

This summer will be the most twisted Darkly game of all."

I mean modern technology with a Gothic edge? Oh yes please!

Now this is more like it! This was great fun, exciting, intriguing, original - all the good stuff. Dia Gannon is not your average teenager; she is brilliant, helps run her mother's antique business and is more comfortable with the people and things of much older eras (like her octogenarian fellow employees). She is stunned when she gains one of the 7 coveted internships with the Louisiana Veda estate, maker of the most intricate, fascinating and unbelievably popular games in the world. But this turns out not to be a job with a corporation but complete immersion in Louisiana's world and her final game. It is non-stop action and intrigue, full of puzzles and mystery and bizarre situations, complex plotting and lots of drama. The characters in Dia's world are well-drawn, but the other interns are all brilliant and self-centered and maintain a certain distance from the reader as well as Dia. All in the interest of sowing distrust and suspense, no doubt. And behind it all is the mystery of Louisiana Veda - creative saint or monster? Highly recommended.

4.6 but rounded up to 5. One of the best YA mystery books I've read this year - so complex and layered with the games and illustrations I oddly describe this book as Ready Player One meets Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The characters were interesting, but at times felt like their uniqueness was emphasized too much. I liked: The mood and scenery, Marisha has a way of really putting you in the scene. Twisty and dark, the constant page turner, and ending that had me hoping for a second book. Challenges with the book: I did think one of the subplots wrapped up too easily and needed to be explored more. The romance was never really explored, just kinda happened, and it contained a common gripe I have with most YA books in that adults don't act like adults.

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to review and provide my honest thoughts.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a galley ahead of publication.

I will give Marisha Pessl this: she has a gift for scene-setting. Great atmosphere.

I respect the immense effort that must have gone into this book. I really like the concept. I just...didn't get the execution. The actual plot felt like so much ado about nothing. I love boardgames and riddles. I love the dark and the creepy. I just didn't get this. Louisiana's past felt like, well, nothing to be ashamed of. Certainly nothing to go to pains to safeguard.

The ending was some nice bookending, I suppose, but I didn't really feel satisfied by it. For instance, NDA's do not cover illegal activities. Any decent lawyer would challenge that. The same goes for a death and bodily harm waiver. There is suspending disbelief and then there's all this.

To say there were so many characters milling about, a lot of them felt extraneous. I know that not all characters need to be front-row, I totally get that. But I was left asking, constantly, why they were here except to take up space. Moreover, they didn't talk like people, they spoke like archetypes and not the most nuanced ones at that.

And the romances...were they meant to be compelling? They were just so so not my thing. Honestly, I saw Dia's parentage in how each new guy made her lose her head. She isn't as different from her mother (or grandmother) as she thinks. The love interests were the height of awful. If that was the goal, full marks, but I don't think it was. I think that fact that Dia had love interests but not actual friends hurt this book and her character the most.

If I were grading this ruthlessly, it would get two stars on the basis of my enjoyment. However, I see the work that went into the puzzles/riddlss and the worldbuilding. I enjoyed the atmosphere, if not the characters or their relationships (what there were of them). Three stars. I wanted to like this more.

I have loved Marisha Pessl's previous work (especially Night Film) and was therefore very excited to dig into Darkly. And it did not disappoint! A very well-written Y.A. mystery with intriguing characters and excellent twists and turns, this book definitely goes on my recommendations list!

This book was a really interesting read, I really liked the concept of the book, it had you wondering what was part of the game and what was not. It was almost like solving several mysteries at the same time with lots of twists and turns!!
I will say that the first few chapters I struggled through. They were slow and I kept wondering where it was going. I feel like once you get to the end, the beginning information makes more sense, but I could see someone getting detached and DNFing the book in the first few chapters if that’s the kind of reader they are. ALTHOUGH if you are one of those people and read this whole review and are deciding on quitting, PLEASE stick with it, it is a good read!
It was a pretty quick read for me, there’s so much going on, but in a good keep the story moving way, that you find yourself not wanting to put it down. I was so invested in finding out the mystery behind Louisiana and the why behind this “internship” that I just wanted to keep reading! I must say I did see a few of the twists coming but not the end!

YA thrillers can go either way for me, and this one was right down the middle. Pessl has come up with a fascinating and twisty story, but the characters were very flat and some elements were confusing at times. It was a fast and entertaining read, but I would have liked to feel any sort of connection to the characters. Seven teenagers are chosen for an internship at a defunct game company whose games are mired in mystery and controversy along with their (now-dead) creator, Louisiana Veda. The story focuses on one of the teens, Dia, and her and the other interns' quest to find answers about the dark and dangerous game Valkyrie. This book is filled with puzzles and mysteries, some more effective than others, but most fairly engaging. There are some questions left unanswered, making me wonder if there will be a sequel. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Children's | Delacorte Press for a digital review copy.

This book had a really intriguing synopsis but I struggled to keep up with it. A lot of characters are introduced at once and then thrown into this game competition/solving a mystery. There's also some multimedia like images of newspaper articles between chapters, but I was unable to read that since I couldn't make the text on the photos bigger. I wonder if that had an effect on the plot and how much I was missing from that.

I know Pessl's previous novel Night Flim is somewhat of a cult classic within the horror fandom, but I've never read it, so when I saw she had (another) YA novel coming out described as a psychological thriller I was intrigued. Right off the bat this is 100% a novel I think anyone who was a fan of The Inheritance Games series should read. It has so many of the elements that made that series a huge hit, and I hope that it will translate well to sales for this book too, because it's undeniably a great successor/read-alike. I really enjoyed Dia as a main character, she was down to earth and full of spunk. She was also determined, and she seemed to genuinely connect with people. Our love interests were fun too, although I think I would have been just as happy (if not happier) without that aspect of the story. I think the most intriguing part of this book was the Darklys, it was a fascinating element, and I honestly wish they were real, because if there was anything I was left with it was wanting to go play one of these games, because they sound so cool. I'll admit, the intricacies of the story were a little far-fetched, but then again so were the ones in The Inheritance Games, so I can't really fault it there. I will admit I was a little confused as to how exactly everything ended up tying together in the very end, ideally this book should probably be read a little slower than I ended up reading it, and to fully grasp everything I think a second read-through would probably be ideal. But that's not a bad thing. I do think that this book has the potential for a sequel, although it certainly does stand on its own as well, and if this is all we get I won't feel cheated. Either way, I think Pessl has created something that is, while not wholly new, still a lot of fun, and I certainly will recommend it to anyone looking for stories like TIG. I've already written a shelf-talker for it, and I hope that it does well enough that we both get a sequel as well as more books for Pessl, because she does have talent as an author and she certainly has the potential to make it big.

When someone says that a book is atmospheric this is what they mean. Creepy, insanely suspenseful and impossible to put down, Pessl has built an immersive world full of amazing imagery. Dia wins an internship with a company tasked with preserving the work of the visionary Louisiana Veda, the late creator of legendary board games. She and six other teenagers from around the world will be living on an island where the cult company “Darkly” had its headquarters. Everything is dilapidated and falling apart but, if they play the game right, it may change their lives. Pessl creates not only the “real” world of Dia and her friends, but also Louisiana’s backstory and the games that she created. Everything is so well thought out that every little detail made me want to play the game. The boards, the rules, the clues… everything is built with loving attention, like Louisiana’s own games. The urban legends, the stories, the cast of characters, every single word brings this world to vivid life. Dia is a likable heroine, and all of the characters are funky and interesting. There is not a single thing I didn’t love and I’d give this novel 6 stars if I could. Simply excellent!
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, NetGalley/Random House Children's | Delacorte Press.

Louisiana Veda, the enigmatic creator of the Darkly game empire, crafted board games that pushed well beyond simple entertainment. Her elaborate puzzles, steeped in Victorian gothic aesthetics, garnered a cultish following before her mysterious death rendered them collector's pieces worth millions. Enter Arcadia "Dia" Gannon and six other teens, chosen from across the globe for a coveted internship at the Veda Foundation. Their summer quickly transforms into what appears to be Veda's final, unreleased game - one that never made it to production, perhaps for good reason. Pessl's world-building shimmers with dark imagination, carrying forward the same haunting intrigue that made Night Film so compelling. The games she's invented feel startlingly authentic, each one a clever fusion of artistry and psychological manipulation. Dia's sharp perspective keeps us invested as the mystery deepens, and the plot unfolds in clever layers. This is a swift, addictive read that proves Pessl hasn't lost her touch for crafting deliciously dark tales about brilliant, enigmatic creators and the chaos they leave in their wake.

i received an e-arc in exchange for an honest review of my own free will

i LOVED this book. the mystery was so well fleshed out through the entire book. there wasn’t a moment i felt bored or like there was a lull or any sort. i loved how everything pieced together, however the ending did fall a tad flat for me :( or not flat, but rushed. however, the incredible writing of the mystery well made up for it. i can’t wait to see all of the letters and other media in a physical copy once this comes out!!

A very interesting premise. I love the idea of these super interactive/immersive board games. The pacing was fast, almost to fast at times though. The characters were interesting as well but there were so many I actually lost track of them a bit and none really stood out except for the MC as its her story. While this may not have been my cup of tea though I can certainly see how others would enjoy it all the same.