I'm definitely a Marisha Pessl fan, having re-read Night Film a couple of times, and I still think about the weird experience that was Special Topics in Calamity Physics. Neverworld Wake was a tougher one to enjoy, and this book left me wishing that Pessl would stick to adult novels.
There is A LOT to love about the details of this story. The idea of Darkly and the intricate games Louisiana created were so compelling and unique, I wanted more. I wanted more of how the games worked and how people interacted with them. I wanted more about just about everything. This novel felt choppy in its execution, quickly jumping from scene to scene, as though there was more book and it was edited down. I enjoyed the photos, letters, and documents peppered throughout the book- something that was fun in Night Film, so it was a treat to have these extra details again. I think the story would have been better served by making it an adult novel and fleshing out some of the darker aspects of the plot.

Darkly by Marisha Pessl is an eerie, atmospheric novel that masterfully blends suspense with dark psychological tension. As a reader, I was hooked by Pessl's sharp writing and the unsettling, layered narrative that keeps you questioning reality. The book's twists and haunting mood made it a truly immersive and unforgettable read.

Dia Gannon is obsessed with Louisiana Veda and her game company, Darkly. She applies for an internship at Darkly Games and is chosen along with six other teens. However, the truth turns out to be different than they had thought, and they find themselves in a very dark game. This was a very unique and captivating story to read. I really enjoyed the gaming aspect; it was very creative and interesting. Overall, it was a really great mystery book, and I highly recommend it. Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Children's | Delacorte Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. I'll post my review closer to the publication date.

Dia Gannon is one of 7 teenagers picked to intern over the summer for the Louisiana Veda Foundation. Dia, like almost everyone else, has been obsessed with Louisiana Veda and her Darkly games. She soon finds herself immersed in a living board game and a mystery to solve.

I thought this was s a good easy, exciting read. There were lots of twists and turns for Dia which kept a nice pace to the book. Not knowing who to trust. Learning alongside her what there was to discover about Louisiana and what truths to tell the others as she'd learned. Playing this game through her eyes was very interesting. I feel like some of the teens didn't get much time on page - so not sure why we needed so many. This felt very Scooby Doo-esq to me, all these darn teens running around uncovering things and sneaking into places they shouldn't be, which was fun. Loved the reveal and aftermath but did not love the ending, it felt a bit different than the rest of the book to me. Despite that, I think I would recommend this to other YA Thriller readers!

Thanks to NetGalley and Marisha Pessl for the ARC of this book!

I never thought for a moment that I was going to enjoy this book as much as I did. Based on the description, cover, etc, I just thought it was something YA and not necessarily awesome YA but that was okay because I wasn't looking for a trading commitment when I stumbled over it. And then it surprised me.

Going in it feels like it's going to be a giant trope but the story really works and the characters are interesting. I'm not going to give it five stars because I can see two easy ways to vastly improve it (and I'm a little surprised neither was used.) but I would happily give it a solid 4 and will definitely watch for this author in the future.

This review is based on an advance copy that I received for free.

Thanks to NetGalley and Delacorte Press for the arc!

What a unique mystery/thriller!! An adventure from start to finish. One of my favorite genres is YA mystery so I had high hopes for this and it did not disappoint! The games were one of my favorite aspects of this book!! It made the book tense, exciting, and transports you directly into the world. This book was fast-paced and every twist kept me trapped within the pages! I do wish that the ending had a little but more but this was still a really great book!! This was my first book by Marisha Pessl and I will absolutely be reading more!

This is a top notch mystery that keeps the reader guessing literally to the last page. I don't say that lightly. Many puzzle mystery books promise that, but this one fooled or misled me repeatedly. The book's descriptor gives enough information about the plot to make it unnecessary to recap here. However,Darkly keeps the reader's interest in several ways: the newspaper articles, personal letters, and photos scattered throughout the book for the reader to study for clues (I have to admit I only scanned these, I was reading on my phone and the ability to look at these with great detail was unavailable to me). and the fact that there are so many intricately layered puzzles to solve. Obviously the the central one of the contest- find the missing boy (which seems less important as the novel goes on), but also why these contestants were selected out of the hundreds of thousands who applied? who can be trusted- the other contestants, the lawyers, the ship captain? who set up the game in the first place? who wants it taken down? and the biggest puzzle of all - just who was Louisiana Veda, the mysterious gamemaker? I raced through this book and heartily recommend it. I am downgrading it only because there were many characters' whose development was a bit thin; but the breakneck pace will keep most reader's thoroughly entertained. I was given an electronic ARC for an honest review.

The focus of this book is games. The central character is Louisiana, a quiet woman with a brilliant mind for subterfuge and hidden clues. Louisiana's dark and lonely childhood molded her into the board game designer that made her famous, and she went on to create treasured games that were not easy to solve. Games that were intricate in design, detail and rules. I loved the descriptions of the game boards, the rules, the clues, and the physical designs that were shared in the pages. I was left wishing that I could see a Darkly game board for myself! When one of the games comes to life, I was as excited as the players to join the immersive experience. The author created a rich environment to spark creativity and rivalry, and I enjoyed the clues and the links to Louisiana's life that helped you solve the riddles. You'd think that finding George, the missing boy, would be central to the story. But it isn't. He is almost an afterthought - you hope he is okay, but are too caught up in the game to give him too much thought until the end. If this was a movie, I would be raving about the set design. From the intricacies of the game boards, to the live game setup, to the game factory, to Louisiana's home. There are secrets in the walls, links in the architecture ... everything ties together. I was hoping at the end that we would find Louisiana alive and well. This is a story that captivates you .. you want to find out what happens next, what happened already, and you just want to play the game! I loved everything about this book!

Beautifully written, creepy, twisty tale about family, curiosity, and who we are as women. I loved the main character's journey, and it was well-paced and well-plotted. The love story at the end was a slight bit forced, but overall didn't detract from the story.

Thanks to NetGalley and Delacorte Press for the arc!

As a longtime fan of Pessl’s, I was excited to read this — while I hoped her next book would not be YA, I appreciated the abundant creativity here and wasn’t disappointed by the book at all. The games! THE GAMES. Also even though I’m a fan of her books, I have to say that I was caught first by the cover — how gorgeous?

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this incredible book.

When Darkly came up as a choice on NetGalley I was so excited. I have been waiting fir this book and was not disappointed.

There is nothing I can say that hasn't already been said. This book is fantastic. A must read!!!

Highly, highly, highly recommend.

This was a really unique thriller that had some great twists and turns. The game aspect of it was really fun!

What a great thriller! I’ve loved Marisha Pessl since her debut novel, and was curious about how her writing style would transfer to YA. As a teacher, I was hoping I could introduce my students to her writing. Luckily, this book is great!! It’s thrilling, engaging, and I love how it focuses on games. I could see a middle schooler or high schooler falling in love with this book. I definitely recommend

After reading Night Film by Marisha Pessl years ago and absolutely loving it, I always thought to myself, you must request anything new by her.
I was lucky to get accepted to review her new book, Darkly and I had a blast with this mystery thriller!

Not only is Darkly captivating and gripping, but the world building and characters in this is well done.
I haven't thought about physically playing a board game before in my life but after reading this, I feel the need to grab my game piece, spin the wheel and jump into the action!

Summary:

Darkly is about an enigmatic woman named Louisiana Veda. She has built a game-making empire and then dies under mysterious circumstances. Her company named “Darkly” is on the brink of bankruptcy, and the games she created can go up to millions and are highly prized by collectors.

It’s discovered early in the book that there is one last game that was created before her untimely death. The game "Valkyrie" has gone missing since Louisiana Veda died and her company decides to do an internship for seven lucky teenagers from all over the world.

Our main character Arcadia (aka Dia) Gannon has loved "Darkly" games her whole life and is an amazing puzzle solver. She knows everything about Louisiana Veda, her company and all of the mysteries surrounding the woman, or so she thinks…

Dia gets the surprise of her life! She's chosen as an intern and must go to London for a life changing experience. While she's there, she must figure out who to trust, what happened to the missing "Darkly" game, and who really is Louisiana Veda.

Thoughts:

✔️ The world building is amazing! I’m a bit sad that this game-making company doesn’t exist in real life. When Dia and others end up getting involved in the missing "Valkyrie" game, I was mesmerized and captivated by the details, experience and creepy feel of the game!

✔️ The characters are great! I’m not big on YA but I enjoyed this one. It’s not romance heavy or have unrealistic expectations and characteristics for teenagers.

✔️ Pacing and overall length of the book works well. The plot twists are also good. I had an idea of the one at the end but there were a few earlier that I did not see coming.
Well done Pessl!

I’m very impressed by Pessl’s writing and world building. Just like Night Film, this new book feels like it’s alive and you’re fully engaged in its spell.

DNF @ 10%
I really, really wanted to like this. All the good reviews got me so excited. I love puzzle mysteries. I couldn’t get past chapter 3. By chapter 2 I had already started skimming cause of the abundance of unnecessary details and just how cringe the main character was to me. It was too much. I couldn’t take how we were introduced to every character like how you might in the beginning of a D&D campaign. You know when you give a lengthy run down of your character. Not to mention that chapter 1 was predominantly info dump on the game creator’s history. Yet in those 3 chapters I was never shown why her getting this internship is important and why as the reader I should care or want to follow her on this journey. Maybe things get better when they actually reach the main plot, but I literally couldn’t get to it without needing to take fourteen breaks each chapter. And they’re short chapters. It’s like drinking a way too sugary drink.
I still stand behind that this book can be good. Just look at the other reviews. However, because of the narrative style, I don’t think it’s going to be for everyone.
Thank you to NetGalley and Delacorte Press for providing an advance reader copy of this book for my honest review.

Mixed media; extremely clever and entertaining; amazingly complex without it being confusing; suspenseful, addicting, and far from predictable; obsessed with the plot and the characters (especially the MC), I'm convinced that this author is just brilliant; the twist at the end had me completely mind blown and in awe.
I would kill for a sequel...

Special thank you to Random House Children’s/Delacorte Press, Marisha Pessl, and Netgalley for a DRC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Have you ever wondered what The Breakfast Club would look like if they were tasked to play an incredibly difficult boardgame that has caused people to come up missing? If so, welcome to Darkly.

Darkly, a company founded by the now deceased but still enigmatic Louisiana Veda, heralded for the wildly complex boardgames she designed, offers an exclusive, paid, summer internship to 7 lucky teens from around the world. Arcadia, "Dia," is selected, becoming one of "The Veda Seven." With a cult-like following and the notoriety surrounding Veda, she's a household name even many years after her death.

When The Veda Seven arrive to start their internship, they learn that they're tasked with finding a previously unknown Darkly game that's circulating and has already caused one teen to go missing. They must identify the thief and locate the missing boy, before they too go missing. Or worse.

📖 The plot is exquisitely crafted leaving the characters (and the reader) unsure of where the game within a game begins and ends, while also being a bit creeped out-all without causing confusion for the reader. It all expertly ties in and circles back into a literary masterpiece. Even one or the MCs names is tied into the plot in a way that I love. The game itself is central to the plot, leaving the reader (if they so choose) to try and figure out how to "beat" the game.

The surreal exploration into humanity brings up many questions that will have readers questioning everything, even after they've finished the book.

It has well executed twists and turns, with shocks that I didn't see coming. There's one thing that I suspected might be the case, but the way it ends up revealed I didn't expect. 🚲

Interspersed within are clippings of related newspaper articles, letters to various people from the past, and pictures. I love these additions and think they add to the immersion while greatly enriching the story.

✍️🏼 I've never read anything by Pessl before, but now I know I need to ASAP. Her writing is beautiful. Full of rich descriptions and writing that's almost lyrical at times, it's a joy to read - a literary feast for your brain. The dialogue felt very realistic and natural.

🗺 I love the Darkly world Pessl created. It's so well described that I had to do a quick Google to ensure it isn't an actual place that's been slightly changed.

⏳️ The pacing is excellent. On the faster side, there's never any slow points.

👥 I found the characters to be well developed and loved their varied backstories. The cast is ethnically diverse, which I appreciate. I love the nuance that went into developing this cast and how Pessl highlights various facets of human nature. No one knows who to trust or where is safe.

💞 It's YA, so it isn't romance heavy, but there is some light romance in the background at times. It's well done and realistic. There's a teeny tiny bit of a love triangle, or hints of it, rather. It's well done, and such an itty bitty part that it likely doesn't even warrant a mention.

📚 If you like: Death at Morning House (Maureen Johnson), The God of the Woods (Liz Moore), An Academy for Liars (Alexis Henderson), or Night Film (Marisha Pessl) then I think you would enjoy this book.

Thank you to @marishapessl and @netgalley for the opportunity to read this eARC. All opinions expressed are my own.

Stunning read from start to finish that brings the tiny details together like a 1,000 piece puzzle. If you like a good mystery, give it a read. I sincerely yearn for a sequel, please!

Pessl expertly crafts a narrative that pulls you in from the very first page. The protagonist, Arcadia "Dia" Gannon, is a brilliantly conceived character who feels both relatable and extraordinary. As she embarks on an internship at the enigmatic Darkly board game company, the stakes quickly rise, leading her on a quest filled with unexpected twists and chilling revelations.

Pessl has built a gothic Willy Wonka world, full of mysterious abandoned buildings and intriguing games. I loved her main character Dia, and going along on her adventure from the US to England, to search for two missing people: an enigmatic game designer, and a young player of a long-lost game. This book is a feat of imagination and it's a great read even if you're not a regular YA reader.