Voice Like a Hyacinth is dark academia meets horror meets lit fic meets queer love and yearning. It’s 🤌🏻 perfection.

Set in a tiny art school in rural Indiana, the novel follows five girls through their senior year where they must compete for a chance to display their paintings ✨en solo✨

While the five girls, Amrita, Saz, Caroline, Fitch and Jo, may have spent the last several years developing an unbreakable bond, the pressure of the competition takes its toll, and when the girls turn to a little black magic to ensure their odds, everything takes a horrific turn for the worse.

There is so much going on in this novel, from the complex platonic and romantic relationships, to the search for meaning through art, love and success, and the life of ANTHROPORMANCY and The Boar King, and yet, it all works together perfect. It’s jam packed and I was hooked on every single page.

For fans of Bunny and The World Cannot Give.

Mallory Pearson really cooked with this one. If there’s one thing about me it’s that I love an academic setting where everyone loves/hates each-other. Add in 5 lesbians and a ritual sacrifice and you have me sold.

An emotionally charged and lyrical exploration of identity and love. Pearson’s voice is striking, weaving tenderness and intensity into every page. This book will linger long after you’ve finished.
.

I do usually find Dark Academia dense, and this is not a exception, but Pearson has such a evocative writing style that it was quite enjoyable! The way the relationship between the five girls was so tangible as well, the reader being completely drawn into the group.
The horror doesn’t come from on-page (although the description of the horrific things are graphic) but rather the consequences of actions, which is a stronger horrifying effect in my opinion.
The end made me shiver, the implication that things never do leave, but can shift to become more hopeful.

This is a weird little book about a group of young women in their last year of art school. This was a mixed bag for me, the first 40% I wasn’t really interested in much of anyone or anything but right as I was about to DNF it caught my attention. I loved the gore and the body horror was perfection but I just couldn’t get past how repetitive and slow it kept getting. If you like a slow burn weird girl book you will probably enjoy it. Thank you NetGally and the publisher for an advanced copy for my honest review.

This was a haunting, animalistic story that explores being queer, finding your identity/coming of age, and female friendship with some occult elements. While this is marked as fantasy, I’d say it’s more horror especially as the novel continues forward!

I loved the prose and atmospheric writing! I highlighted so many quotes and could at times relate to Jo. She often times feels insecure and anxious, overwhelmed with her love for her friends and already feeling nostalgic about their time together.

The writing brought this story to life, allowing me to perfectly visualize Rotham, the characters, and their art! The characters felt so raw and realistic, each with their own unique personalities to set them apart. I especially loved the queer love and friendships throughout the story, the affection they had for one another added to the believability of the characters and their shared history!

Their story (taking away the horror and occult elements) felt nostalgic of my own college experience and the friendships forged 💗 And finally a 5 star read for 2025!! I would highly recommend for fans of Brutes by Dizz Tate, Ethel Cain, The Craft, and/or “Weird girl” books especially if you want a book with queer, folkloric/witchy, artist vibes ✨

TW/CW: blood, sexual assault (brief), death, grief, gore, body horror, animal death, homophobia, lesbophobia, drug use (brief)

Rep: lesbian MC and side characters, bisexual side character, non-binary minor character, Asian side character (saz has the last name Choi)?, Indian side character, lesbian author

3.25 stars

Codependent, queer art students performing grotesque rituals to get ahead academically? The unravelling that comes along with a ritual that didn’t go quite right? This had all the makings of a book that I should’ve absolutely loved, but something about it fell really flat.

I wanted the codependency and academic pressure to feel claustrophobic. I wanted it to be the driving force for the actions the characters took, and I wanted to feel caught up in the mind of an unreliable narrator. Instead, what we got was a narrative that felt inauthentic and somewhat shallow.

I think the author tried to create a story that hinged on the intensity of the relationships between the main characters, but without allowing us to fall in love with the characters in the first place. You can see a shadow of what the author was trying to portray in Jo’s inner monologue, but ultimately, it wasn’t executed well. Despite wanting to love these characters, I just couldn’t get attached to them in any way. I think the author relied too heavily on repetitive statements about how much the main character loved them, without really showing us why. Maybe if this was written from the point of view of one of the other characters, it would have worked better.

That being said, I still loved the premise, and the horror elements were interesting. The prose might be a bit too purple for some people, but I think it helped create a creeping atmosphere that worked well within the context of the story.

Ultimately, it’s hard to rate a book that you both loved and disliked in equal measure. I’m mostly just disappointed that this wasn’t what I thought it would be, especially since the author is so clearly talented. The prose and imagery were phenomenal; the characterization was just too weak for a book that leaned so heavily on it to progress the plot.

Mallory Pearson's Voice Like a Hyacinth is a dark academia thriller following a group of five best friends (Jo, Saz, Amrita, Finch, and Caroline) at a competitive art school. As seniors, students in the painting program must compete to earn the top spot as soloist, which is pretty much a guarantee at a successful career after graduation. The girls all hate the idea of one of their five not getting the solo spot so they decide to perform a mysterious ritual that will boost their creativity and productivity...at a price.

It's going to be very difficult to put how much I loved this book into words. It's truly the modern sapphic Dorian Gray of my dreams! From the first page of this book I was absolutely with the dark academia vibes and the relationships between the five main characters. The tension that Mallory Pearson was able to build along with having Jo as an unreliable narrator made me fly through this book. I can't wait to read more of her work!

Voice Like a Hyacinth by Mallory is a Queer Horror that is hauntingly wonderful. I was fully emersed in the atmosphere and the chosen family between the girls. The undertone of unease and the lengths that one will go to succeed. An entrancing story of 5 young women who have a bond stronger than family, whose ambitions and the art that once connected them slowly deteriorates that bond. Sapphic romance, platonic love, rituals, curses, hauntings, sacrifice, and the determination of our lead character to keep her friends together.

Five art students, all female painting, student vying for “Solo,” the prestigious solo art show which “proves” their work is the best at their exclusive Indiana arts college, descend into a flurry of madness and obsession after messing with the dark arts. How could I pass up such an amazing premise? Luckily for me this book delivered in spades.

The five girls at the center of the novel are nominally platonic friends, but have an almost religious devotion to one another, which really sets the scene for a coming crash as their senior year in college approaches and competition for the Solo spot begins. I don’t want to give away too much about what they do or what happens in terms of their dabbling with magic but to say things go horribly wrong is an understatement. That’s when the real chaos begins.

What I really liked about this part of the novel was that the narrator, Jo, not only is blinded by her inability to be neutral when it comes to her friends, but she is also becoming haunted by what is transpiring around her meaning that she is becoming a bit of an unreliable narrator. Is she losing her mind is she hallucinating things? We have no idea. And that’s part of the fun in this book. You really don’t know what’s quite real and what happening just inside everyone’s head once the action gets going.

I enjoyed the climactic scene in that I didn’t see it ending that way, but when thinking back on it, it really was all leading to that all along. Mallory Pearson is a very talented writer who set up a great story to come to its natural conclusion long before we see it as the reader. She also includes some bitter irony in how it all plays out, which was a very clever way of wrapping things up.

If you’re looking for a very dark, academia thriller/horror novel to keep you on the edge of your seat, This would be an excellent choice!

Thank you 47North and Netgalley for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

If you're in the mood for a witchy, emotional, horrifying, queer story - pick this up 2/1 when it publishes. This checks so many boxes! This was written so beautifully - it was so descriptive and immersive. Right around the 50% mark, the story really started to pick up and I couldn't wait to read how everything shook out! So many crazy things were happening and it had me questioning who was having a nervous breakdown or if what was happening was real.

We read from Jo's point of view (which already makes you wonder how trustworthy her side of things is) - she and her 4 best friends are art students at a prestigious school - they've been each other's everything for so long that they can barely imagine what life would look like after graduation. It's their senior year and they're all vying for the Solo - a chance to showcase their work that pretty much guarantees their post-college career in art will be successful. They're all so desperate to Solo that they complete a ritual in the woods and what happens afterwards is a spiral into the horrifying and the tragic. Will their bond survive?

I've never experienced friendship like this with anyone in my life. We get so many descriptions of how obsessed Jo is with every one of them. They're all so codependent that it was overwhelming at times, solely because I've never felt that way about another person, nor do I think it's all that healthy. It was hard to relate to but it didn't take me too much out of the story.

I definitely recommend picking this up if you're a fan of horror and found family stories!

I enjoyed this a lot more than I expected to! The vibes were light horror with a touch of dark academia and a 90s witchcraft movie flavour that was so fun and nostalgic.
I always love a story of relationships bordering on obsession and it was really well done here, though the characters at times felt frustratingly young to me. But that made sense and made them more relatable in a way: if you've been part of a tight knit group at school, you've probably experienced the fear that it's all going to end when school is over and the desire to hold everyone as close as possible to avoid that.
The writing is beautiful and even sometimes haunting. It dragged a little bit occasionally but always managed to grab my attention again soon after. The art references were interesting, though I'm sure some flew over my head. The horror is there, but think eerie more than gruesome, which is perfect for me. I do think if you go in expecting a horror book, you might be a bit disappointed though.
Overall, I think fans of dark academia and obsessive friendships will really enjoy this one. I certainly did!

Ooooh, this book was a JOURNEY! This one’s for the superstitious and ambitious. For those nostalgic for undergrad. For those obsessed with their friends.

It’s atmospheric and vivid. Pearson is exceptional at writing descriptive prose that immerses you in the scenery both physically and emotionally. I ate her words up like sweet, saccharine candy.

It’s got all the good stuff:
✔️ Campus novel
✔️ Dark academia
✔️ Art students
✔️ Found family
✔️ Queer friendship
✔️ Psychological/body horror
✔️ Rituals/the occult

Perfect for fans of The Cloisters or Sirens and Muses.

Big thank you to @netgalley and #47North for an eARC! 🙏🏻

Review posted to StoryGraph and Goodreads on 1/13/25. Review will be posted to Amazon on release date.

As a group of 5 friends enter into their senior year of art school they find themselves facing a pressure they’ve never felt before. With potential careers on the line, they decide to complete a ritual to sacrifice someone to ensure that they all get what they want in life. Little do they know that their actions will have an impact that none of them truly understand.
This is such a love letter to art and friendship. Yes I’m calling a horror novel a love letter. Jo, Finch, Caroline, Saz, and Amrita have this deep magical friendship that you really only experience once in your life when you’re young and all your time is spent with your friends. Their closeness throughout this book is endearing and a lot of the time terrifying. I appreciated how well Pearson described the paintings and sketches that were in the book. They felt so vivid and alive that I felt like I was sitting in on critiques at times. I overall really liked this book but ultimately felt like at times Pearson’s desire to build tension led to parts being slow and taking away from the actual tension itself. I do look forward to seeing what Pearson comes up with next.

This book captured my heart within a few paragraphs. I knew then already it was going to be a five star read, and it was.

Mallory Pearson’s writing was stunning-haunting, lyrical, atmospheric, full and rich. I highlighted entire passages because I was just so in love with the writing. The sentences were really beautifully complex.

I fiercely loved the five main characters and felt a strong connection to their intense friendships and love for one another. I especially enjoyed the artistic focus of the characters that added to their intensity. There is something about being a lover and creator of the arts that creates a very heady, poetic approach to life and this story called that feeling to the forefront for me.

The horrific elements of this story were so well executed and as a reader pulled me right along into the fractured reality. It was psychological, moody, gothic even. I just loved every moment of reading this story; time kept slipping away so quickly as I was pulled into the characters lives.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for the opportunity to read an advanced copy. Voice Like a Hyacinth releases on Feb. 1 and I cannot recommend it enough.

First off...DISCLAIMER: this title was up for grabs on NetGalley (in the Read Now section). Thanks to 47North for providing a temporary ecopy. This didn't influence my review in any way.

LEVEL UP

Eight months ago, I reviewed Pearson's debut novel We Ate the Dark. Despite the abundance of purple prose, I liked it quite a bit, noting that there was "a robust dose of lyrical writing peeking from under the sometimes intimidating similes" and that "Pearson has the makings of a good writer, if only she can rein those similes in a bit. Then again, this is a debut book, so maybe she still has to hone her craft" (the second quote comes from my reply to a fellow blogger's comment). It turns out I was right on both counts - and the Goodreads average rating agrees with me this time. On a content level, Pearson's sophomore novel draws on the same main theme of her debut ("female friendship and queer love and the liminal space between the two"), but ups the ante by setting her story in a small, yet competitive art college, and steeping it in codependency and obsession, both with the art and the friendship. In the same guise, though somehow in reverse - by way of subtracting instead of adding - the author sticks to the poetical, luscious writing she employed for her first novel, but prunes it of all the (often overdone) metaphors and craft her prose into a thing of beauty. The result is a terrific book (in more than one sense) that only goes to show how much Pearson has grown as a writer, while staying true to her signature style.

IMPASSIONED LOOK

Voice Like a Hyacinth is the story of five seniors - four lesbian, one bisexual - a at a small, yet very driven and competitive art college. They've been a close-knit group since junior year, but now the rivalry their school is forcing on them and (maybe even more) the looming threat of life after college is fracturing them in ways both small and huge. Messy, all-consuming friendship (and longing), dark academia and equally dark magic, visual art brilliance/artist's innocence and their corruption, a dash of #MeToo that sets the story in motion, all intersect during the whole senior year of the main characters, alternating patches of beauty and horror, elation and despair, in a way that - despite the supernatural angle - feels very true to life. I must admit that, when tragedy strikes, you have to suspend your disbelief a little - not about the magical bit, but about forensics allegedly not being able to realise that something doesn't compute...even in the aftermath of such a destructive event - but it's a very small quibble for me. With its honest look at art and (forced) competition, the struggle of creation, toxic yet pure emotional entanglements, the ways we hurt the ones we love more, the ways we (are forced to) change exactly while we refuse to, and ultimately, the ways we can make peace with ourselves, VLAH is a haunted and haunting gem of a book everyone who's ever felt strongly (about people, about art or their own craft) needs in their life.

This is a tough one for me to review. Part of me that wants to give a higher rating, but I have to be honest and acknowledge that I also struggled with finishing this book. In fact, it's pretty unheard of for me to stick with a book for this long (FIVE MONTHS) and not abandon it. I guess that's a testament to the quality of the book overall, given that I would typically quit and forget - but I found myself continuously coming back for another short visit to these characters and couldn't bring myself to give up on them without seeing this through.

Was it worth it in the end? I think so. The book is gorgeously written and the characters are compelling. The sense of longing and yearning bleeds off the page. The setting and atmosphere is quite perfect. Everything felt real and lived in. I was transported back to my own years in a fine arts university, sitting with my own chosen family, dreaming of bigger things. And that's what brought me back to this book time and time again, even as I started and finished dozens of books during the time it took me to read this one.

The problem I had was how slow of a burn this was. I felt bogged down and unmotivated to stick with this for more than a chapter at a time. Still, I think the right audience will find and ADORE this book, and I can completely understand why this would become a favorite for some. I wish I was one of them!

Thank you to NetGalley, 47 North Publishing, and Mallory Pearson for this early read ARC. Pub Date: February 1, 2025.

I’m struggling to find a positive place to start, but I have to be honest: I did not enjoy this book at all. The characters felt annoyingly childish, their struggles were unconvincing and repetitive, and the constant declarations of obsessive love for one another were tiresome. Instead of drawing me in, these elements pushed me further away from the story.

The premise follows five friends in art school who form an intense, exclusive clique. All queer women, they share a deep love for art—and for each other, to the point of suffocation. When they stumble upon a spell book, they cast a spell meant to elevate their art beyond their peers, with the hope of securing the coveted senior-year Solo art show. Predictably, the spell comes with consequences, testing their love and loyalty.

On paper, this sounds like a promising Dark Academia plot. But in execution, it falls flat. The characters lack depth and feel more like lifeless dolls being moved through a predictable narrative. The story desperately tries to deliver a message about friendship, ambition, and the cost of competition in a high-stakes environment, but it’s bogged down by repetitive themes and a lack of authenticity.

I rarely write reviews for books I don’t enjoy, but having finished this one, I felt compelled to share my thoughts. While the concept had potential, the execution left much to be desired. Unfortunately, I cannot recommend this book.

Voice Like a Hyacinth is a dark academia novel like we want them to be. It is a little bit queer (most characters are sapphic but it is not the main focus), it is about obsession and wanting to be the best, it is about yearning. It also makes you feel dread like no other.

The story follows Jo, a woman in her last year in a fine arts college. She lives with her four best friends on campus, and they, along with the six other students in their painting class, are competing to get to expose their work in the Solo exhibition at the end of the year. But only one student will be chosen and the group of friends is ready to try everything to get in.

Jo is an interesting character to follow because we basically don't know anything about her. We know that she is not interested in her family. We know she loves her friends in an almost unhealthy way. We know she doesn't feel good enough. But that's it. The story is told through her POV but we learn more about her friends, and how she views them, than about herself. She is obsessed with them, as is shown through her paintings, she wants to be in the group so bad she almost feel alien to it. It is fascinating.

The story quickly devolves into paranoia and unreliability. Did the ritual work or is Jo loosing her mind. Is she seeing things or is it monoxide poisoning. Every one around her sees her spiraling into madness but no one does anything about it because her art becomes great.

I loved how icky and dreadful the book felt without even delving that much into horror. There is only a couple of horrific scenes the rest is just obsession and a "not quite right" feeling. It's more litfic horror than true horror but it works great with the dark academia genre.

It worked for me in all the way Bunny by Mona Awad didn't. It did feel a little long by moment but it also fits the theme of going in circles, repetition, spiraling, etc. The ending was very strong in my opinion so I didn't mind the length too much.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book.

Find my reviews on Goodreads, The Storygraph, and Fable

The Craft goes to art school in Mallory Pearson’s Voice Like a Hyacinth, a witchy queer horror novel coming out in 2025. With themes revolving around martyrdom, ritual, and obsession, the bond between five young college artists twists and warps into something grotesque following a gory sacrifice. Will the spell they cast bring them the success they seek, or unimaginable destruction? Dun, dun, dunnnnn.

The title of this book comes from a translation of a stanza in a Sappho poem, depicting a hyacinth flower growing wild, beautiful, and free until it is trampled over and over by a shepherd's feet, becoming nothing more than a purple stain ground into the dirt. Though that poem is intended to represent something else, I came to think of Jo and her friends as the hyacinths, being trampled not by men (or, not only by men) but mainly by their own all-consuming ambition. (Editor’s note: I’m not an art historian or an expert on classic poetry by any means, so take of my interpretation what you will!) All of the unpleasantness that eventually unfolds for Jo, Caroline, Finch, Saz, and Amrita can be traced back to their desperate reach into the unknown for just the mere chance that something otherworldly might grant them success.

As a horror fanatic I really loved the supernatural, witchy elements of this novel and desperately wanted more, but the nature of the prickly friendship dynamics between Jo and co. is where Voice Like a Hyacinth really shines. Pearson nails the heady, platonic obsession that blooms when you’re young and you find your people, when everyone else on campus dims and fades in comparison.

That being said, what’s weird about this book is that the friendship built between Jo, Saz, Amrita, Finch, and Caroline also comes off as a little flimsy. We’re told over and over that these women are joined at the hip, intertwined to the point of cannibalism, gobbling up each others’ likes and dislikes and speaking tics until they practically move through campus as one. I never fully got the why of it, though — they don’t honestly seem like they’d be naturally primed for friendship with each other. I’m not sure I ever bought it. Regardless, there is a definite sense that to be in the group is addictive and seductive, as impossible to pull yourself out of as a riptide.

Many horror stories start with a cursed object — a book, a doll, a button. But in this novel the cursed thing is their friendship, doomed to bring them down.

This novel has a dark, Renaissance-era sensibility to it, wrapping gnarled, mangled imagery — meat spilling out of a chest cavity, blood smeared across splintered glass, roadkill — in florid, poetic descriptions. Sometimes that effect makes for a distorted kind of beauty in the prose, but for the most part I found the style overwrought at best, verging on pretentious at worst. (Maybe done purposefully to mimic the characters? Or . . .? ) Lush descriptions tip into grand metaphors that the sentences all but crumble beneath. I hate to say it, but it sometimes read as very . . . Tumblr. Not just purple prose, but a deep, dark, Russian violet. The good news is there’s a really solid, creepy story under all those unnecessary frills.

TL;DR — Any book that has as auspicious a beginning as one quoting both Sappho and Charli XCX, is worth a shot, imho, regardless of questionable and/or overly-dramatic creative choices.

Voice Like a Hyacinth hits shelves Feb. 1, 2025. Thank you to NetGalley and 47North for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!