This book was perfect for spooky season! Dark YA Fantasy/Horror anyone?

Our story follows Page who has received a scholarship to a very prestigious boarding school, the scholarship couldn’t have come at a more perfect time what with the deadly incident that she was involved in at her current school…..
With parents who are always looking at you with fear in their eyes and a girlfriend who screams now everytime you enter the room, this new adventure is just what Page needs!
Or so she thinks…
After arriving at the school she quickly starts to realize things are not what they seem… can things really be going bad again or is it something sinister lurking just below the surface?

This was a good one for spooky season! I really enjoyed it!

Page Whitacker had some major issues at her old school in Lakeland, Florida, but now she has received a scholarship to fancy Agathion, a school in England for rich kids with behavioral issues.

And what a school! There’s no tech allowed, everything is supplied to students and they are focused solely on classical Latin and Greek works.

Page meets Cyrus on her first day and wants to fit in with him and his crew, Ren, Gideon, Oak and Lacey. She actually does find a place within the group and then becomes privy to a secret that could change the whole school, may the whole WORLD, and will reveal who she really is.

The first half of the book is definitely YA for YA and I don’t know that adult readers would love it, but if those readers stick around for the second half this fantasy/dark academia books gets much wider in scope. It’s also a nice introduction to classic (meaning SUPER classical, think Cicero, not PRIDE AND PREJUDICE) literature for those unfamiliar. Fantasy is not my thing, but if it’s yours you may enjoy this one.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.


I’m rating this book a 3.5 out of 5. I have not read any of this authors other works so I didn’t have any expectations. It was an easy book to pick up for fun but the beginning was really slow and pretty boring. It didn’t get interesting until like 40-50% in but once it does get there it’s a really good story. I wish the reveals and story building were a little more spread out to make it less boring in the beginning and to not dump everything in like w chapters mushed together. Other than that it was really good, I liked the bits of mythology in it.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Children's Publishing for an ARC of this book.

This book is the prime example of interesting concepts and poor execution. "Unhallowed Halls" follows Paige, a new student to the Agathion boarding school. As Paige begins to acclimate to her new life, she quickly realizes things are not as they seem at this school. While the initial plot does provide an alluring hook to the reader, once you hit the 30% mark of this book, the plot begins to fall apart. This is a YA novel, and one aspect that was quite refreshing was the authors choice to move away from the overdone YA tropes. Furthermore, another interesting and important element to this book was the presentation of a main character suffering a chronic illness. I feel that Wilkinson handled the subject with a lot of care.

As the novel progresses fantasy/magic elements are added in. Although this fantasy aspect of the plot becomes the focus for the rest of the book, the magic system and presence of fantasy feels like an after thought. In many ways the addition of these fantasy elements feels like a surface level interaction with the genre of fantasy in order to market the book.

Although I had such a strong negative reaction to the last half of the book, I really enjoyed the first 5o pages. The ambience, and eeriness were thrilling and engaging. One of the main reasons I did not DNF this book, was because I was hoping for the tone that was used in the first part of the book would return.

One final element that is essential to the plot of this book, is "interaction" with classical texts. As an Ancient Greek and Latin student, I am always skeptical when books reference works from antiquity, I become even more skeptical when this material is presented in an academic setting within a book. As much as I can appreciate the mention/presence of these texts, the critique and interaction felt like it came from the SparkNotes section of each work. There was so much room for nuance. A major theme and discussion point that is brought up (far too late in the book) is the allegory of Plato's book. I would argue that in many ways the plot is intended to replicate this allegory (but instead: a cave is replaced with an isolated boarding school). This connection with the plot and the allegory could have been capitalized in so many ways, and present a fascinating critique of the faults with a classical education.

Overall, I do not think this book was meant for me, but if could still see a lot of fantasy readers enjoining this book.

I was intrigued by the concept of this book because I enjoy dark academia and had recently read the Curious Tides book which this books was said to appeal to the fans of. However, I was not in love with this book. It started relatively strongly and then just became pretty meh for about 60% of the book. The ending was satisfying enough but again, was just rather meh.

Unhallowed Halls had me anxious with anticipation with every passing moment. The dark and suspenseful atmosphere really swallows you whole. I absolutely loved the characters and was blown away by the complexity of the story.

Page, from a lower middle-class home in Florida, has lost most of her memory of a traumatic event that occurred at her last school. This event left her closest friend screaming and in the hospital. Page is excited by the offer of a scholarship to a private school, Agathion, promising classical learning in a structured, intellectual environment. She dreams of discussing English literature and finds the classical learning is based on ancient Greek philosophers. This is a great new take on magic schools and the difficulty of distinguishing between friends and frenemies and good and evil.
This was a fun and interesting read and I really appreciate both NetGalley and Random House for this advanced reader copy.

This was perfect for atmosphere book for fall. This was a perfect young adult version of a dark academia story.

This book did not pull me in at all, and because of this, I was quite lost throughout the story. I am still not entirely sure what was going on.

I was really excited for this title but it read very “not like other girls” our main character read very pretentious at times in a way that didn’t seem genuine with the dark academia genre. It felt mainly like this book was written for aesthetics and lacked any actual depth.

Unhallowed Halls by Lili Wilkinson is a thrilling and atmospheric novel that combines mystery and supernatural elements with a touch of dark humor. Set in a mysterious, old boarding school, the story follows a group of students uncovering secrets that blur the lines between reality and the paranormal. Wilkinson's writing is sharp and engaging, with well-drawn characters and a gripping plot that keeps readers on edge. Perfect for fans of gothic mysteries and supernatural thrillers.