⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
The first thing that caught my attention about this book was the name! As a huge fan of If we were villains, this one kinda gave that vibe, specially after realizing that it was a dark academia too so, of course I had to request and it was good, not great, but good.

This is the typical DA storyline where a neutral/outsider person gets sucked up into a group of toxic frenemies and watch how slowly everything spiral out of his control into obssesion and often murder and as such it gave exactly what I was looking for.

The plot was a wild ride if a bit slow start and I loved getting to know the setting, the group dinamics, and the descent to darkness was both horrifying and fun to read. History and mythology are frequent themes of study and being this book set in Scotland it did not disappoint in that regard, you can tell the author did a lot of research.

However, the entire story felt for me a fever dream! The characters were high on mushrooms all the time and that affected my experience of understanding what was going on. I cannot fully explain it but I was so lost sometimes that I had to read one scene over and over. Also, I felt that for story about characters, their development felt lacking in detriment of the shock of the story.

So, I do kinda recommend but to people that like me, are constantly looking for new traditional dark academia books to read.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to access the advanced reader copy of When We Were Killers!

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a chance to read this ARC!

If you're into stories about a good person who gets pulled into a toxic crowd and their crazy research, leading to obsession and murder, then this one’s right up your alley.

It was quite the journey; it started off a bit slow but quickly gained momentum in the second half. I really liked the research aspects, and the darker elements were spot on, and watching everything spiral out of control was both chilling and oddly entertaining.

My sincere thanks to NetGalley, C.F. Barrington, Aria&Aries and Head of Zeus for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

3,5/5
Seems that “When We Were Killers” is polarizing the readers a bit, mostly because of the obvious similiarity of this title to “If We Were Villains” by M.L.Rio (which I love, by the way). Personally I'm not a fan of such comparisons, I usually prefer to look at books on their own merit.

Finn Nethercott is a first-year student of St Andrews University who gradually becomes fascinated with a tight group of friends, history scholars, deeply immersed in all things pagan, heathen, Viking and Nordic. There are stories and celebrations of ancient Scottish roots and rituals around the fire, but also drugs. And this last element is becoming particularly dangerous, because one of the group, de facto leader, is obsessed in his search for a mysterious hallucinogen which, according to stories, had induced battle rage in berserkers.

What I liked about it: the well researched lore, the pagan celebrations (as I am pagan myself), the dynamic between friends, the gradual descent into obsession and madness with an element of folie a' deux, and Anna.
What I did not like: in my opinion, Finn was a weak character, too weak to serve as a relatable guide through the story, not to mention that some of his actions are so dumb it hurts; the rivalry between the two academic groups is a bit cartoonish and the ending, as a whole, is a bit lacking.

But still it was an interesting page turner and a very decent dark academia representative, a good addition to my collection.

#WhenWeWereKillers #NetGalley

This was a hard book to get into. It was definitely a slow burn. It was the first book I read that focused on Scotland, which I thought was cool. I used to watch outlander and some of the history that was told in this book I had known from watching that show, so I loved that aspect.

The entire story made me feel like I was in a fever dream. The characters in the book didn’t have much of a story line that was understood, and they did a lot of mushrooms that made them hallucinate and at times confused me on what was going on.

I will say once we hit the 70% mark of the book, it picked up and really kept my interest. The story itself wasn’t badly written, it’s just going to attract a certain audience, and I’m not sure that that audience would include me.

If you like to learn about history in certain countries and religions, you’d enjoy this book. Also heavy in dark academia with a not so secret society within a college. If that interests you, you’d should definitely add this one to your tbr.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ebook arc in exchange for my honest review. Always appreciated!

Dark academia, hallucigenucs, pagan rituals and Scottish folklore....utterly absorbing and heartbreaking to read.
Set in St Andrews, a group of academic misfits and damaged souls come together to celebrate anything in the calendar worth celebrating, only their secretive underground clan leads them down dark paths.
Finn, a new undergrad, is vulnerable to their charms and as a reader its is tragic to be powerless to his unraveling.
Fantastic characters, especially gorgeous Anna and her antithesis, Madri representing darkness and light. The religious themes are there and add a layer of emotion rather than judgement.
A wonderful book, will be in my top 10 of 2025.

I have to admit, a few pages in I already knew this book was not for me. But I did my best and managed to finish it. I actually believe that it's a good novel, and it was just a case of a wrong match, so I decided to give it three stars, and let other readers discover the dangers of how feeling lonely and like an outcast can lead you to the wrong people and get you in a lot more trouble that you would ever wish for.

A first year student at St. Andrew's University finds himself drawn into a group of students obsessed with Scotland's history. However, this group is more deadly than it seems.

I wanted to like this one, especially with the comparison to If We Were Villains. However, I found the writing choppy and hard to really get into. I also felt like the reader was thrown in with little intro/context.

For years now I've been ranting about how book marketers compare this or that book the <i>The Secret History</i> and I've long suspected that none of them have actually read that book because the comparison is never even close. Here we have a book that matches TSH note-for-note and it's nowhere in the "if you liked" part. Just proves that the marketing people have no idea what they're doing!

Anyway, as I said, this is clearly the work of someone who read Tartt's book and internalized the structure and emotional flow of the book. Intentional hommage or not, this book may appeal strongly to those who have never read the earlier book. For those of us who have, however. . . I would have liked more about the Brythonic holidays and the Dal Riata (not the Clan, the actual kingdom). The ending was incredibly disappointing, with Justus's and Magnus' motivations being so small in reality, and if feels as though Madri's are just glossed over.

eARC provided by publisher via Netgalley.

Dark Academia is one of my favourite genres and this had everything I love about DA. I couldn't put it down I was drawn in from the very first sentence and read it in one sitting.

When We Were Killers is an excellent Dark Academia novel.

We begin our journey in 1992 when freshman student Finn Nethercott arrives at St. Andrews University in Scotland to begin his studies in Christian Theology. I have mentioned before about titles that are similar to The Secret History because although in the marketing perspective there is a lot of comparisons like that, few titles actually manage to make good on delivering a story that is by any means even remotely comparable to the original Dark Academia novel. When We We Killers is one of them. And it in fact sits alongside the echelons of what I like to call the holy trinity of religious studies of DA which includes the other two fantastic novels, The Gospel of Eve and The Orchard, which I both thoroughly recommend.

One of the best aspects of When We Were Killers is the fact that it is set in Scotland which allows for the author to explore the many traditions and legends related to spiritual beliefs of the place. So for one we have Finn studying about Christian Theology, discussing about the gospels and having to write essays that sometimes even get borderline philosophical, and for another we have him joining up a group, or better yet a Clan as they like to call themselves, where they observe pagan traditions of several kinds, making their own little rituals and searching for communion with nature, beauty, transcendence and more. Sounds familiar? I bet it does. I love how the author inserted these various traditions, going from Celtic, Gaelic, Druidic, pagan, Roman and Vikings as well, which does take the center stage quite alongside with the Christian Theology part more than any other. The members of the Clan are searching for a drug, more specifically a type of mushroom, that they believe is responsible to cause the frenzies that drove the Viking warriors, known as Berserkers, to battle; giving them superhuman strength and endurance as well as an insatiable desire for violence. I was so so excited about all of these themes and concepts! Not only it managed to bring originality to the concept we are familiar from TSH, and at the same time pay homage to that, but also the author was able to incorporate these concepts so skilfully in the story it created a fulfilling reading experience.

The pacing of the story was great, weaving a different mix of arcs that it kept me interested and on the edge of my seat at the same time. I particularly loved how despite the fact that Finn wants to belong in the select group of the Clan, he still has other friends outside of this circle, and I found that to work wonders for the story, not merely because it allowed for more interactions for the main character to have, but also because it made for a believable character arc and allowed for him to have growth; plus because of that he has two different perspectives in terms of religious studies, but also in friends who pursue vastly different lifestyles than he does, allowing for his worldview to expand. There is also the aspect that the members of the Clan are all older than him, therefore pursuing different scopes of study, but with his friends from Divinity, he is closer to the academic life more narrowly speaking; we have several scenes of him partaking in the annual traditions of St. Andrews such as the foam party and the drinking game on the stairs where he is only accompanied by his Divinity friends. All of that made the novel have so much more grandeur in my eyes, seeing as it was able to add several of the characteristics of a good DA novel, in such a dynamic and authentic way. Trust me when I say, I was positively giddy while reading this one, it was exactly my cup of tea.

Finn is of course, the perfect unreliable narrator, constantly disrupting the text with ominous foreshadowing’s from the future, which only made my curiosity peak higher. I started to have a theory about how things would go down at the climax of the story, which ended up correct in the end and it only made me happy to know I was right.

This story was immersive and propulsive, filled with beautiful descriptions of settings in Scotland, and the perfect gothic atmosphere of the St. Andrews University. The gothic aspects are also exhaustively present in the construction of the mental state of its protagonist inasmuch as he descends over the course of the novel to become paranoid, insecure, and completely shattered due to the progressions of events he is unable to take control of, or escape from.

This novel is coming out on March 06th and I can confidently declare that it will be the best Dark Academia of 2025! If you’re looking for a fine Dark Academia story that features discussions of religious aspects; secret societies; mushroom tripping gone wrong; the desire to belong; the deadly consequences of pursuing your academic interests to the extreme, look no further because When We Were Killers is the book for you!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Thank you to Head of Zeus for sending me an arc in exchange for my honest opinion!

I found this book a difficult one to read, the big chunks of Laurie’s stories like I understood why the information was needed but it was too much in my personal opinion.

The actual plot was good although I’d of liked an answer to what actually happened that night.

Overall for the right person I have no doubt it would be a 5* book but for me it was too difficult to read with no flow.

The prologue was intruiging and set up for what i hoped would be an interesting and action packed read.

I wanted to like this book and the author obviously researched well to create the history and details but it took away from the actual novel for me and made it drag where I wanted more action and drama. For some i think the history will be great but for me not so much.

I was obsessed all the way long in the book. soo good it kept me on edge. A real GEM to discover in 2025.

Good book.. loved the characters and story line. I enjoyed reading it. I would recommend this to other readers.

I really wanted to like this book, but found myself wishing it would hurry up and be over. I was curious enough to see how ended, so I kept reading, but was somewhat disappointed with the lack luster ending. There was obviously a lot of care put into this story, based on the amount of history and details, but I felt this occasionally took away from the story because it was too much. Ultimately, this book was not for me. But based on the number of other good reviews, I would still recommend reading if the synopsis intrigues you.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing the Arc

So, if you'd like to read a story about a good person who gets sucked up into a toxic group of people and their research, and watch as everything spirals into obsession and murder... this story is for you. I, for one, enjoyed it.

It's a dark academia set in a prestigious academy in Scotland in the '90s, and our protagonist, Finn, is an outsider. However, he soon meets this odd group of people who are just obsessed with finding what kind of drug the Berserkers took to go berserk. How, you might wonder? Well, by trying out every allucinogen on earth in every possible way. Soon, however, things get darker and relationship are tested, as well as the safety of the group and our MC.

It was a wild ride, it started slow but soon picked up, and I could not put it down, especially in the second half. I really enjoyed the research elements and, most of all, I loved the juxstaposition of the darkness of the friend group and the brightness and hope brought by Anna, Finn's classmate. The darker tones were just perfect and the spiraling was horrifying to witness - but in a fun (ish) way.

The prologue was captivating, setting the scene for an easy to read, action packed read.
Unfortunately for me, that was where the excitement ended. The rest of the book felt a little disjointed and labourius to read. It felt rather fluffy.
The mystery/thriller element was great though, which is this novels saving grace.

When We Were Killers by C.F. Barrington is a dark academia thriller that masterfully blends historical intrigue with psychological suspense, all set against the haunting backdrop of St Andrews University in Scotland. From the moment protagonist Finn Nethercott—a brooding, troubled first-year student—steps onto the ancient, salt-scented grounds of the university, the reader is drawn into a world where privilege, ambition, and obsession collide.

Finn's initial encounter with an enigmatic group of history scholars propels him into a shadowy quest that intertwines Celtic and Viking lore, ancient rituals, and the dangerous allure of a mythical hallucinogen. As the story unfolds, the group’s academic fascination with Viking berserkers spirals into a chaotic and deadly reality.

Barrington's writing is immersive, balancing rich historical detail with a fast-paced, suspenseful narrative. The setting is magnetic—mist-shrouded lochs, crumbling ruins, and gothic university halls create an atmospheric tension that elevates the story. The vivid descriptions make the Scottish landscape an essential character, amplifying the novel’s eerie, otherworldly tone.

Finn's journey is compelling, as he navigates toxic friendships, repressed trauma, and his search for belonging. However, while the story delves deeply into Finn’s psyche, other characters, such as the enigmatic Madri, feel underexplored. Her extreme reactions suggest a hidden depth that remains frustratingly unexamined.

The novel’s pacing is uneven at times, with some sections feeling overly academic, reminiscent of a lecture rather than a thriller. Yet, these moments are offset by tense, visceral scenes during the group's drug-fueled rituals, where reality and myth blur in a disorienting, dream-like haze.

The ending, while gripping, feels rushed, leaving certain character arcs unresolved. A more deliberate conclusion could have amplified the emotional payoff and provided a deeper understanding of the story's central relationships.

When We Were Killers is a captivating exploration of ambition, privilege, and the dangerous edges of obsession. Fans of The Secret History and dark academia will find much to admire in this atmospheric and thought-provoking thriller, even if it doesn’t fully explore all its narrative threads.

Thank you to Head of Zeus and NetGalley for the ARC.

This book was written with such detail for each and every story that it's hard to believe that it's fiction. The author took great care in the research and details for this story. It was a slow start to get your in with all the characters and the back drop, but once the first event takes place you are then wrapped up in with everyone else till the end.

I am a first time read for this author but found that I enjoyed his writing and I was able to relate well with his characters. Finn, a first year student at St. Andrews University traveling away from home, finds himself with a group of students with similar academic interests. They as a clan are in discovery of what made the ancient Viking behavior so animalistic and raw. It was believe to be because of some drug that they ingested and these scholars were on a quest to seek it out.

I enjoyed the story and the events which took place that ultimately lead them to find their answers. The story took a bit longer than I am used to to grab my attention, but other than that I thoroughly enjoyed it. I would highly recommend this to those that enjoy a great fiction book.