I’ve been a fan of Cassandra Khaw for several years now and she always succeeds in making me gag while reading her visceral gore. This was such a unique story, as all her others have been too, and I really enjoyed it. Horror like this not for everyone but it is incredible if this is your cup of tea.

I really wanted to like this book; it had all the makings of a perfect book for me. Horror, dark academia, and fantasy? Sign me up immediately. Unfortunately, the execution fell short for me.

My main gripe with this novel is that it felt like it was abused with a thesaurus. Maybe I’m just an idiot, but I felt like I was googling words every other sentence. Then the juxtaposition of said words, such as solipsistic, with phrases like “goth mommy” really threw me off (as did the mention of the NBA, but I digress). My next issue was the world and character building just wasn’t fleshed out enough. Many of the characters were one-note and I kept forgetting who was who. It just left me feeling no desire to pick up the book, despite it being relatively short.

Overall, it was a great idea. I loved the horror aspects but they just fell flat when I couldn’t really find a reason to care about the characters.

Every time I see a new Cassandra Khaw work, I keep thinking that it'll be on par with The Salt Grows Heavy.

But alas, I keep getting let down.

This is definitely one of those books where you have to throw logic out of the window. The horror and gore were top notch. They were the only elements that brought this book from a 2-star read to a 3 star for me. (Hard to say no to a lesson where your professor tells you to dump buckets of maggots onto a vivisected undying person!)

But the actual story though? Confusing at best. Utterly inane at worst.

This was basically a slightly better version of Nothing But Blackened Teeth. (The rating and reviews for that book say everything.) There was no character development and the whole cast of characters weren't easily distinguishable from each other. It felt like being in a group chat with one close friend, a mutual, and like ten other strangers you've never met.

But there's at least a bit of world building (or attempts at one), so there's that.

Character interactions felt juvenile and silly. While I loved the Scholomance series because of the juvenile and silly interactions and relationships, it felt flat in this book. It was like the author wasn't sure if this was supposed to be serious horror or comedic horror or serious horror with comedic moments. So it ended up feeling like I was reading about a group of undergrads stuck in a haunted house.

The back-and-forth time jumps did nothing to establish character motives or relationships. We get to learn about their backgrounds, but that was pretty much it.

At least this was a quick read with lots of disturbingly detailed descriptions which kept me from writing this off as a total dud.

Thank you to Tor Nightfire and NetGalley for this arc.

Succinctly gory, vibrantly grisly. If that's what you're looking for, this blood-soaked book is for you. Tbh, though, the back-and-forth through time narration left me confused. I couldn't remember who was dead yet and when.

This one didn't grab me. All the pieces are there–the scary school where nothing is as it seems, the group of students who don't get along, the outsider protagonist–but it never quite came together. Part of that for me was the non-linear storytelling, but mostly I felt I'd read the book before, and enjoyed the other versions better.

Will be happy to watch when someone picks up the rights, though.

I was a huge fan of The Salt Grows Heavy so I knew I was going to like The Library at Hellebore. And I'm happy to admit that I was right. This book is just as gross and horrific as I wanted it to be. Cassandra Khaw has this incredible ability of lyrically writing the most disgusting body horror and I think it's honestly beautiful. There's also a good amount of political and social commentary that hits a little too close to home, but I'm glad that Khaw included it.
I admit that I had to look up over 45 words in the dictionary, and I was hoping for more 'dark academia' themes, but this was still a great read and I highly recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor for this ARC/eARC!

4.2-4,5 stars (I still can't decide)

Thank you to Netgalley for this advance reader copy. The Library at Hellebore is not a style I have read before.. The book has a good plot, I enjoyed the secondary characters and the overall premise. There were many times when I wondered if I should DNF this book, but I plowed through. The story is a gore fest. It is horror without suspense. The storyline jumps between different time periods of before Alessa's arrival at Hellebore, the experience of the courses at Hellebore and the 3 days following graduation. There were times when something unexpected would happen in the 3 days post graduation and then the story would jump back into the past and explain what precipitated that event or explained what a character had been discussing. There are a lot of good ideas in this tale and I could see snippets of what made reviewers compare this tale to Naomi Novak's style. However, this is not a tale that should be compared to Naomi Novak and that was what encouraged me to request this title.
I took one star away because I believe horror should have suspense. I feel that horror should compel me to not read before bedtime and I had no problem with this book. I took one star away because of the excessive gore descriptions and the stuttering way the plot progressed. I am tempted to remove a third star because of the number of times I realized I didn't care about the main character, Alessa. I didn't dislike her, I didn't have any feelings whatsoever about her or her motivations even after the story ended, I felt that I didn't know her at all. Because I did care about the secondary characters, I kept that star intact.

I'm not quite sure how to feel about this book. It was interesting and strange and disgusting all in one. I know I never want any to be at hellebore. The characters were interesting and entertaining. I'm still kind of in awe of the book and really not sure what to say. If you like disturbing books this one is definitely for you.

I finished this one at work and genuinely had to take a lap because that twist??????? Cassandra Khaw your mind is magic (and also slightly terrifying, but mostly magic)
The dual back-and-forth timeline took me a little bit to get into but overall? Easy 5 stars. This has all the hallmarks of a Cass Khaw book: lots and lots of gore, lots of darkness, descriptions of organs and orifices and creatures both queasy and captivating, a sprinkling of existential questioning regarding monsters and what makes them so awful in the first place and of course, garnished with the most lyrical, poetic and powerful prose.
I already want to go back in and reread this so I can catch all the foreshadowing bits I missed the first time round.
Also I think I speak for all librarians when I say I too crave death and wish I could spit acid at unruly patrons

My Rating: 4.25 stars!

This may have been the strangest thing I’ve ever read but I loved it? The darkness, the gore, the twists… I never knew what was about to happen. I found myself constantly entertained and enjoying the pure chaos that was happening in this demon school for anti-christs with cannibalistic teachers about to eat you. And Alessa was just so done with everything, not seeming to care in even the slightest of ways. It was fantastic.

I have no idea how I’m supposed to describe it to people.

I received a free copy from Tor Nightfire via Netgalley in exchange for a fair review. Publish date July 22nd, 2025.

I'm always up for a properly dark academia book about the corruption of the academic institution, and I was intrigued by the premise of this book. In The Library at Hellebore, Alessa Li is an unwilling student at the Hellebore Institute, a school where the most dangerous magic users go to be enjoyed. safe citizens. But on the day of graduation, the monstrous faculty turn on the students, devouring all of them except for a handful who flee to the library...

The Library at Hellebore is a book that is very much thumbing its nose at pretty, aestheticized visions of "dark academia." The Hellebore Institute has all the luxurious trappings of the most idealized pinterest board--Alessa's big bed with its glamorous hangings, a library that resembles Trinity's, elaborate dinner spreads in the dining hall, a trunk full of fancy uniform clothes just for Alessa. But these beautiful things are incongrously juxtaposed with Khaw's depiction of the brutality and indifference of the Institute. All of the teachers turn out to be Lovecraftian flesh horrors. The classes are pointless busywork. The students spend most of their time killing each other with no repercussions.

And speaking of killing, this is also a book devoted to a nightmarish phantasmagoria of body horror and disembowellings. Most of the students have killed multiple people, and all of them have magic powers that are a serious threat to the safety of the world. But there seem to be very few fireball casters or earthquake causers--it's body horror flesh gore all the way down. Alessa herself has the power to magically tear people apart. Another student can summon a swarm of cicadas that reduce people to fleshy shreds. There's a guy with a eldritch portal inside of him instead of internal organs who constantly vomits Lovecraftian mystery meat.

However, I felt that the performative quantity of gore was a bit overdone. To me, the best horror deploys the exact right amount of disturbing for the maximum impact. Once you've read the sixth luxuriously described disembowelling, the novelty begins to pall. In addition, Alessa's character is largely indifferent to whether her classmates live or die. Since this is a book about being trapped in a library as her classmates are gruesomely killed off, Alessa's weak attachment to the others dilutes the impact of their deaths.

Recommended for people who read the first scene of Bardugo's Ninth House, featuring the nonconsensual vivisection of a kidnapped homeless man for haruspicy, and thought wow, this book needs way more suffering and intestines. For the disembowellment enjoyers.

"The Library at Hellebore" by Cassandra Khaw is a captivating and atmospheric novella that follows a young librarian as she navigates the mysterious and sinister world of Hellebore's library.


Khaw's writing is evocative and immersive, with vivid descriptions of the library and its strange, otherworldly inhabitants. The characters are well-developed and complex, with the protagonist being a particularly relatable and likable heroine.

Actual rating 3.5 stars

Messy. Dark. Chaotic.

In Khaw's signature style of complex horror stories, The Library at Hellebore, is at the very top of her work for the most deadly setting where the stakes are kill or be killed, and the body horror is dialed up at an 11.

Throughout my read, what I really found myself wanting was ... MORE. I wanted more detail of Hellebore and how it functions day to day. What was the reason for the teachers going full on cannibal? I was hungry for details and was a smidge let down with it.

However, this was just a bundle of fun. Chaotic fun. Which honestly is something I enjoy reading! It’s a quick, brutal read that’ll stick with you—like that time I tried to keep a cactus alive and it still haunts me with its prickly ghost. It's one hell-of a ride, pun intended!!

OMG over the moon to see this approval hit my inbox! i can’t wait to dig in- this sounds amazing and the cover is stunning 💫 i will be leaving my review on goodreads and retailers to come xx

Firstly, thank you to NetGalley and Tor for the e-ARC!

I wanted to love this, and there were aspects of it that I did love: Alessa is such a compelling character, and the body horror was VISCERAL. (The descriptions of the Librarian were nightmare fuel in a good way). However, the pacing felt off -- the alternating between "Before" and "After" the Big Twist didn't really work for me. I also really wanted more worldbuilding. Supervillain boarding school in a world where magic suddenly came back is such a cool concept, and it just doesn't get fleshed out. The focus was more on Alessa's internal life and her personal experiences. I feel like this would've worked better for me either as a novella or expanded into a duology. All that being said, it's a fun read especially for body horror enjoyers.

When I first read the blurb for this book, I was really worried that it would be too similar to

I am thankful to report though that this is an entirely different beast of the dark academic breed.

The premise of this story is really darkly delightful. Khaw does not shy away from elements of body horror and withholding information from the reader until the right time. It was fun if not a bit jumbled at times. The now/past format is not exactly kind for clarity in some sections.

One thing that kept me from fully enjoying this read though was a sense of repetition due to obscure words being used in too quick of succession. I don't mind having to look up definitions but this was a lot. Also words "oil" and "oiliness" appear way too frequently for me not to notice.

There was also a few hiccups in how certain scenes are told. I had a hard time picturing a few moments early on.

Very well written as I think only Cassandra Khaw could have done. The setting quickly becomes terrifying and there is all kinds of detailed gory violence, but with nearly poetic language. Most of the characters are broken or damaged in some way and we see them trying to make the best of a very bad situation. There is also a lot of interesting (if usually horrible) magic in the book. I would definitely not want to live in any of the author's novels and some of them (like this one) would probably be too intense for me even as a movie, but they are very powerful as a book that I might have to put down for a day or two sometimes.

Dark academia with a brutal gory twist?! Stop this was AMAZING!!! I have no other words, I was entertained, disgusted and enthralled all at once!

This book was visceral and gory, and such a fantastic read! The whole premise of a school for those that are basically magical forces of nature, sounded so good, and I really enjoyed seeing how the story played out!

This is a book that plays around with the timeline, of the now when they're graduating and it all went wrong, and from when their school term started, with Alessa getting abducted. The way that it gave us all the information that we needed about what was going on, it was a great narration choice!

One thing that I really wanted to know, was what the situation was with her roommate. Because of the way it starts, it's the aftermath of what happened, and I was so unbearably curious. So that was in the back of my mind as the story progressed, before and after that event, whatever happened and why.

Of course there's the threat of the faculty trying to eat them all, but there's also the threats of all the students that made it into the library. I wanted to know how they were going to get out, and who, because there were a lot of high emotions and conflicting desires and motivations in their fight for survival.

Loved reading this book and I can't wait to read more by Cassandra Khaw!

I am a huge fan of Khaw's prose and style of writing. Their ability to marry poetic with stomach-churning is unparalleled...I however, would have liked to see a bit more world building...like I wanted MORE and I don't think that's necessarily a negative take.

I will continue to read everything they write. You will still find the incredible prose Khaw excells in, that's for sure.