Book 32 for my 2026 goal of 36 books for the year!  My link to the book is through my bookshop.org affiliate account, which means I may earn a small commission if you buy from there.

I bought Cassandra Khaw’s The Library at Hellebore (2026) at the recent Belmont Literary Festival, where I was able to meet the author and get the book signed. She noted, almost as a warning, that the book has a lot of gore.

She was not exaggerating; someone explodes on page one of the novel!

This is a book of dark academia, set at a school of magic where things have gone horribly, horribly wrong. It is one of the more unrelentingly nightmarish books I’ve read in a long time… and I loved every minute of it.

In our modern age, magic has returned, along with gods and demons. Many children are born with magical powers, some of them with enough power to eventually bring about an actual end of the world. The governments of the world have responded as expected, with strict regulation and academies to teach those with magic how to use it responsibly.

The Hellebore Technical Institute for the Ambitiously Gifted is the more prestigious academy of its kind, taking on those students with apocalyptic potential. Some students voluntarily enroll, while others like Alessa Li are kidnapped and forced to participate. Though there are classes and orientation ceremonies and teachers, to Alessa the Institute seems more interested in containing the students than educating them. Students die, are murdered, or murder each other quite regularly and there is little to no punishment for such incidents.

Still, all the students are promised freedom after graduation, and many of those who are at the academy unwillingly live in hope for graduation day. But when the day finally comes, it devolves into carnage and gruesome death, and a small number of student survivors barricade themselves in the magically-protected Library at Hellebore for safety. But then a note from the murderous, ravenous faculty is delivered to them, telling them that only one of them can survive and they have three days to determine who it will be. Can the students, who all have blood on their hands already, work together to survive and escape?

As I’ve said, this is not a novel for the overly squeamish — it is filled with gore and body horror. The magical powers of the students are themselves often quite gruesome. One student, a literal antichrist-in-the-making, can burn people with unholy flame. Another who is nearly unkillable can predict the future by reading the signs in his own extracted bloody entrails. Yet another is a beloved of a cicada god that will send its minions to eat anyone who threatens him. And Alessa herself has the power to stitch together — or unstitch — the flesh of the human body and can literally tear people to pieces.

I personally am not usually a fan of excessive gore in stories but it didn’t bother me in this novel, largely because it is so integral to the story and Cassandra Khaw has built such a compelling world that I found myself wanting to know more regardless of how bloody it got!

The atmosphere of the Institute, its faculty and staff, and the Library that becomes an unexpected prison is incredible. Khaw really conveys the feeling of a place that has the bare veneer of civilization covering a cruel and monstrous foundation. As the novel progresses, we learn more of the secrets of the Institute and all of it is just so fascinating.

The cruelty and indifference of institutions and powerful people seems to be the heart of the story. As we learn more about the students of the academy, we see how many of them are victims despite being incredibly and murderously powerful. Alessa’s powers manifested in response to abuse from a family member, and other characters have similarly tragic backstories. We quickly see the Institute not as a place of learning and support but one of control; if this isn’t a metaphor for a lot of what’s going on in the modern world I don’t know what is.

I was wondering when I was reading the book whether it was, in a small way, a commentary on another famous book series about a wizarding school. My question seems to have been partly answered at one point when, during orientation, the headmaster jokingly proposes sorting the different students into “houses.” I almost feel like Khaw is saying, “Oh, you think a school full of immature students with murderous supernatural powers is fun? Let me show you what it would be like!”

This is only the second book I’ve read by Cassandra Khaw after her 2021 novel Nothing But Blackened Teeth. I found that book good but find The Library at Hellebore a modern masterpiece. I suspect I will be haunted by the halls of the Hellebore Technical Institute for quite some time.

PS I feel like I should mention that the physical book is wonderfully constructed. It’s definitely one I will keep in my permanent collection.