As I Descended

by Robin Talley

[ccbookwitch]

To start out this review, I'm going to give you a run down of all the types of lesbians you will find in this book:

closeted lesbians
creeped out but skeptical lesbians
lesbians who can talk to spirits
diabolical lesbians
regretful lesbians
highly concerned lesbians
super terrified lesbians
pretty darn crazy lesbians
To be fair, these lesbians are all the same two lesbians, namely Maria and Lily. This book is obviously super intense, and goes all over the place in the drama department. It's a Macbeth retelling, too, so it's super dark and creepy as well. It's atmospheric and you can feel the fog of bad things coming on every page.

The setting is perfect for the story. First of all, I'm a total sucker for boarding school stories. and a haunted boarding school? Don't even get me started. I loved getting to know the dark history behind the school and thought it was woven into the story very well. Acheron wasn't just there for the sake of making the story more appealing, it was really it's own character.

Though I loved the setting, the retelling aspect, the diversity (including disability rep!), and the strong writing, I did find myself wanting a little more in terms of character goals and the relationship between Lily and Maria. It seemed like they lost sight of their goals pretty quickly after the first bad thing that happens (trying not to spoil so I'm being vague), and then we don't get to see much of their relationship either. Maybe the way it was played out was realistic, but I wanted them to be even more diabolical and focused on their goals.

Despite those little quibbles, I still loved this book and highly, highly recommend it. I can't believe I've waited this long to read something by Robin Talley, and I don't anticipate this being the last book I read by her. If you're looking for something with a lot of diversity with a heavy dose of creepiness and have a love of Macbeth, definitely check this one out.