Immortal Consequences by I.V. Marie

The quick cut: Six students at an enchanted school in purgatory compete for a chance to move on or become an elite member.

A real review:

If you were stuck in purgatory, what would you do to move forward? Would you be willing to compete for a chance to decide your future? This is an opportunity for the students of Blackwood Academy.

Blackwood Academy is a unique school where everyone who is there meets a specific criteria: each one experienced death temporarily while still alive. Now, on the edge of the afterlife, they exist in purgatory where they go into the Ether and collect souls to move on. Every ten years, a test known as the Decennial gives one student the opportunity to either move on or become one of the elite at the school. Who will be in the Decennial? Is it what they thought it is?

This book may be over 400 pages, but it reads very quickly. I loved every moment of this book and did not want to see it end! It definitely takes the dark academia trope and gives it a unique twist.

Of the six characters, the ones who I enjoyed the most was Wren and August. They have a real love-hate relationship going and seeing that play out, even as they compete, is interesting to watch. Masika and Irene were the ones I enjoyed the least, mostly because they seemed so boring to me as characters.

This story has so many elements to pull on and I don't want to spoil anything, but the journey is well worth it! The school, their enemies, and the competition all seem like different elements that actually come together in a surprisingly different way.

A fun and new twist on the dark academia story.

My rating: 5 out of 5