All That Consumes Us by Erica Waters (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: All That Consumes Us by Erica Waters Natalie Berglind Waters, Erica All That Consumes Us. HarperTeen, 2023 [416p] Trade ed. ISBN 9780063115965 $19.99 E-book ed. ISBN 9780063115972 $10.99 Reviewed from digital galleys R Gr. 9-12 Aspiring to be an author and just as determined to get away from her overly dependent mother, seventeen-year-old Tara enrolls in Corbin College, even if the high tuition means she'll have to work two jobs. She gets lucky, however, when she's offered a spot in the tuition-covering, cult-like, elite academic society Magni Viri in the wake of an MV girl's death. The Gothic dorm hall that houses MV students isn't what Tara is expecting; it's messy, and the students have red-rimmed eyes and obsessive attachments to their areas of study. Following a cemetery ritual, Tara finds that her writing, once an obstacle, flows easily off the page, but her stories are dark and full of the macabre, she can't remember writing them, and she feels constantly watched. Like in Waters' The Restless Dark (BCCB 10/22), the pacing is exquisite, a creeping horror that escalates into a waking nightmare and a combustive, satisfying conclusion. The Gothic genre is adapted to the modern university setting with care, seamlessly tying into themes of how academic institutions run students literally, metaphorically, and supernaturally into the ground. Genre-savvy Tara is a refreshing protagonist, jumping to the same conclusions readers would about her supernatural predicament. Additionally, the students in Magni Viri are fleshed-out characters readers will want to root for, and even amidst the darkness of the story, the feeling of belonging in Tara's new, queer found family is heartwarming. Readers who will soon be attending college and love classic literature, writing, or the dark academia aesthetic will find much to appreciate in this queer Gothic tale. Copyright © 2023 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois