Tag Archives: dark academia

Review: Corpse de Ballet by Megan Kearney

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Corpse de Ballet by Megan Kearney

Corpse de Ballet
Megan Kearney
First Second
Published July 7, 2026

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Corpse de Ballet

In her solo graphic novel debut, Megan Kearney weaves a fresh tale of dark academia and brutal competition. This psychological thriller is perfect for fans of Black Swan!

Arriving at Saint Anselmus in the middle of the year, Rosamund Hammond is ready to practice hard and prove she deserves to be there. But something at this boarding school doesn’t feel right.

It turns out that just before Rosamund enrolled, a student disappeared without telling anyone. Was it really a leave of absence—or something more sinister? Together with her new roommate, Rosamund spirals deeper and deeper into an obsession with the truth. As the school prepares for its showcase performance of Coppélia, can she commit to her hard-earned ballet dreams while solving the mystery that’s haunting her—or will she lose herself in the process?

My Review

As a former dancer, I love books that feature ballet. Graphic novels are especially fun because of the visual representation of dance. This one is no exception. I loved the way that the illustrations captured the movement of dance. The story emphasizes the difference between rote performance and transcendent embodiment of roles and movements. The panels capture that nicely.

I also enjoyed the psychological elements. For a long stretch of the story, I wasn’t sure what to believe. Is Rosamund imagining things? Which characters are trustworthy? Someone is hiding things, but who is it? As the intensity builds, I found myself reading faster, eager to reach the moment the truth is revealed.

Another wonderful surprise in this book is how much history it contains. While I was familiar with the ballet Coppélia, I didn’t know anything about the original tale it was adapted from or anything about the author of that story. That history and some information about famous performances of the story tied together really well with the story Kearney tells here.

Altogether, this is a clever, gorgeous story that will delight and haunt its readers. It’s not quite as intense as the movie The Black Swan, but if you like that kind of story, definitely check this one out.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Strong profanity used pretty infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
Rosamund believes a ghost is communicating with her. References to a story about an alchemist seeking to animate an automaton.

Violent Content
Bullying and manipulation. Psychological tension. Brief reference to a ritual human sacrifice in a story.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: Youngblood by Sasha Laurens

Book Review and Content, Paranormal, Romance, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , , ,

Youngblood
Sasha Laurens
Razorbill
Published July 19, 2022

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Youngblood

For fans of VAMPIRE DIARIES and dark academia, two queer teen bloodsuckers at an elite vampire-only boarding school must go up against all of Vampirdom when they uncover a frightening conspiracy on campus.

Kat Finn and her mother can barely make ends meet living among humans. Like all vampires, they must drink Hema, an expensive synthetic blood substitute, to survive, as nearly all of humanity has been infected by a virus that’s fatal to vampires. Kat isn’t looking forward to an immortal life of barely scraping by, but when she learns she’s been accepted to the Harcote School, a prestigious prep school that’s secretly vampires-only, she knows her fortune is about to change.

Taylor Sanger has grown up in the wealthy vampire world, but she’s tired of its backward, conservative values—especially when it comes to sexuality, since she’s an out-and-proud lesbian. She only has to suffer through a two more years of Harcote before she’s free. But when she discovers her new roommate is Kat Finn, she’s horrified. Because she and Kat used to be best friends, a long time ago, and it didn’t end well.

When Taylor stumbles upon the dead body of a vampire, and Kat makes a shocking discovery in the school’s archives, the two realize that there are deep secrets at Harcote—secrets that link them to the most powerful figures in Vampirdom and to the synthetic blood they all rely on.

My Review

Paranormal isn’t usually a go-to genre for me, but when I heard about YOUNGBLOOD, I kinda couldn’t resist. I have hardly kept up with current vampire books, so it’s possible some of the things that appealed most to me have been done in other places, but a lot of things in the description of the story felt pretty fresh and new to me.

I loved the idea that the vampires have developed a blood substitute and that because of a pandemic, it has become unsafe to feed on human blood. The changes that brought to the vampire culture and community and the way that’s explored in the story were things I’ve never seen done anywhere else.

I don’t think I’ve ever read a book with a boarding school that’s 100% all vampires, either. I liked that element to the story, because it created room to really explore some of the vampire culture ideas that I thought made this book really cool.

Not only is it a vampire book set in a boarding school, it’s also part murder mystery. YOUNGBLOODS has lots of layers to explore, and I loved that as each chapter unfolded, those layers kept getting exposed, and I kept getting more and more drawn into the story.

In terms of characters, I liked Kat immediately. She’s so sweet, and really wants to find a way to have connections with her people. Taylor had to grow on me. At the beginning especially, she kind of came off like the super judgy, too cool for the cool kids type that just tends not to be a character I connect easily with. But as I got to see some of her more vulnerable moments and see her use her anger and her power for good, I grew to love her as much as I loved Kat.

On the whole, it took me a few chapters to really invest in YOUNGBLOODS, but once I did, I really enjoyed reading it. I think readers who like paranormal romance like THE FELL OF DARK by Caleb Roehrig will like this one.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Taylor is a lesbian. Other characters have romantic relationships with girls. Main characters are white.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used somewhat frequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between two girls. In one scene, a girl is topless while kissing. References to sex between two girls. Kissing between a boy and girl.

Spiritual Content
Main characters are vampires and immortal. Vampires have the ability to glamour humans, which enchants them into doing whatever the vampire wants them to do.

Violent Content
Vampires feed on humans who are under a glamour and helpless. A girl tries to stop them and is knocked into a glass table. A girl discovers the body of a vampire.

Drug Content
Teens drink alcohol in a couple of scenes.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support this blog. I received a free copy of YOUNGBLOOD in exchange for my honest review.