Review: Killing November

Title: Killing November
Author: Adriana Mather
Genre: Young Adult
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Source: Publisher
Format: Paperback
Release Date: March 26, 2019
Rating: ★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

It’s a school completely off the grid, hidden by dense forest and surrounded by traps. There’s no electricity, no internet, and an eye-for-an-eye punishment system. Classes include everything from Knife-Throwing and Poisons to the Art of Deception and Historical Analysis. And all of the students are children of the world’s most elite strategists—training to become assassins, counselors, spies, and master impersonators. Into this world walks November Adley, who quickly discovers that friends are few in a school where personal revelations are discouraged and competition is everything. When another student is murdered, all eyes turn to November, who must figure out exactly how she fits into the school’s bizarre strategy games before she is found guilty of the crime…or becomes the killer’s next victim.

Review:

This story was intense with a complicated list of characters, but I really enjoyed it.

A boarding school is a great setting for a thriller. This school was very isolated and hidden from the world. No one even knows where it was located.

The connections between the characters and their families was complex. It took a while to figure out who everyone was, and what side they were on. The main character, November, was thrown into the situation with as much information as the reader, so we learned along with her.

The only thing that disappointed me was that the story didn’t really start until halfway through the book. I was kind of lost up until then. The different families and their histories weren’t clearly laid out until that point and that was an important part to the story. I wish it was made clear closer to the beginning, so it wasn’t as confusing.

The ending was open to a sequel, so I hope the story will continue!

What to read next:

Have you read Killing November? What did you think of it?