The Library at Hellebore - Audio
Originally posted July 27th, 2025 on WordPress. Please see link below.
A deeply dark academia novel from USA Today bestselling author Cassandra Khaw, perfect for fans of A Deadly Education and An Education in Malice who are hungry for something more diabolical.
The Hellebore Technical Institute for the Gifted is the premier academy for the dangerously powerful: the Anti-Christs and Ragnaroks, the world-eaters and apocalypse-makers.
Hellebore promises redemption, acceptance, and a normal life after graduation. At least, thatâs what Alessa Li is told after sheâs kidnapped and forcibly enrolled.
But the Institute is more than just a haven for monsters. On graduation day, the faculty embark on a ravenous rampage, feasting on their students. Trapped in the schoolâs cavernous library, Alessa and her surviving classmates must do something they were never taught: work together.
If not, this school will eat them aliveâŚ
-via NetGalley
Holy fuck.
To begin with, this book is not for the faint of heart. Not by a long shot. Weâve got gore, sexual assault, gore, rape, gore, sexual harassment, gore, body horror, gore, and did I mention the gore?
Anyone familiar with Cassandra Khawâs other works wonât be surprised by this. The Library at Hellebore is brutal from the very first line: âWhen I woke up, my roommate was dead,â followed by gory, dripping details about the corpse that throws the reader directly into the fascinating, fucked up world theyâve created, and the onslaught of visceral, bloody prose only picks up from there.
Khawâs writing is blunt, ruthless, and beautiful. They slice deep into timely, real world issues in this fantasy world where magic has returned to the world only to be bureaucratized for capitalistic gain. Iâve been a fan since âNothing but Blackened Teeth,â and The Library at Hellebore has turned that âHoly Shitâ dial right up to thirteen.
Natalie Naudus provides the audio narration, and itâs clear from this performance that she has definitely earned her reputation as a phenomenal narrator. In particular, her accents are just gorgeous. There are, however, a handful of character voices she uses are extremely grating, although these are characters that are supposed to be unpleasant, so the characterization is certainly accurate, which once again speaks well of Naudusâ talent.
There are no ambient effects in this recording, which I will count as a positive. This book is disgusting and horrifying enough (complimentary), we donât really need to hear any additional squelching or other assorted nauseating sound effects.
Thereâs a character named Doctor Cartilage, which, come on. Thatâs the coolest name ever.
Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, and author Cassandra Khaw for the ARC of this audio book. You can find out more about The Library at Hellebore and author Cassandra Khaw on their website, or by following them on BlueSky. If youâre interested in purchasing The Library at Hellebore, please consider buying directly from the authorâs website, from your local independent bookseller, or online bookstores that support independent booksellers such as Bookshop.org.
Thanks for reading!
-Jacq
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