Book Review: ‘Darkly’ by Marisha Pessl
We came out the gate swinging for Season 10 of The Dark Academicals. ‘Darkly' is a strange tale of the cult of legacy, mind games, and complex relationships. A twisty kind of thriller that pulls on the Gothic (with a capital G), as well as the recent spike of interest in board gaming. Pessl's writing is alluring, evocative and pulls off some mega twists and turns.
It was featured the first book on season 10 of ‘The Dark Academicals’.
Disclaimer: We received a copy of ‘Darkly' from Walker to read and feature in an episode of our podcast. However, thoughts and opinions remain our own, and we were not guided to talk about ‘Darkly’ in any particular way. Integrity is important to us, and we will always disclose if a publisher or brand has supplied materials for our content.
The summary reads thusly:
“A seemingly ordinary high school student. A mysterious summer internship. And a legendary games designer, now dead.
When an ad for an internship with the Louisiana Veda Foundation appears, Arcadia 'Dia' Gannon rushes to apply. Veda's game-making empire, Darkly, was renowned for its ingenious and terrifying games back in the day and Dia is as obsessed with them as anyone.
The remaining games are priced like highly sought-after works of art, with the rarest and most notorious commanding tens of millions of dollars at auction. Now, Dia is thrust into the enigmatic heart of the operation. But who are these other interns? Why do they all seem to have something to hide? And why was she really chosen? It soon becomes clear that this summer will be the most twisted Darkly game of all.”
What I loved about ‘Darkly' was the commitment to the lore and how it meshes the present with the past. As a reader you get a real sense that these characters have a deep and long-standing connection with this cult of personality that is the Darkly games, and as such the world building is made that much richer.
Honestly? I didn't gel with it at first. I struggled with the opening, and although by the end I absolutely aprpeciated the full circle effect, I was worried that I wasn't going to connect with the protagonist, and that the cast of characters as a whole would be a bit lost on me. First, there was Choke (who never really grew on me, but honestly he became a bit fo a convenience as a character rather than anyone with any real effect on the narrative), and then there was Poe. I'm not really into intsant attraction anymore, and the way our protagonist seems to immediately swoon was a red flag for me.
Thankfully, I was wrong on many counts, and after I pushed through the opening chapters, I quickly found myself utterly glued to it. Page by page, I was being pulled further down into the mystery and the action. A lot of the woes I experienced at the beginning turned into “oohhh I get it now”s by the time I closed the book.
It's a twisty, turny, thriller-y, tale with so many unexpected plot points and ways in which I was surprised as a reader. Pessl's writing is compelling, and icredibly more-ish, and I will definitely be checking out more titles from her.
‘Darkly' is such a fun and interesting book, and I dare anyone not to be entertained by it!
Written by Sarah
