Bookseller Reviews
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I loved every page
This dark and beautiful novel captivates you from the first page to the last. I felt so many emotions whilst reading it and I was utterly gripped by each ... READ MORE
Made me Gasp
Thank you to the publisher for an advance copy of this book.
I really enjoyed this fast-paced, witty look into private schools, teenagers desperate to ... READ MORE
Seriously addictive!
I found an advanced copy of this in our staff room, picked it up, and then absolutely raced through it! This is a seriously addictive novel and it's perfec... READ MORE
Gripping dark academia!
This book was complex and heart wrenching and oh so gripping.
The characters were all so varied and well fleshed out, it was constantly tense, you were a... READ MORE
Love, Friendship, and loss
It took me a little while to get into this book and I just wasn't gripped like I thought I would be or even wanted to be.
This book really makes you thin... READ MORE
How Far Would You Go To Protect Your Friends? ?
Four students on charity grants are allowed to attend this boarding school but as events run out of hand it's hard to see if this is the best Place for any... READ MORE
Puts you right off posh boarding schools.
I really enjoyed this book. From the first page the action begins and doesn’t really ever let up. I know this is being compared to a lot of dark academia b... READ MORE
Hard to put down
If you crossed the the pomp and ceremony of a place like Hogwarts with the cliques and self centeredness of Mean Girls, you'd probably be on the right line... READ MORE
A stunningly dark and atmospheric read!
This is a stunning debut! It’s so atmospheric and alluring that you’ll be caught right from the start. It’s the perfect read for fans of mystery and dark a... READ MORE
Devastatingly Beautiful
How to do this book justice?
Well, I'll give it a try...
I loved this. I loved the characters, the depth and the way this book grabs hold of you and r... READ MORE
Deliciously dark and utterly captivating!
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I truly loved this deliciously dark and utterly captivating new dark academia novel!
... READ MORE
Synopsis
Dark academia perfect for fans of The Secret History and If We Were Villains. Four scholarship students’ dreams come true when they are accepted into an exclusive boarding school, but they will soon be bound by a dark secret that could save one of them… or destroy them all…
We were always The Four. From our very first day at High Realms.
The four scholarship pupils. Outsiders in a world of power and privilege.
It would have made our lives a lot easier if Marta had simply pushed Genevieve out of our bedroom window that day. Certainly, it would have been tragic. She would have died instantly.
But Marta didn’t push her then, or – if you choose to believe me – at any other time. If she had, all of what we went through would not have happened.
I’ve told this story as clearly as I could – as rationally as I’ve been able, in the circumstances, to achieve. I don’t regret what we did. And I would do it all again.
Publisher information
- Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
- ISBN: 9780008580346
- Number of pages: 448
- Dimensions: 240 x 159 x 40 mm
- Weight: 860g
- Languages: English
Customer Reviews
View allThe Four
Sep 1999. Four exceptional and gifted students were granted millenium scholarships offering each of them a place to study at prestigious High Realms. Their... READ MORE
A gripping read
From the first sentence of this book I was hooked.
I was never really quite sure where I stood within this story as there were so many twists and turns ... READ MORE
An uncomfortable yet compelling read
Four pupils win a scholarship to attend a highly prestigious boarding school but things were not at all what they were expecting. They, and others, are con... READ MORE
Complicated lives in a boarding school
Drink, drugs and sex are not officially on the timetable at High Realms, a boarding school in Devon, but some days it seems like the only curriculum. The ... READ MORE
Gripping and immersive thriller
This thriller about four scholarship students who get to attend a top boarding school in England is gripping and immersive. Packed with intense teenage emo... READ MORE
Totally absorbing story
I am glad my boarding school wasn't like that! A totally absorbing story with a multiple amount of pupils who had no clear adult guidance and debatable dec... READ MORE
A gripping thriller
Dark academia is fast becoming my favourite genre, and The Four by Ellie Keel is a great addition to the list. I was drawn into the story very quickly and ... READ MORE
okay read
There are obviously many books in this genre, and, to stand out, there needs to be something really different in the plot and characters, which sadly I fel... READ MORE
A tale of challenges and friendships
Four scholarships students are awarded places at the prestigious High Realm boarding school in Devon. They have been selected for their exceptional academ... READ MORE
For fans of "The Secret History"
There are some pretty hideous characters in "The Four" by Ellie Keel and you do wonder whether some of the punishments dished out, although seemingly unfai... READ MORE
Love, friendship, pain, power
A deeply-felt, potent depiction of the power of love and friendship in a finely-turned and uncomfortably-truthful portrayal of the dark underbelly of the p... READ MORE
An atmospheric read
How far would you be prepared to go for the sake of friendship when it’s being tested to the extreme?
The Four are Lower Sixth (Year 12) scholarship stu... READ MORE
Beautifully written and totally compelling
This is a beautifully written debut novel by an exciting new author. I loved every page, despite the dark material. The prose is exquisite and every word c... READ MORE
brilliantly gothic
The Four is my first dark academia novel and as it turns out - I had a really good time
A debut novel I won’t forget in a while
The Four is dark. Very dark. It is an intense and incredibly claustrophobic novel centring on four pupils who have come to High Realms Boarding School in r... READ MORE
A debut novel of bullying and torment!
‘The Four’ is the story of four students, Marta, Lloyd, Sami and Rose the narrator, who have been awarded scholarships to the prestigious High Realms where... READ MORE
Gripping, dark, compelling, uncomfortable - I loved it.
“To use Marta’s words this time, it happened in the grey matter: the time between the huge things, and in all the mending and sewing and striving that we d... READ MORE
Not for me, sorry
I’m sure lots of readers will really enjoy this book, but I’m afraid I didn’t. I couldn’t warm to any of the characters and the story didn’t interest me a... READ MORE
Gripping story!
This book drew me straight into the story and I was hooked from then on in!
Four scholarship outcasts in a boarding school club together naturally as the... READ MORE
Hard hitting
The Four are new pupils at an elite private school each having won a scholarship. Here they encounter pure evil in the form of severe bullying and abuse, b... READ MORE
Conflict, inequality and disturbing secrets
Four bright students, Rose, Marta, Sami and Lloyd, join an exclusive boarding school as sixth-formers. As outsiders, they form a tight-knit group, united a... READ MORE
Dark academia
It has taken me some time to write this review as I've needed time to think about the book and my thoughts after reading.
To start, the book has an atten... READ MORE
Unrelenting and addictive.
This novel is vivid, visceral and unrelentingly addictive. I read it all in one sitting over a few hours and was left exhausted, melancholy and book hungov... READ MORE
Gripping page turner
"The Four" is set in a private school which usually only the very wealthy and/or powerful families get to send their children to. However, four pupils from... READ MORE
Dark academia!
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an early copy of this book.
An intense, emotional, dark, academia debut novel with shades of a modern day 'Se... READ MORE
Extremely dark academia
I read an eARC of this dark academia story set in a British boarding school in the Devon countryside. We follow four scholarship students as they join for ... READ MORE
Check the Content Warnings
One of my favourite books of all time is The Secret History by Donna Tartt, so when I heard about The Four, billed as “A dark academia suspense debut perfe... READ MORE
Gripping, beautifully evocative, un-put-down-able
I gulped down this thrilling novel in three sittings. It's a truly compulsive read - complex, profound characters who you keep wanting to race back to. Thi... READ MORE
Good, but not great
This was a must read for me as it had been widely pitched as “The Secret History for millennials”. This was a huge mistake on my part as I class Tartt’s ma... READ MORE
Dark, intense and incredible
The Four was the kind of book that roots itself within your brain and refuses to leave. It was a tragic Dark Academia tale full of secrets, lies and anger.... READ MORE
A terrible bore
uh, why I didn't DNF this is beyond me. I was sucked in by the first few chapters and then I just needed to see how it ended. unfortunately it just got wor... READ MORE
Friendship and power structure dynamics: just add bullying
Ellie Keel's The Four is a compelling dark academia novel that delves into the complexities of privilege, friendship, and survival. Keel masterfully portra... READ MORE
Dark Academia Gets Darker
A contender for the crown of dark academia, a genre that can be traced back to Donna Tartt's The Secret History and sprawls across into fantasy with last y... READ MORE
Mallory Towers for grown-ups!
If you adored Mallory Towers and similar books as a child you will adore The Four!
The Four was a brilliant read for me. Set in a boarding school at the... READ MORE
This ferociously fast-paced debut thriller does not disappoint!
This gripping debut novel is a must-read for any dark academia fan. The characters are captivatingly elusive and well drawn out, the plot is satisfyingly f... READ MORE
Loyalty, love and loss.
It took me a wee while to take to this book even though the writing is first-rate. The tension is ramped up on almost every page, the descriptions of the b... READ MORE
Cruel - Contains themes of rape and child sexual abuse
It took me a while to finish this book because it made me really angry.
Firstly this needs to come with trigger warnings because it contains strong them... READ MORE
A tense tale of dark academia
What a great read. I really enjoyed this although to be fair some of the English lessons went over my head! This is the story of four teenagers, Rose, Ma... READ MORE
Brilliant Dark Academia
I requested this when I stumbled across it at #YALC2023 and then promptly forgot all about it untill the @Netgalley access email came through. @ellieclarek... READ MORE
Definitely worth reading!
A powerful story about life at a private school! A story of love, friendship, loyalty and power! The book was written with style too!
The four main c... READ MORE
Excellent boarding school thriller
Wow, what a page turner! I've always loved boarding school books, from the Enid Blytons of my youth, through Harry Potter, The Secret History and Prep, and... READ MORE
Sad and dark
Rosie, Marta, Lloyd and Sami have joined the prestigious High Realms public school as lower sixth scholarship students. Feeling proud of their remarkable a... READ MORE
The Four
3.5 stars. Whilst I did enjoy this book well enough to read it at quite a fast pace, there was something lacking in it as a whole that stopped me from real... READ MORE
Interesting dark tale
Rose, Sami, Marta and Lloyd are Scholarship students at the prestigious boarding school of High Realms in Devon. The four soon become friends because of th... READ MORE
Dark read
I liked the concept of this book, which takes 4 full scholarship teenagers into the sixth form of an exclusive boarding school in Devon in the 1990s. If yo... READ MORE
A great new thriller!
My favourite genre is the thriller and one of my favourite locations is a boarding school, a location with which I am familiar.
A fast paced, well written... READ MORE
An atmospheric debut full of tension
When four scholarship students join elite boarding school High Realms, they struggle to fit in and find themselves in the middle of a tragic situation invo... READ MORE
A deep story.
What a fantastic debut novel. A story based around an elite boarding school and four of the pupils who attend. A very deep story and one that had me hooked... READ MORE
A Page Turner from the very beginning
If you love Dark Academia it is a must to read this book. Fiction at it‘s best. At the end you feel
sad that you finished the Book and you can Not live fu... READ MORE
Welcome to the dark side (of elite educational)
High Realms epitomizes the dark underbelly of prestigious schools, where tradition and reputation often overshadow individual well-being. Keel critiques th... READ MORE
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