Arcadia “Dia” Gannon has been obsessed with Louisiana Veda, the game designer whose obsessive creations and company, Darkly, have gained a cultlike following. Dia is shocked when she’s chosen for a highly-coveted internship, along with six other teenagers from around the world.
Why her? Dia has never won anything in her life. Darkly, once a game-making empire renowned for its ingenious and utterly terrifying toys and games, now lies dormant after Veda’s mysterious death. The remaining games are priced like rare works of art, with some fetching millions of dollars at auction. As Dia and her fellow interns delve into the heart of Darkly, they discover hidden symbols, buried clues, and a web of intrigue.
Who are these other teens, and what secrets do they keep? Why were any of them really chosen? The answers lie within the twisted labyrinth of Darkly–a chilling and addictive read by Marisha Pessl.
Review
Okay, so I loved this. I mean, I expected to. What I didn’t expect was ripping through it as fast as I did. That’s a testament to Marisha Pessl’s writing. She draws you into her characters and has incredibly real dialogue, which are the number 2 and number 1 things I require in a story.
Any story. Movies, books, TV shows, those really long songs that tell a story, and musicals. Characters and dialogue are very important to me.
Marisha Pessl nails them every single time. Her first novel, Special Topics in Calamity Physics is my favorite book to both read and recommend to a select subset of people who I think will get it. I don’t think it’s for everyone, but it is very much for me. Her writing itches my brain in the right way.
Darkly starts with a bang and kept me waiting in anticipation until the very end. I immediately found myself rooting for our protagonist, Arcardia, who is an old woman in a teenager’s body. Her family owns an antique store that she basically runs and hanging out with old stuff and old folks has rubbed off on her.
And, of course, the kids at school have to be mean about it.
Then, Arcardia gets the opportunity to take part in an internship at her favorite game company, Darkly. These aren’t just any games, though… they are immersive, sprawling adventures. Originals are treated as works of art and sold at auctions for millions of dollars.
Once the internship is secured, the twists and turns don’t stop coming. What I love about Pessl’s writing is she has an uncanny ability to drop hints that has the reader figuring out what could be happening instants before it happens. It’s like reading an HBO-level television show for me.
I loved that there was forgiveness in this book at the end between a potential romantic pairing, as well as two characters who ended up not having the same intentions as the rest of them. Not only was there forgiveness, but it showed what friendship can look like after forgiveness.
I think that’s something we don’t see often enough.
If I were to categorize this book, I think I’d call it a Dark Academia Thriller. I’d’ve eaten this up in a day in middle school.
My attention span was much better back then.
Reading Journey
What I listened to:
Monday, January 13: Chapters: 1-38
Thursday, January 16: Chapters 39-61
Friday, January 17: Chapter 62-the end
Thoughts while reading (could be about the book, could not):
- I’m immediately in with this book and 100% invested in the main character from page 1. This is to be expected from a Marisha Pessl book.
- The language is whip smart.
- Pessl describes for all the senses. As someone with aphantasia, this is so important to me as a reader
- I also appreciate the author’s use of visual aids, like letters and newspaper articles and the like.
- ”My curiosity has beaten my fear.” – Mouse
- Playing a Darkly Game is what I imagine going to Sleep No More in NYC must be like.
- Thursday
- David Lynch has died, and this makes me immensely sad. This is the hardest celeb death for me since Anthony Bourdain. I miss that man daily, and that is not an exaggeration. I imagine David Lynch will receive the same treatment. There’s nothing left to do now but make them proud.
- There are times when this playlist and the action in the book sync up so well. A+ combo.
- I forgot how it felt to TRULY not know what’s happening in a book. Last year I spent the whole time rereading Binchy, and even though I didn’t remember the details of most of them, my body did.
- My body ain’t know shit about this book, and I am thinking about it all the time. I think I even dreamt about it last night?
- ”These old things, they don’t look like much, but they bookmark our lives.”
- Friday
- Love the nickname of ‘Paradise’
- If Poe ends up being a bad guy…
- I was not expecting this, but the captain has become one of my favorite characters.
- And she stayed that way til the very end.
