
About the Book
-
Author:
- Robin Talley
- Genres:
- Contemporary
- Girl-Girl Romance
- Horror
Cover Story:Â Big Face: Forest Edition
BFF Charm:Â Nay
Talky Talk: Something Wicked
Bonus Factors: Shakespearean Retelling, Boarding School, LGBTQ
Anti-Bonus Factor:Â Major Plot Hole
Relationship Status:Â Whatâs Done Is Done
Cover Story: Big Face: Forest Edition
Iâm neutral on the coverâI love the Spanish moss filling the silhouette, and how that evokes a certain kind of eerie Southern charm, but I donât think this necessarily screams âghost storyâ or âShakespeare,â both important facts of the story. On the other hand, it doesnât scream âgeneric YA,â either.
The Deal:
Maria and Lily are in love, and all they want to do is graduate from their prestigious private high school and attend Stanford together. Thereâs only a few small problems with that vision of the future: neither of them are out, fearing campus-wide ridicule and social annihilation, and they canât guarantee theyâll both get into Stanford for four more years of roomie/girlfriend bliss.
Exceptâand thereâs always an âexceptââif Maria wins the Kingsley prize, an exclusive scholarship, it pretty much guarantees her acceptance into the college of her choosing. The catch, of course, is that the campus queen bee Delilah is not only scathing, but smart. She hardly puts forth any effort, and yet sheâs got hard-working Maria beat by mere hundredths of a point.
Lily and Maria arenât going to let that stop them, though. Theyâll do absolutely anything to unseat Delilahâand it all starts with one spooky night, with a Ouija board, and unleashing forces they cannot control. The dark power that hangs heavy over their former-Southern-plantation school has been let loose, and they might get everything they ever dreamed ofâĤwhile leaving a trail of utter destruction in their wake.
Robin Talley has taken on the impressive task of adapting Macbeth for a YA audience.
BFF Charm: Hell No

Aside from a glaring plot hole (weâll get to that in a bit), no, there is no way in hell I would be friends with either of these two girls. In the beginning, theyâre sympatheticâLily is disabled and in excruciating pain all the time, Maria is the adopted Latina daughter of a distant and cool white senator, and neither are comfortable being out in their small, exclusive Southern private school. That doesnât sound like any funâbut when you find out the lengths these girls will go to in order to get what they want, I think youâll join me in running far, far away.
Swoonworthy Scale: 4
In the beginning, Lily and Mariaâs relationship holds some hot-and-heavy, albeit desperate momentsâbut that quickly gives way to blind ambition.
Talky Talk: Something Wicked
Robin Talley excels at describing the slow and creeping horror of getting exactly what you bargained for. Her descriptions of the eerie Southern plantation home-turned-private-school are hauntingâpun fully intended!âand the descent into madness is a delicious one. Itâs a book that deserves to be read in your most atmospheric reading nook, preferably with rain pelting the windows and wind howling.
By the time most of the destruction has happened, though, the pacing suffersâthe end comes rather quickly, and to me, at least, it was unsatisfying. Without spoilers, of course, it diverges a bit from Macbeth, and in doing so loses some of its impact.
Bonus Factor: Shakespearan Retelling

Macbeth is one of my favorite Shakespeare plays, which started my early obsession with angry and ambitious women who Get Shit Done, so reading this YA version was a delight. I know I just said the end didnât satisfyâbut when the rest of the book is well done, I still count it as a win.
Bonus Factor: Boarding School

YES, another boarding school book, this time with the eeriness of a hideous Southern plantation legacy. Give me all of your creepy boarding school books, please! Also, thereâs just something about Spanish moss that makes everything seem haunted.
Bonus Factor: LGBTQ

I love that Robin Talley chose to make this a Very Gay Macbethâtwo ladies Macbeth! A Gay-Straight Alliance in a tiny Southern school that is only tolerated because the queen bee gave her stamp of approval! If youâre going to retell Shakespeare for a modern audience, you had better subvert those character norms, and Talley did this wonderfully.
On the other hand, Shakespeare is never mentioned, which amuses me: these super-smart kids donât happen to see any parallels between whatâs happening at school and a certain famous play? Hmmm.
Anti-Bonus Factor: Major Plot Hole

Hereâs my major problem with the book: the lack of motivation. More specifically, weâre supposed to believe that Maria is desperate to get into Stanfordâso desperate that she and Lily will stop at nothing. Wait, what? The rich daughter of a senator who has perfect grades at an exclusive school, and is the co-captain of the championship-bound soccer teamâĤthinksâĤshe might not get into Stanford without this scholarship? Really? Out, out, damn inconsistency.
Relationship Status: Whatâs Done Is Done
Book, I was into even before I realized you were a Shakespearean retelling, and your eerie atmosphere was everything I could have wanted in an autumnal read. Sure, our date hit some rocky points, and Iâm not really feeling your reasoning, but overall, I thought we had a goodâor delightfully badâtime.
FTC Full Disclosure: I received a free review copy from Harper Teen. I received neither money nor a pet unicorn for writing this review, despite how hard I wished for one. As I Descended is available now.