I give this book props for being the OG Dark Academia (which is why I read it), but personally I am more interested in more recent additions to that genre. That being said I can respect it for the influence this book has had. I like that the subgenre has moved into a place of critiquing elitist academia in a not so subtle way (I feel that any critique of academia in this was too vague to be taken seriously).
I definitely feel like it could have ~100 pages of monotony edited out, or those parts should have been replaced by more time with Julian in the classroom / explaining the catalyst of what they were studying influencing the original group (and why they were in the woods...)
I found it interesting to think about the moral quandary of Bunny being a supremely unlikeable character and how we as readers can empathize with the desire to get rid of him from the other character's POV. All the characters are disastrously flawed and the only one I actually feel bad for in the end is Camilla. If you can stand to read about pretentious flawed horrible characters who are continually awful to each other then I guess it's an interesting character study book.