Queer, French Dark Academia? Sign me up! This book was one of my most anticipated releases of 2022. I don't usually buy new releases, but meeting the author at a literary festival in May (the one which shall not be named) was the push I needed apparently.

Cathédrale is quite a subtle book. It's very much focused on the characters, which of course I loved. Their interactions really hold the book together while making the reader feel like there's something amiss. We alternate between two perspectives, that of Frédéric, the working class student who was lucky to get a scholarship because he would never have been able to attend Cathédrale, the capital's prestigious university. And we get Lionel, heir to a ruling family, who walks the minute line between unlikeable and nice. Think sass, a touch of arrogance and rule-defiance. All in the context of a university which seems to have a mind of its own.

While I really enjoyed the character writing, I wasn't completely satisfied with the "dark academia" part, because I wish there had been more of it! That's really just my academia-longing speaking here, but I was surprised to wish for more world-building (which I never do) and more diving into the intricacies of magic and knowledge. We do get a good helping of that towards the end, but it felt a little rushed to my taste. Probably because I didn't really want the book to end, to be honest.

So, all in all, a solid addition to the Dark Academia realm of literature, with the bonus of queer rep and neurodivergent rep.

Rep: aro/ace autistic MC, bi secondary character.