Book Review: Immortal Consequences by I.V. Marie
Immortal Consequences by I.V. Marie
Published: July 29, 2025
Series: The Souls of Blackwood Academy #1
Genres: Young Adult // Fantasy, Dark Academia, Romance
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice Rating: 🌶️ (Glimpses & Kisses)
Quick Thoughts: Immortal Consequences had an insanely cool plot and setting, deadly trials, six main characters, and even a mystery. However, there was so much going on that none of these components felt fully developed and it left me wishing for so much more.
Amazon | Kobo | Barnes & Noble | Bookshop.org
-
Car Accident (off-page, mentioned)
Drug Overdose (off-page, mentioned)
Death of Parent (off-page, mentioned)
-
Multi-POVs
Reluctant Friends-to-Lovers or Hate-to-Love
Dark Academy Settings
Themes of Soul Reaping and the After Life
Deadly Trials
Straightforward Magic Systems
What is Immortal Consequences About?
Six students at Blackwood Academy, an enigmatic boarding school located at the edge of the afterlife, must compete for the once-in-eternity chance to change their fate—or risk remaining stuck in purgatory forever. An unputdownable debut full of hairpin twists, shock betrayals and world-defying love, for fans of The Atlas Six.
Welcome to Blackwood Academy: the legendary school located at the fringes of the afterlife, where students are fated to spend the rest of eternity shepherding lost souls. Once a pupil enters the school’s arched gates, there is no way out…except for the Decennial, a once-in-a-decade celebration that rewards nominees who pass its trials with a choice: formally graduate and join Blackwood’s magical elite, or venture into the unknown and cross over to the mysterious Other Side.
Wren Loughty is certain that this Decennial, she has what it takes to earn the nomination—unless, that is, her academic archrival Augustine Hughes steals her spot.
Irene Manette Bamford has never cared about playing by the rules. She’s willing to break whatever (and whoever) stands between her and getting the hell out of Blackwood, including her best and only friend, Masika Sallow.
Olivier Dupont gave up on securing the nomination ages ago. But after he meets Blackwood’s newest student, Emilio Córdova, he’ll do anything to keep Emilio from leaving him and crossing over to the Other Side—even if it means claiming the victory for himself.
All of them are determined to be Blackwood’s chosen candidate–and all of them would do anything to win. But none of them are prepared for what’s to come. Because this Decennial will be different. This time, the Decennial isn’t a celebration…it’s a competition. And there can only be one victor.
Six nominees. Four trials. Untold danger. Wren, August, Irene, Masika, Olivier and Emilio are about to learn: there are some fates worse than death.
My Initial Take
I’ve skipped my Book of the Month subscription for the past 6 months but when I saw Immortal Consequences as an option for August, I was intrigued. It was described to me as a purgatory boarding school fantasy with rivals/enemies-to-lovers and a slow-burn romance. If there are two settings I love for this time of year, it’s either a dark, magical academy or the afterlife. Since this book includes both, I figured it’d be the perfect pick.
Immortal Consequences Book Review
It was clear from the start that Immortal Consequences is an ambitious story. We had a cool plot and setting, deadly trials, six main characters with complicated relationships, and even a mystery to boot.
The premise was interesting: Blackwood Academy is a school where students get the chance to escape their eternal fate of shepherding lost souls into the afterlife by winning a once-in-a-decade set of trials.
But truth be told, there was so much going on that none of these components felt fully developed and it left me wishing for so much more.
I believe the crux of this book's problems is its six (yes, six) different POVs.
When the cast of characters were first introduced, I could tell there were inklings of well-rounded characters. But with six different separate but interconnected storylines, there just weren't enough pages to bring each character to life.
There were many times throughout the book where we were so close to getting impactful character scenes. They would start reflecting on their mortal lives or their humanity — things I could connect with — only to have the scene cut away abruptly to jump to the next character's chapter. I would have gladly traded the pages spent on additional POVs for more time to stay in these emotional moments with the characters.
I honestly struggled to care about any of them, except maybe August and Wren.
The pacing also dragged out unnecessarily for a lot of scenes. Since the characters are often in groups or pairs, different events are told and retold from different perspectives and it got redundant quickly. This book could have easily been 100 pages shorter if the scenes were condensed. I found myself reading the first telling of an event and skimming subsequent retellings from the other POVS.
Lastly, I believe this affected the romance subplot. The main romantic pair, August and Wren, are described as academic arch-rivals in a reluctant friends-to-lovers set up. However, their romantic arc lacked the space needed for full development, resulting in jarring emotional shifts rather than a gradual progression to lovers.
Personally, I think the author could have gotten away with focusing on just two pairs of characters (four POVs total) without losing any essential plot points.
So, is Immortal Consequences worth reading?
In my opinion, this book was fine, but I really hoped for more from the execution.
This book might be worth reading if you like multi-POV stories, dark magical academy settings, themes of the afterlife, or just an easy-to-follow YA fantasy.
Check out this review on Goodreads or Storygraph.
Happy reading!
Kim
Immortal Consequences FAQs
Some of the answers may be spoilers if you haven’t read it already. Proceed with caution!
-
No, Immortal Consequences is part of the new Souls of Blackwood Academy series.
-
As of the writing of this post, there is no release date for the sequel to Immortal Consequences.
-
Romance.io rates this as 1 🌶️ (glimpses & kisses). This means there are no spice scenes — on or off page, just meaningful looks and kisses.
-
Although it’s not exactly the same, Atlas Six by Olivie Blake has a similar set up with six characters at a dark academy setting. This could be a good book to read if you’re looking for something like Immortal Consequences.