Cult Secrets and Toxic Relationships: A Review of A Darker Mischief by Derek Milman

Hello, Book Nerds! Welcome back to Reading Has Ruined My Life or welcome if you are new. As always, my name is Hannah and I am your captain on this journey into my bookcases.

Happy Pride Month, Book Nerds. I hope all the LGBTQIA+ readers of Reading Has Ruined My Life are still having a safe and happy Pride Month. As Sappho once said, “Gay Rights.”

Now please give a warm welcome to A Darker Mischief by Derek Milman!

Before we get to the synopsis, I have something I would like to show you all. Books&Lewks is back this week! Not pictured is me crying cause I don’t have gold eyeliner which would have made this look pop a lot more.

Full video of me creating this look is up on Reading Has Ruined My Life's Instagram.

Synopsis time now. As always, a spoiler alert is in order. If you’ve read any other review on this site then you will know I simply love to spoil the entirety of the books I read. This is your one and only warning. I also have a content and trigger warning to issue. A Darker Mischief discusses parental abuse and homophobic hate crimes. Both these topics are relevant to the main plot so please be prepared for them while reading. Not let’s crack in.

Upon receiving a scholarship to the elite New England boarding school known as Essex Academy, Cal Ware sets out to reinvent himself. He will no longer be the bullied, queer kid from a small town, he will become someone. Except the other students want nothing to do with Cal. Wealthy, renowned, and privileged, the student body is everything Cal is not.

Then he learns of Essex’s very own secret society. Joining the Society of Seven Eyes will propel Cal into the sphere of Essex royalty. Joining will make him untouchable and the society’s wide reach will take care of his family’s financial and legal issues.

The more intwined Cal becomes with the Society, the more secrets he learns and the darker things become. For instance, there are the rumors that the Society is linked to disappearances throughout their storied history. And then there is the rumor of the sacrificial lamb. Each year a sacrificial lamb is chosen from the pool of new recruits. If something goes wrong, if the society is on the verge of discovery, one poor student is thrown to wolves. Cal seems to believe he is this year’s sacrificial lamb. As the story goes on, he must decide how much he is willing to risk to be a part of the Society of Seven Eyes. If belonging to the Society is worth it. And if he can survive.

A Darker Mischief has so much promise. It has all the dark academia vibes, all the hallmarks fans of the genre look for. There are the glorious, stunning, historical buildings with secrets around every corner. And lots and lots of culty secrets to uncover.

But…A Darker Mischief is mainly vibes. They are good vibes, I liked the vibes, but there isn’t much plot. This novel begins with a flash-forward of a kidnapping, one would think the rest of the story is catching up to that point, and it is, but the kidnapping doesn’t occur till well over 340 pages in. To note, A Darker Mischief is only 377 pages…let that sink in. Most of the time is spent with Cal as he crashes out. That’s the majority of the book.

That's...that's not great.

The biggest strength of this novel is its delve into toxic relationships. That is mainly what A Darker Mischief is about. Cal falls in love with a boy named Luke Kim. Not only are the pair are foils, Luke may or may not be the one who decided Cal should be the Society’s sacrificial lamb this year. Listen, Luke will not be winning Boyfriend of the Year anytime soon for a myriad of reasons.

The relationship Cal and Luke have is one that burns fast and bright. Almost instantaneously their partnership spirals out of control with Luke cheating and the Society driving a wedge between them…or attempting to drive Cal insane. Cal wants stability and something real, while Luke is all over the place and pushes Cal to a dangerous extreme. This relationship is one that’s hard to believe, but most toxic relationships are; so the author has that going in his favor.

I do have one final issue I want to mention. There is some dated dialogue in A Darker Mischief and it really takes me out of the story. The author uses a lot of slang in the teenaged characters’ dialogue, which is expected to some extent given the characters’ ages, but it’s not slang used by teens in the 2020s. The slang used is from the late 2010s. I believe the story is set in 2022 specifically, but please don’t quote me on that as I may be wrong. Regardless, “slay” was not used by teens in 2022. And definitely not in 2024 when A Darker Mischief was published. It feels like an older millennial is attempting to speak like teen on the cusp between Gen Z and Gen Alpha.

I know the slang is a small detail, but it’s a very important one. When used in a book but not used in dialogue, slang will date a book extremely fast. When used in dialogue, slang will help establish the time period. Having a character say “slay,” as in complimenting someone’s style, look, and/or confidence, sets the novel in the late 2010s. But A Darker Mischief is not set in the late 2010s. I’m sorry, the outdated slang just took me out of the read. I truly don’t know why I’ve chosen to die on this hill, but I have.

And in all honesty, the writing in general is poor. Moments are disjointed, readers are forced to jump from scene to scene, and often times the author tried to make the prose poetic and mysterious only to fall flat. Nothing is mysterious about the writing style.  

A Darker Mischief is mainly vibes. The plot is extremely lacking. The Society of Seven Eyes offers so much promise. Literally anything could have happened because a secret society made up of wealthy people is the crux of the plot. So much shady shit could have happened! And when bad things finally did happen, it’s too late, the book’s over.

With that, I shall bid you all adieu. Thank you very much for joining me today, Book Nerds. I hope you all had a lovely time here at Reading Has Ruined My Life and I will see you all again next week with another new review. If you can’t wait that long then you can always give the blog a follow over on Instagram (@ReadingHasRuinedMyLife). I post there almost daily so come back often to revel in literary goodness. You can also follow the blog on Twitter and BlueSky (@RHRMLBlog). If you want something not related to books then I highly suggest checking out my podcast Nothing to See Hear. The show stars me and two of my dearest friends as we talk about everything and anything. We have episodes on Disney, Barbie, Scooby-Doo, and so much more; there’s bound to be something that strikes your fancy. You can currently listen to the show on Spotify and YouTube. New episodes release every Wednesday evening.

Until next time, stay safe, wash your hands, and read some good books for me.

See y'all then, bye!