ARC Review (#26): The Last Academy by Anne Applegate

The Last Academy 
by Anne Applegate
Expected Publication: April 30th, 2013
Source: Netgalley

Curtis Sittenfeld's PREP meets THE SIXTH SENSE in this spine-tingling, unforgettable debut.

Camden Fisher arrives at boarding school haunted by a falling-out with her best friend back home. But the manicured grounds of Lethe Academy are like nothing Cam has ever known. There are gorgeous, preppy boys wielding tennis rackets, and circles of girls with secrets to spare. Only . . . something is not quite right. One of Cam's new friends mysteriously disappears, but the teachers don't seem too concerned. Cam wakes up to strangers in her room, who then melt into the night. She is suddenly plagued by odd memories, and senses there might be something dark and terrible brewing. But what? The answer will leave Cam--and readers--stunned and breathless, in this thrilling debut novel

The Last Academy took me by total surprise.  I never knew that what happened at the end would happen.  Yes, there were clues, but I never added it up to the end that came.  Applegate did great in making me think one totally different thing than what she ended up doing.

After Camden has a falling out with her best friend, her parents ship her off to boarding school.  She doesn't really understand why she is there or what she did.  She has no contact with her friends or family throughout most of her time at boarding school.  Camden is very shy and reserved but as the plot goes on, we see her develop and hop out of that shell, making and losing new friends at this boarding school, and meeting a boy, of course.

We don't see much of Camden's boy toy, we don't learn a lot about him, but at the end I see how he fit into the plot.  We needed him there so that Applegate could go on with the ending.

This plot was so unique.  It had so many aspects that I have never seen in any other book before.  There were so many ups and downs, twists and turns, and it was so exciting.  There was no point in the book that I wasn't questioning what was going to happen nest.  I came up with so many different reasons for what was happening, to have Applegate completely contradict what I just came up with.

The Last Academy is a great thrilling debut that everyone needs to read.  It is fantastic and I'm so glad i got to read it before it came out!