Logan Richardson is rich, white, male, and obviously privileged. He’s already ill at ease with this, and his unease only grows as he becomes embroiled in the affairs of a secret society at Mondegreen College, where his father teaches Classics. His fellow college students are experiencing all the typical pressures of college life: friendship, sex, drugs, parties, and rumors. A few of his peers, however, begin to recognize that the secret society in question is not just an innocent exercise in navel-gazing, but the underlying source of the stressors tearing apart people’s lives on campus.

Lilly Stewart’s THE BEAUTIFUL NAME is not an easy read. It is relentless in its depiction of very real tragedies, and most readers will be familiar with at least one brand of injustice reflected here. At the core of this narrative structure is the immense privilege of rich men, who actively work to promote each other’s interests and protect each other from consequences. But radiating outward from this core are all sorts of additional ills: youthful romance ruined by male possessiveness and sexual aggression; childhood best-friendships strained by a growing desire for social conformity; and lives literally destroyed by drug addiction. At the base of this structure is the sad fact that these realities are part and parcel of life for college students, people just on the cusp of adulthood. THE BEAUTIFUL NAME movingly and affectingly renders the vulnerability of its young protagonists—and even of its young antagonists—making their struggles and losses all the more tragic.

The text’s treatment of its central conceit—the secret society controlling much of campus life at Mondegreen College, but also helping its members in business and society at large—is generally effective. It is certainly emotionally effective, and it’s good for the plot. The feeling that characters are unraveling a real, imminent threat on campus is especially important over the fairly long span of the text. Unfortunately, the story is incomplete; THE BEAUTIFUL NAME is essentially just setup and inciting action for a real plot or confrontation yet unwritten, ending with the pronouncement that Book II is forthcoming. Obviously, it can be hard to tell a large and complex story in just one volume, but here the result is a tough slog through a lot of challenging material without catharsis or some other narrative payoff. There are sympathetic characters, harrowing encounters, and a searing sense of injustice that forms the spine of the narrative—with little respite.

Nevertheless, THE BEAUTIFUL NAME is an entertaining and engaging read, and it unquestionably leaves the reader wanting more.

Gripping, moving, and thoughtful, Lilly Stewart’s THE BEAUTIFUL NAME hits hard with gut-wrenching and recognizable depictions of human relationships breaking down under the strain of drug abuse, social pressure, and misogynistic cruelty.

~Dan Accardi for IndieReader