I.V. Marie on the afterlife academy in Immortal Consequences

The idea of attending an Academy in your afterlife might not sound too appealing but I.V. Marie made it work in Immortal Consequences. Imagining a world where students have different ambitions for their afterlife, and compete in trials to see those met, I.V. Marie’s dark academia novel is unlike anything we have seen before. To celebrate the release, we invited her to chat about the inspirations behind the book.

The world-building is so captivating. Can you tell us the inspirations behind it? Did you base it off any myth?

The setting of Blackwood Academy was heavily inspired by my brief time studying in New England. I was really drawn to the ornate ivy-drenched campuses, especially how cold and isolated they felt during the dead of winter. Using that as inspiration, I combined that experience with my love of YA Fantasy books to create a unique spin on the classic magical academy trope.

Each of these 6 individuals are so interesting, and we like how they are from different eras. Do you feel like that gave you more freedom to be creative or added stress to come up with very diverse backgrounds? 

Creating characters with diverse backgrounds didn’t feel like a challenge, because the real world is a diverse place, and I believe fantasy books should reflect that! With Immortal Consequences, though, I also got the added layer of getting to play around with characters who were all born in vastly different eras––ranging from the 1800s, 1970s, and more. It was such a fun and challenging creative exercise in character development!

The 6 students have different ambitions for their afterlife, and there’s no right or wrong answer. Readers will definitely have their own favourites but what was it like during the writing process? Did you root for all of them? 

It’s funny, because I think the most asked question I get is: who is your favorite character? And I truly can’t pick one! All of them feel like my babies, and I just can’t choose! I definitely found myself rooting for all of them in their own way. They all have their own personal goals and ambitions, and I think what makes their dynamic so interesting is that all of those goals and ambitions are valid in their own way!

In fact, do you feel like you understood more about life and yourself after writing Immortal Consequences? 

What I love about fantasy books is that even though we are in a world that is so different from our own, where the stakes are so immeasurably high, the characters themselves are still going through all of the emotions and inner turmoil that we experience as people, and especially as teens! Love, heartbreak, betrayal, guilt, grief, obsession…all of those feelings and emotions are reflected in the characters. I definitely found myself processing my own grief when writing Immortal Consequences, and I hope it can be a way for readers to do that as well.

Let’s talk about the trials. We love a good trial trope, and the ones in Immortal Consequences were quite unlike anything we have read. How did you come up with them? 

I think maze trials are so iconic, and one of those fantasy tropes that I personally love every time I read, so I knew I wanted to include that from the beginning! The other trials were more tailored to the world specifically––like battling illusions, confronting replicas of themselves, traversing the dangerous liminal passageway known as the Ether––all of those were born from the magic system itself. I wanted to make sure that the trials not only forced the characters to confront their magical abilities, but their own personal strengths and weaknesses as well.

Finally, without spoiling anyone — what new corners of the afterlife or Blackwood’s history are you most excited to expand in the next instalment?

What I love about Immortal Consequences is how insular and claustrophobic Blackwood feels, but in the second book, we get to expand past the halls of Blackwood Academy and enter the treacherous outskirts of purgatory. I think readers will really enjoy getting to learn more of the world…and the different dangers lurking there!

Immortal Consequences is out July 31 (Electric Monkey).