Literally Dead Book Club discussion

For November we're reading the fantasy horror An Academy for Liars by Alexis Henderson.
This area is for discussing the middle 20 chapters, up to page 305.

What have you learned so far, and what information do you hope is to come?
How are you finding the pace?
Have you read anything similar, and how does this compare so far?
What do you hope happens in the final third?

I didn’t read the book in sections, but it reminded me of Harry Potter. I didn’t have any issues with the pacing of this book up until the end.

i’m nervous that the man blaine is meeting with is dante

I am interested in Lennon's progress of opening gates. I found the trip to Amsterdam scary as to the creature they encountered. I feel like the book is slow paced and I wish it would have been edited down. I don't care for the romance in this section and it could have been skipped entirely. I feel like Lennon will sacrifice herself for the school in the final 3rd. I think Dante's past will come to light as well.

The deaths are really gruesome and some characters have unexpectedly quick/abrupt arcs. It feels like it can't be a standalone with how the persuasion society is embedded in global politics, and I think something big will happen at the end, like the school's space-time pocket will be closed or it will be taken over by some ominous entity, or even a coup of some professors. I want to know what Blaine has been doing because I don't have any good ideas about that.

Lennon is getting on my nerves - she acts like a highschooler not 20+. My current theory is that Dante is the kid that created the school warped reality or he’s somehow related to him. But my bet is the first. And of course he’s the kid Lennon keeps seeing.