Dark Academia Book Recs
Dark academia is having its moment right now.
And for good reason! It’s a fun genre. It evokes visions of cozy dorms, late night discoveries in dark halls, mysteries, and a twisted character or two. Atmosphere is key with dark academia. And it’s about this time of year that I start seeking out new books and re-reading favorites from the genre. Below are some of my favorites, and some that are on my radar.
Favorites
I’ve loved every Naomi Novik book I’ve read and this is no exception. A Deadly Education takes place at the Scholomance, a magical school where there are no teachers and no classes, and students have to learn their magic in order to survive. We follow El, a grumpy smarmy loner as she begrudgingly makes friends and learns the extent of her own power all while trying to stay alive.
It takes a bit to get into this book, and there’s a lot of info dumping which I typically don’t love, but the payoff is well worth it. I recommend putting on a fake fireplace video, get a dark academia playlist going, and letting yourself sink into this world.
An absolute whopper of a contribution to the dark academia genre. In Ace of Spades we’re following the only two Black students at a prestigious academy, Devon and Chiamaka. When they’re both chosen as prefects for their grades, anonymous messages begin to circulate sharing their deepest secrets. They team up to find the culprit, and find there are much more sinister things at play below the surface of their school.
With themes of race, privilege, class, and queerness, this book keeps a breakneck pace while tackling big issues.
You’re going to want to clear your schedule when you start this, because you won’t be able to put it down.
I see people torn on this book, but I both devoured this and didn’t want it to end. We’re following Felicity as she makes her return to the secluded Dalloway School following a tragic loss. Upon her return, she meets Ellis, a young writing prodigy, and together they begin to look into the history of the school, most notably, the Dalloway five, an alleged coven who all died under mysterious circumstances.
We have all the perfect ingredients for a dark academia book in Lesson in Vengeance, and it was a delight (albeit twisted and twisty, dank and unreliable) to settle into.
A sorority coven! I, myself, was never in a sorority, but I enjoy the premise of exploring the darker side of the greek system through the lens of history. In The Ravens we’re following Scarlett and Vivi from their respective perspectives (that rhymed). Vivi is brand new to Kappa Rho Nu, the extremely exclusive sorority on her college campus that happens to be a coven. Scarlett is a legacy pledge. Sinister events kick off the new school year, and Vivi and Scarlett have to deal with their own tense relationship, the new school year, and solving a mysterious murder.
This was fun! Admittedly it’s not necessarily the best written or has the tidiest plot, but it’s still a fun and atmospheric read.
Leigh Bardugo is one of my favorite authors of all time. Ninth House is a sharp turn away from her debut series, Shadow and Bone but it is exquisite. In Ninth House we're following Alex Stern as she’s yanked from her spiraling life in LA to the secret societies of Yale. She’s thrown into a world of the occult and magic, trying to piece together why she was given this chance, where her mentor has disappeared to, and why so many of her classmates are ending up murdered.
I’ve read and reread this book. It’s one of my all time favorites and I’m considering yet another reread. It starts off utterly confusing, so if you’re lost, keep going. It irons out and propels you so deep into the world and story you’ll want to start over again when you finish.
A King Arthur retelling! And such an exciting book. In Legendborn we’re following Bree, reeling from the death of her mother, and ready to get some space and clarity. She enrolls in a program for high-schoolers at UNC Chapel Hill, and is thrown into the world of secret societies, demons, and magic.
The setting is lush, the pacing is exciting, and there are big themes of privilege and legacy and racism, and Bree being a total badass.
This book is so dang weird so I recommend it with caution. Y’all might hate this book! Many people do! It’s beyond speculative, bizarre, and honestly fucked up. Which turns out to be what I really enjoy.
In Bunny, we follow Samantha. An outsider at her MFA program in New England. She mainly keeps to herself, but finds herself fascinated with a group of women in her program who travel in a pack and refer to each other as Bunny. She’s invited to their exclusive club one night, and it takes off from there. Slowly becoming one of them, she loses sight of her own life and identity and has to fight her way back to herself.
IT’S SO WEIRD. So many people hate this book. I gave it five out of five stars. If you like weird I think you’ll like this, too.
On My Radar
This better be on my radar because I just bought it. The synopsis looks like it’s a mix of magical competition, secret society, and dark academia WHICH like. All the best things in one.
This has been on my radar for a while. People seem torn on this book, too, which intrigues me even more! This is touted as a sapphic horror story within a story. Sounds like it has the good makings of something I’d enjoy.
I absolutely love the premise for this: a professor at a prestigious university finds and murders the worst man on campus every year. Like. Sign me right up.
Every time I’m at the book store (a lot, leave me alone) I come back to this book. It seems we’re following the main character as she returns to her school ten years after her graduation and stuff went DOWN and not everyone is willing to forget what happened like OKAY sure why not I love this.
And that’s all for now! I hope y’all found something good from this list. As always I wanna chat all the books forever until the end of time in the comments. And I’m so excited I’m done writing this because it’s finally cooling down where I live and I’m gonna go get a blankie and put on a reading sprint and read some COZY THINGS. Okayloveyoubye.
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