Dark Academia

Yesteryear

Caro Claire Burke · Literary Fiction

***'My name is Natalie Heller Mills, and I was perfect at being alive…'*** Natalie lives a traditional lifestyle – and has the social media…

dark academia · psychological thriller · twist ending · unreliable narrator · gothic atmosphere

Mad Mabel

Sally Hepworth · Mystery & Thriller

Meet Mad Mabel. Elsie Mabel Fitzpatrick is eighty-one years old. She's lived on her idyllic street, Kenny Lane, for sixty years--longer than…

psychological thriller · dark academia · twist ending · morally grey character

Legendborn

Tracy Deonn · Fantasy

After her mother dies in an accident, sixteen-year-old Bree Matthews wants to escape.

dark academia · urban fantasy · found family · chosen one · magic academy

Babel

R. F Kuang · Fantasy

From award-winning author R. F. Kuang comes Babel, a thematic response to The Secret History and a tonal retort to Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell…

dark academia · political intrigue · morally grey character · revenge plot · magic academy

Ninth House

Leigh Bardugo · Fantasy

Galaxy “Alex” Stern is the most unlikely member of Yale’s freshman class.

dark academia · urban fantasy · trauma recovery · ghosts · demons

The Raven Scholar

Antonia Hodgson · Fantasy

Let us fly now to the empire of Orrun, where after twenty-four years of peace, the reign of Bersun the Brusque has come to an end.

dark academia · slow burn · found family · twist ending

A Game of Thrones

George R. R. Martin · Fantasy

***A Game of Thrones*** is the inaugural novel in ***A Song of Ice and Fire***, an epic series of fantasy novels crafted by the American author…

political intrigue · dark academia · morally grey character · revenge plot

Blood on Her Tongue

Johanna van Veen · Horror

**The Netherlands, 1887.** Lucy's twin sister Sarah is unwell.

gothic atmosphere · paranormal romance · vampires · dark academia

The Secret History

Donna Tartt · Literary Fiction

Under the influence of their charismatic classics professor, a group of clever, eccentric misfits at an elite New England college discover a way of…

dark academia · psychological thriller · morally grey character · found family

Iron Flame

Rebecca Yarros · Fantasy

“The first year is when some of us lose our lives.

dark academia · magic academy · enemies to lovers · slow burn · chosen one · dragons

Katabasis

R.F. Kuang · Fantasy

'a formidable, timeless work, destined to be a modern classic' OLIVIE BLAKE 'A novel to savour.

dark academia · grimdark · morally grey character · found family · twist ending

The Will of the Many

James Islington · Fantasy

The Catenan Republic—the Hierarchy—may rule the world, but they do not know everything.

dark academia · chosen one · quest

Verity Guild

Mai Corland · Fantasy

High Priestess Kerasea Vestal has spent her life hiding the truth—that she’s the last surviving heir of the magical bloodline the republic…

dark academia · political intrigue · secret identity · chosen one · redemption arc

Phantasma

Kaylie Smith · Fantasy

Welcome to Phantasma. There are only two rules to the game. Stay alive. And don’t fall in love. When Ophelia’s sister disappears, there is only one…

enemies to lovers · dark academia · haunted setting · forbidden romance · quest · twist ending

Gideon the Ninth

Tamsyn Muir · Fantasy

"The Emperor needs necromancers.

dark academia · gothic atmosphere · locked room · found family

Bunny

Mona Awad · Literary Fiction

Samantha Heather Mackey couldn't be more of an outsider in her small, highly selective MFA program at New England's Warren University.

dark academia · magical realism · gothic atmosphere · coming of age · grimdark

If We Were Villains

M. L. Rio · Literary Fiction

Entreated to tell his side of the story to a detective who put him in prison a decade earlier for a murder he may not have committed, Oliver Marks…

enemies to lovers · friends to lovers · dark academia · obsessive love · found family · revenge plot