Genre: Dark Academia

Paranormal dark ambiance, afterlife and lore-heavy epic fantasy framework, and resilient character-driven retribution all meet in Mark Lawrence’s Daughter of Crows, the first entry in the Academy of Kindness series. Featuring multiple timelines, POV, and narrators, Daughter of Crows is an ambitious and atmospheric read that isn’t for the faint of heart or casual readers, but is one that rewards patience and determination much like its elderly main character Rue and the many trials throughout her life. Though marketed as a dark academia adult novel, Daughter of Crows is a book that is truly dark and academy-based in only the simplest terms. There’s been a recent trend of endless academy trials and survival narratives lately across the fantasy genre that often feel repetitive and stale; this book is not one of those. Split across several timelines and narrators, the Academy of Kindness and its mix of training and trials play a major role in this story but is not the only focus. For better or for worse, this book utilizes the lost in the dark approach that drops the reader right in the middle of the story with little hand-holding to find their way. Early chapters are split between the…

A modern dark academia urban fantasy story with mysterious hauntings evoked by unsettling moments of déjà vu, Kamilah Cole’s An Arcane Inheritance is a high-concept book that pulls an impressive sleight of hand with its ambitious ideas. A perfect example of a slow burn mystery that is as twisty as it is intelligent, this is a fascinating fantasy book that reads and feels quite different from what its listed genres would suggest. Creative, immersive, and beautifully written, the purposely slow pacing isn’t for everyone nor is its sometimes directionless narrative, but the payoff for those that stick with Cole’s strong storytelling are in for a unique experience and one whose ending suggests a quick re-read on details and clues easily missed. An Arcane Inheritance is a tricky book to talk about and review due to how crucial its major plot twist developments near the end of the story are, requiring the reader to almost fall into its intended sense of familiarity. In a sense, about three quarters of the book is that of its main character Ellory Morgan’s on-campus collegiate school life mixed with mysterious and foreboding paranormal-like occurrences involving familiarity, unknown visions, or conversations that may or may not…

This review is based on a complimentary Advanced Reader Copy provided by Harper Voyager. In a tense and snow-covered world where academic studies are punishable by death, Max Francis’s Honor & Heresy follows a pair of scholars tasked with discovering the identity and motivations of a mysterious invading force threatening the city of Northgard. Accustomed to a life of persecution and suffering by political leaders that detest scholarly pursuits, Roy Dawnseve is recruited by the Governor to explore the mysterious and vast archive of the Orphic Basilica in the company of the standoffish and opposing philosophical scholar Percival Atherton. A highly atmospheric and immersive dark academia tale featuring a rivals-to-lovers M/M romance, this book is a slow burn story that’s haunting and a very promising debut novel despite a somewhat weak ending. Marketed as a story set around the concept of scholastic inquiry and a mysterious library, Honor & Heresy mostly delivers on its promise of a dark academia tale crossed with M/M romantic interests. Dark academia is a very popular genre buzzword that can relate to a variety of narrative topics and styles depending on who you ask, this book’s take on it is one of literary interest and analysis…

What if it was just you and me, in an eerie library, with a demon haunting our hopes and dreams, not two but three? More successful than my poor excuse for poetry, the Devil Makes Three by Tori Bovalino is a YA fantasy book that mixes and matches a variety of inspirations from across various genres. Part dark academia fantasy, part psychological suspense thriller, part paranormal horror, this book blends together its different elements to tell a story about two private academy lone wolves who accidentally unleash a demonic presence while navigating the challenges of their family life. Set at a prestigious private academy, the overall story revolves around the unexpected release of a demon-like entity from the depths of an academy library that Tess and Eliot work and study at respectively. When taken at face value, the Devil Makes Three sounds like it’s going to be about occultic research and evading said devil. While the book certainly follows this expected storyline to a certain extent, the rest of the book revolves around Tess and Eliot’s personal struggles, conflicted home environment, and familial difficulties that had led to their attendance at the school. For Tess, her story is about her…

“Mirror mirror on the wall, give me a tale, creative from them all.” (please excuse the clunky line, I thought it would make a fun opening). Anywho, pitched as an original Snow White-inspired fantasy story, Hemlock & Silver is a novel that’s fun and light-hearted in tone with a very creative plot. While classified as a retelling book, T. Kingfisher’s standalone novel is a retelling only by the loosest criteria due to the fairytale source material used. Rather than reinventing or putting a new spin on the classic tale, Hemlock & Silver is almost an entirely original work that reads like a fantasy mystery story as opposed to a fairytale one. Featuring ambitious concepts, creative narrative allusions to Snow White, not to mention an entertaining and lovable main character, this novel was an unexpectedly great read for me that was only hindered by its meandering and underwhelming start and occasional lag in pacing. Rather than following the typical retelling premise of reinventing its source material with a genre swap, modernization, or flipping the story from a new point of view, Kingfisher’s approach is a bold one that follows an original character, scholarly poison expert Anja who is requested by the…