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Essential dark academia books
Chilling mysteries and moody settings abound in these dark academia books, including “Catherine House,” “The Maidens,” and “Babel.”
Publicado el 18 de marzo de 2024
Seleccionado porLanie Pemberton
Lanie is a San Diego-based freelance writer who loves reading crime thrillers and nonfiction about animals and the natural world. When not writing and reading (or writing about what to read), Lanie spends as much time as possible at the beach with her husband and pampered pittie, Peach.
If We Were Villains: A Novel
M.L. Rio“Recommended for readers with refined literary tastes, and those looking for ‘something like’ Donna Tartt,” says Booklist of this dark academia thriller set at an elite conservatory for the arts. The novel opens as Oliver Marks completes a 10-year prison sentence before backtracking. During Marks’ senior year, everything went terribly wrong among seven friends who took some of Shakespeare’s darker themes to heart. Obsession, rivalry, and unrequited romance await in “If We Were Villains.”
Vita Nostra: A Novel
Marina & Sergey DyachenkoA young woman gets recruited to attend a magic school known as the Institute of Special Technologies, but “magic” in this book is less whimsical and more dark, strange, and twisted. It also comes at a high cost. “Vita Nostra” — written by a Ukrainian husband and wife duo — is a fantasy novel that asks existential questions and has been an influence on the literary likes of Lev Grossman (“The Magicians”) and Veronica Roth (“Divergent”).
Catherine House: A Novel
Elisabeth ThomasCatherine House isn’t like other colleges. Enrollment in the elite institute requires complete isolation from the outside world. Ines Murillo is more than happy to leave her past behind, but the longer she lives at Catherine House, the more detached she feels from reality. Atmospheric and unsettling, Thomas’ novel takes readers on a fraught psychological journey where the need to belong has dark consequences.
Fourth Wing
Rebecca YarrosViolet, the bookish daughter of a formidable mother, must put aside her fear to become a dragon rider. But first, she has to survive Basgiath War College, where brutalities abound and everyone and everything seems out to kill her. Romance, fantasy, and dark academia unite in “Fourth Wing,” a BookTok favorite that’s taken the world by storm.
A Study in Drowning
Ava ReidReid’s dark fantasy novel is immersive and bewitching. It begins when an architecture student, Effy Sayre, visits the crumbling estate of the late novelist Emrys Myrddin. But as Effy spends time at the mysterious manor (alongside a rival scholar), she begins to wonder if Myrddin’s famous tale of the Fairy King is more than a fantasy.
All That Consumes Us
Erica WatersIf you like a side of psychological horror with your dark academia, try Waters’ “All That Consumes Us.” Tara jumps at the chance to enroll in Magni Viri, a prestigious collegiate society that’s sure to help her realize her dreams of becoming an author. It’s the chance of a lifetime — so why is Tara suddenly having nightmares? And feeling ill? Not to mention finding twisted, disturbing stories she has no memory of writing…
The Forest Demands Its Due
Kosoko JacksonA student at Regent Academy is murdered, but that’s far from the beginning of this twisted nightmare. After Douglas Jones realizes no one else can remember his late classmate, he stumbles upon an ancient secret in the woods surrounding Regent, and, with the help of the groundskeeper, becomes determined to protect his peers from impending evil. Kirkus calls Jackson’s YA tale a “bold addition to queer dark academia stories.”
Very Bad People
Kit FrickTruth, lies, right, and wrong blur together in Frick’s dizzying mystery set at an eminent boarding school. When Calliope Bolan transfers to Tipton Academy, she’s immediately inducted into the Haunt and Rail society, a secret group dedicated to social justice. But when Haunt and Rail’s tactics become increasingly dangerous, Calliope begins to doubt everything — including the truth about her traumatic past.
All's Well: A Novel
Mona Awad“All’s Well” features a collegiate setting, a narrator whose sanity slowly unravels, and a bizarre, claustrophobic feel — all with a fantasy twist. Miranda, a college theater director with an addiction problem, wants to stage “All’s Well That Ends Well,” but her students insist on “Macbeth.” Enter three mysterious benefactors with a ghastly proposition.
Plain Bad Heroines: A Novel
Emily M. DanforthAt the Brookhants School for Girls, Flo and Clara are nearly as obsessed with each other as they are with sapphic memoirist Mary MacLane. They start a secret club, the titular “Plain Bad Heroines,” shortly before their mysterious deaths. But we haven’t seen the last of Flo and Clara. This story blends dark comedy, romance, horror, and satire in a collegiate setting.
The Cloisters: A Novel
Katy HaysThere’s plenty of off-kilter, chilling elements — from ruinous tarot readings to ruthless academic competition — in this expansive debut that’s been compared to “The Secret History.” Ann Stillwell thinks she’s escaping her small town for a big-time internship at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, but instead she winds up at The Cloisters, which, in Hays’ hands, is more occultish than educational.
Vicious
V. E. SchwabIn college, Victor Vale and Eliot Cardale discovered how to access previously untapped supernatural powers. Years later, the friends become archnemeses as one goes on a murderous rampage. A realistic, if not pessimistic, look at the evolution of superheroes, Schwab’s novel explores desperation, power, and pride.
Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution
Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution
R. F. KuangIn this historical fantasy take on dark academia, a British professor adopts Robin Swift, a young Cantonese orphan who goes on to study translation at an elite (and magical) Oxford institute. But it soon becomes clear that the Royal Institute of Translation is hoarding knowledge to fuel their colonialist agenda, trapping Robin between worlds and forcing him to make hard choices.
Vladimir: A Novel
Julia May JonasDripping with desire, “Vladimir” has a romance novel veneer that’s window dressing for its tale about pride and sexual liberation. The unnamed narrator is an aging English professor who spends her time pining after new, flirty faculty member Vladimir as a distraction from students’ accusations of her husband’s sexual misconduct.
Piranesi
Susanna ClarkePiranesi has only ever known the House, a labyrinthian place full of wonders known and unknown. Piranesi thinks he’s alone — until the Other appears and enlists his help in discovering ancient knowledge. Their interactions leave Piranesi increasingly uneasy and doubting his own sanity. Clarke (“Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell”) blends dark academia with abstract horror and fantasy, leaving readers dizzy but dying to know more.
Black Chalk
Christopher J. YatesIn a thriller that mystifies and redirects until the final shocking twist, six first-years at Oxford University devise a game of increasingly harrowing dares that test their psychological fortitude. Naturally, the game builds into something darker, tearing the characters apart and testing the reader’s resolve. This novel is ideal for lovers of dark academia and unreliable narrators.
My Dark Vanessa: A Novel
Kate Elizabeth Russell“My Dark Vanessa” has been touted as the “Lolita” of the #MeToo era. In it, an adult Vanessa has to confront what is true and what is false about a relationship she had with a teacher when she was a teenager.
Four by Four
Sara MesaWybrany College is meant to be a refuge from the dangers of the outside world. So why do the students desperately wish to escape? Mesa’s gothic tale explores abuse of power through the lens of several students. Their perspectives mingle with journal entries by a substitute teacher who senses — and then slowly witnesses — the dark undercurrents at Wybrany.
Trust Exercise: A Novel
Susan ChoiThis dark academia romance won the 2019 National Book Award for Fiction, with judges praising author Choi for “blend[ing] the intellectual rigor of post-modern technique with a story that is timely, mesmerizing, and, in the end, unsettling.” “Trust Exercise” is a charged exploration of deception when two students fall in love at a competitive performing arts high school in the 1980s.
Ace of Spades
Faridah Àbíké-ÍyímídéÀbíké-Íyímídé’s debut is a YA dark academia sensation. Devon Richards and Chiamaka Adebayo, the only two Black students at the elite Niveus Private Academy, are excited about the prospects for their future going into senior year. But Aces, an anonymous bully, is set on destroying those dreams.
The Ballerinas: A Novel
Rachel Kapelke-DaleDark academia meets “Black Swan” in Kapelke-Dale’s thriller about passion, ambition, and self-hatred. Fourteen years after leaving the Paris Opera Ballet, Delphine Léger returns to Paris hoping to reconnect with her former best friends. The story moves between past and present, slowly revealing the ramifications of a terrible choice the girls made long ago. “The Ballerinas” packs a weighty punch fueled by female rage.