Dark Academia

These twisty novels delve into the dangers of intellectual curiosity, whether from competition, conspiracy, or something else unexpected.

Showing 1 - 20 of 32  There are a total of 208 valid entries on the list.
Book cover for "Chilling adventures of Sabrina"
Star rating for Chilling adventures of Sabrina
Description:
"On the eve of her sixteenth birthday, the young sorceress Sabrina Spellman finds herself at a crossroads, having to choose between an unearthly destiny and her mortal boyfriend Harvey. But a foe from her family's past has arrived in Greendale--Madame Satan--and she has her own deadly agenda"--Provided by publisher.
Book cover for "Lessons in magic and disaster"
Star rating for Lessons in magic and disaster
Description:
"In the vein of Alice Hoffman and Charlie Jane Anders's own All the Birds in the Sky comes a novel full of love, disaster, and magic. A young witch teaches her mother how to do magic--with very unexpected results--in this relatable, resonant novel about family, identity, and the power of love. Jamie is basically your average New England academic in-training--she has a strong queer relationship, an esoteric dissertation proposal, and inherited generational...
Book cover for "Hell bent"
Star rating for Hell bent
Series:
Alex Stern volume 2.
Average Rating:
4.2 stars
Description:
"Alex Stern returns in New York Times bestselling author Leigh Bardugo's Hell Bent, another tale of murder and dark magic set among the Ivy League elite. Galaxy "Alex" Stern is determined to break Darlington out of hell--even if it costs her a future at Lethe and at Yale. But Alex is playing with forces far beyond her control, and when faculty members begin to die off, she knows these aren't just accidents. Something deadly is at work in New Haven,...
Book cover for "Ninth house"
Star rating for Ninth house
Series:
Alex Stern volume 1.
Average Rating:
4.1 stars
Description:
"Galaxy "Alex" Stern is the most unlikely member of Yale's freshman class. Raised in the Los Angeles hinterlands by a hippie mom, Alex dropped out of school early and into a world of shady drug-dealer boyfriends, dead-end jobs, and much, much worse. In fact, by age twenty, she is the sole survivor of a horrific, unsolved multiple homicide. Some might say she's thrown her life away. But at her hospital bed, Alex is offered a second chance: to attend...
Book cover for "Book of night"
Star rating for Book of night
Author:
Series:
Average Rating:
2.9 stars
Description:
"Charlie Hall has never found a lock she couldn't pick, a book she couldn't steal, or a bad decision she wouldn't make. She's spent half her life working for gloamists, magicians who manipulate shadows to peer into locked rooms, strangle people in their beds, or worse. Gloamists guard their secrets greedily, creating an underground economy of grimoires. And to rob their fellow magicians, they need Charlie. Now, she's trying to distance herself from...
Book cover for "Wings so wicked"
Star rating for Wings so wicked
Description:
"Huntyr has fought for survival her entire life. Raised under Lord, the master of assassins in Midgrave, she has spent over twenty years learning to kill the blood-hungry, depraved vampyres that lurk in the darkness. Huntyr is the most lethal fae in the kingdom, which is why Lord chooses her to complete the next mission. Huntyr must survive Moira Seminary and make it into The Golden City--the mysterious elite society of the few remaining angels and...
Book cover for "The atlas six"
Star rating for The atlas six
Series:
Atlas volume 1.
Average Rating:
3.5 stars
Description:
"The Alexandrian Society, caretakers of lost knowledge from the greatest civilizations of antiquity, are the foremost secret society of magical academicians in the world. Those who earn a place among the Alexandrians will secure a life of wealth, power, and prestige beyond their wildest dreams, and each decade, only the six most uniquely talented magicians are selected to be considered for initiation. Enter the latest round of six: Libby Rhodes and...
Book cover for "Infinity alchemist"
Star rating for Infinity alchemist
Series:
Description:
"... a spellbinding fantasy novel about a quest that leads three young alchemists toward dangerous truth, legendary love, and extraordinary power."--Provided by publisher.
Book cover for "Piranesi"
Star rating for Piranesi
Average Rating:
4.2 stars
Description:
"From the ... author of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, an intoxicating, hypnotic new novel set in a dreamlike alternative reality. Piranesi's house is no ordinary building: its rooms are infinite, its corridors endless, its walls are lined with thousands upon thousands of statues, each one different from all the others. Within the labyrinth of halls an ocean is imprisoned; waves thunder up staircases, rooms are flooded in an instant. But Piranesi...
Book cover for "The betrayals"
Star rating for The betrayals
Average Rating:
1 stars
Description:
"At Montverre, an ancient and elite academy hidden high in the mountains, society's best and brightest are trained for excellence in the grand jeu--the great game--an arcane and mysterious competition that combines music, art, math, poetry, and philosophy. Lǒ Martin once excelled at Montverre but lost his passion for scholarly pursuits after a violent tragedy. He turned to politics instead and became a rising star in the ruling party, until a small...
Book cover for "Legendborn"
Star rating for Legendborn
Author:
Series:
Legendborn volume 1.
Average Rating:
4.4 stars
Description:
"To discover the truth behind her mother's mysterious death, a teen girl infiltrates a magical secret society claiming to be the descendants of King Arthur and his knights."--
Book cover for "VenCo"
Star rating for VenCo
Average Rating:
4.5 stars
Description:
"An incredibly inventive, highly anticipated second adult novel--with witches, magic, and a road trip through America--from Cherie Dimaline, the critically acclaimed author of Empire of Wild."-- Métis millennial Lucky St. James is barely hanging on when she learns she'll be evicted from the tiny Toronto apartment she shares with her cantankerous but loving grandmother Stella. But then one night, something strange and irresistible calls out to Lucky....
Book cover for "Vita nostra"
Star rating for Vita nostra
Series:
Average Rating:
4.5 stars
Description:
The definitive English language translation of the internationally acclaimed Russian novel--a brilliant dark fantasy combining psychological suspense, enchantment, and terror that makes us consider human existence in a fresh and provocative way. Our life is brief . . . Sasha Samokhina has been accepted to the Institute of Special Technologies. Or, more precisely, she's been chosen. Situated in a tiny village, she finds the students are bizarre, and...
Book cover for "Magic for liars"
Star rating for Magic for liars
Average Rating:
4 stars
Book cover for "The magicians"
Star rating for The magicians
Average Rating:
3.5 stars
Description:
Haboring secret preoccupations with a magical land he read about in a childhood fantasy series, Quentin Coldwater is unexpectedly admitted into an exclusive college of magic and rigorously educated in modern sorcery.
Book cover for "An academy for liars"
Star rating for An academy for liars
Average Rating:
2 stars
Description:
"Lennon Carter's life is falling apart. Then she gets a mysterious phone call inviting her to take the entrance exam for Drayton College, a school of magic hidden in a secret pocket of Savannah. Lennon has been chosen because-like everyone else at the school-she has the innate gift of persuasion, the ability to wield her will like a weapon, using it to control others and, in rare cases, matter itself. After passing the test, Lennon begins to learn...
Book cover for "An unkindness of magicians"
Star rating for An unkindness of magicians
Author:
Series:
Unseen world volume 1.
Average Rating:
4 stars
Description:
"In New York City, magic controls everything. But the power of magic is fading. No one knows what is happening, except for Sydney--a new, rare magician with incredible power that has been unmatched in decades, and she may be the only person who is able to stop the darkness that is weakening the magic. But Sydney doesn't want to help the system --she wants to destroy it. Sydney comes from the House of Shadows, which controls the magic with the help...
Book cover for "Arcana Academy"
Star rating for Arcana Academy
Author:
Series:
Arcana Academy volume 1.
Description:
"Clara Graysword has survived the underworld of Eclipse City through thievery, luck, and a whole lot of illegal magic. After a job gone awry, Clara is sentenced to a lifetime in prison for inking tarot cards--a rare power reserved for practitioners at the elite Arcana Academy. Just when it seems her luck has run dry, the academy's enigmatic headmaster, Prince Kaelis, offers her an escape--for a price. Kaelis believes that Clara is the perfect tool...
Book cover for "Babel"
Star rating for Babel
Average Rating:
4.2 stars
Description:
"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 that grapples with student revolutions, colonial resistance, and the use of language and translation as the dominating tool of the British empire. Traduttore, traditore: An act of translation is always an act of betrayal. 1828. Robin Swift, orphaned by cholera in Canton, is brought to London by the mysterious...
Book cover for "Katabasis"
Star rating for Katabasis
Average Rating:
1 stars
Description:
"Alice Law has only ever had one goal: to become one of the brightest minds in the field of Magick. She has sacrificed everything to make that a reality: her pride, her health, her love life, and most definitely her sanity. All to work with Professor Jacob Grimes at Cambridge, the greatest magician in the world. That is, until he dies in a magical accident that could possibly be her fault. Grimes is now in Hell, and she's going in after him. Because...