Dark Academia

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

Showing 1 - 20 of 30  There are a total of 208 valid entries on the list.
Book cover for "Book of night"
Star rating for Book of night
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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 "And he shall appear"
Star rating for And he shall appear
Description:
"From a mesmerizing new literary voice comes a story of obsessive friendship, chilling powers, and untimely death for readers of dark academia classics like If We Were Villains and The Secret History. An unnamed narrator arrives at Cambridge University in the early aughts determined to reinvent himself. His northern accent marks him as an outsider, but thanks to his musical gifts, he manages to fall in with his wealthy classmate, Bryn Cavendish. A...
Book cover for "Long black veil"
Star rating for Long black veil
Average Rating:
3 stars
Description:
"On a warm August night in 1980, six college students sneak into the dilapidated ruins of Philadelphia's Eastern State Penitentiary, looking for a thrill. With a pianist, a painter, and a teacher among them, the friends are full of potential. But it's not long before they realize they are locked in--and not alone. When the friends get lost and separated, the terrifying night ends in tragedy, and the unexpected, far-reaching consequences reverberate...
Book cover for "Society of lies"
Star rating for Society of lies
Average Rating:
3.5 stars
Description:
"When a young woman turns up dead on her college campus, her sister doesn't believe it was an accident-and when she starts to dig for answers, her investigations take her closer to home than she ever would have imagined in this thrilling debut novel from an exciting new talent Every year, Maya loves heading back to Princeton for her reunions--she may have graduated a decade ago, but it's always fun to see old faces and take a walk through her own...
Book cover for "Infinity alchemist"
Star rating for Infinity alchemist
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"... 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 "For your own good"
Star rating for For your own good
Average Rating:
4 stars
Description:
"[A] thriller about a calculating teacher in a privileged private school who knows he has the power to make or break your kid's future ... and he uses it ... Teddy Crutcher has just won Teacher of the Year at the prestigious Belmont Academy, home to the best and brightest. He says his wife couldn't be more proud--though no one has seen her in a while. But Teddy can't be bothered with any of the rumors and the recent string of murders on campus. His...
Book cover for "The Belles"
Star rating for The Belles
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"Belles Never Tell... It's 1951 at the secluded Bellerton College, and Deena Williams is doing her best to blend in with her wealthy and perfectly groomed peers. Infamous for its strict rules and illustrious prestige, attending Bellerton could be a life-changing experience for Deena-and she refuses to let this opportunity pass her by. She quickly forms an alliance with the five other freshmen on her floor, including Bellerton legacy and natural leader,...
Book cover for "The girls are all so nice here"
Star rating for The girls are all so nice here
Average Rating:
4.5 stars
Description:
"A lot has changed in the years since Ambrosia Wellington graduated from college, and she's worked hard to create a new life for herself. But then an invitation to her ten-year reunion arrives in the mail, along with an anonymous note that reads, 'We need to talk about what we did that night.' It seems that the secrets of Ambrosia's past--and the people she thought she'd left there--aren't as buried as she'd believed. Amb can't stop fixating on what...
Book cover for "A dowry of blood"
Star rating for A dowry of blood
Average Rating:
4 stars
Description:
In this dark, fantasy sensation, S. T. Gibson spins the gothic, seductive tale of Dracula's first bride, Constanta. This is my last love letter to you, though some would call it a confession. . . Saved from the brink of death by a mysterious stranger, Constanta is transformed from a medieval peasant into a bride fit for an undying king. But when Dracula draws a cunning aristocrat and a starving artist into his web of passion and deceit, Constanta...
Book cover for "A narrow door"
Star rating for A narrow door
Average Rating:
2.5 stars
Description:
"Now I'm in charge, the gates are my gates. The rules are my rules. It's an incendiary moment for St Oswald's school. For the first time in its history, a headmistress is in power, the gates opening to girls. Rebecca Buckfast has spilled blood to reach this position. Barely forty, she is just starting to reap the harvest of her ambition. As the new regime takes on the old guard, the ground shifts. And with it, the remains of a body are discovered....
Book cover for "The Midnight Club"
Star rating for The Midnight Club
Description:
"It's been twenty-five years since The Midnight Club last convened. A tight-knit group of college friends bonded by late nights at the campus literary magazine, they're also bonded by something darker: the death of their brilliant friend Jennet junior year. But now, decades later, a mysterious invitation has pulled them back to the pine-shrouded Vermont town where it all began. As the estranged friends gather for a weeklong campus reunion, they soon...
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 anonymous girl"
Star rating for An anonymous girl
Average Rating:
3.8 stars
Description:
"When Jessica Farris signs up for a psychology study conducted by the mysterious Dr. Shields, she thinks all she'll have to do is answer a few questions, collect her money, and leave. But as the questions grow more and more intense and invasive and the sessions become outings where Jess is told what to wear and how to act, she begins to feel as though Dr. Shields may know what she's thinking...and what she's hiding"--
Book cover for "The library of the dead"
Star rating for The library of the dead
Series:
Average Rating:
3.5 stars
Description:
Ropa dropped out of school to become a ghost talker, and she now speaks to Edinburgh's dead--carrying messages to the living--but when she learns someone is bewitching children she investigates and discovers an occult library, a taste for hidden magic, and a wealth of Edinburgh's dark secrets.
Book cover for "This is how we end things"
Star rating for This is how we end things
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"Forest, North Carolina. Under the instruction of enigmatic Professor Joe Lyons, five graduate students are studying the tedious science behind the acts of lying. But discovering the secrets of deception isn't making any of the students more honest though. Instead, it's making it easier for them to guard their own secrets - and they all have something to hide. When a test goes awry and one of them is found dead, the students find themselves trapped...
Book cover for "The department of rare books and special collections"
Star rating for The department of rare books and special collections
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Average Rating:
4 stars
Description:
"Liesl Weiss has been (mostly) happy working in the rare books department of a large university, managing details and working behind the scenes to make the head of the department look good. But when her boss has a stroke and she's left to run things, she discovers that the library's most prized manuscript is missing. Liesl tries to sound the alarm and inform the police about the missing priceless book but is told repeatedly to keep quiet to keep the...
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...
Book cover for "Summer sons"
Star rating for Summer sons
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Average Rating:
3 stars
Description:
"Lee Mandelo's debut Summer Sons is a sweltering, queer Southern Gothic that crosses Appalachian street racing with academic intrigue, all haunted by a hungry ghost. Andrew and Eddie did everything together, best friends bonded more deeply than brothers, until Eddie left Andrew behind to start his graduate program at Vanderbilt. Six months later, only days before Andrew was to join him in Nashville, Eddie dies of an apparent suicide. He leaves Andrew...
Book cover for "The Oxford inheritance"
Star rating for The Oxford inheritance
Description:
"At prestigious Oxford University, an American student searches for the truth about her mother's death in this eerie, suspenseful thriller that blends money, murder, and black magic. Cassandra Blackwell arrives in Oxford with one mission: to uncover the truth about her mother's dark past. Raised in America, with no idea that her mother had ever studied at the famed college, a mysterious package now sends her across the ocean, determined to unravel...
Book cover for "Botanical daughter"
Star rating for Botanical daughter
Description:
"A captivating tale of two Victorian gentlemen hiding their relationship away in a botanical garden who embark on a Frankenstein-style experiment with unexpected consequences. It is an unusual thing, to live in a botanical garden. But Simon and Gregor are an unusual pair of gentlemen. Hidden away in their glass sanctuary from the disapproving tattle of Victorian London, they are free to follow their own interests without interference. For Simon, this...