hello everyone! happy freak week day 4! today i am going to be talking about some dark academia books. i honestly really love this genre, but it is something that i do want to get into more and what i hope to read more of in 2022, since i think this genre is just so cool.
the atlas six by olivie blake. the alexandrian society, caretakers of the lost knowledge from the greatest civilization 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 sex most uniquely talented magicians are selected to be considered for initiation. enter the latest round of six: libby rhodes and nico de varona, unwilling halves of an unfathomable whole, who exert uncanny control over every element of physicality. reina mori, a naturalist, who can intuit the language of life itself. parisa kamali, a telepath who can traverse the depths of the subconscious, navigating worlds inside the human mind. callum nova, an empath easily mistaken for a manipulative illusionist, who can influence the intimate workings of a person’s inner self. finally, there is tristan caine, who can see through illusions to new structure of reality, which is so rare that neither he nor his peers can fully grasp its implications.
if we were villains by ml rio. oliver marks has just served ten years in jail for a murder he may or may not have committed. on the day he’s released, he’s greeted by the man who put him in prison. detective colborne is retiring, but before he does, he wants to know what really happen a decade ago. as one of the seven young actors studying shakespeare at an elite arts college, oliver and his friends play the same roles onstage and off: hero, villain, tyrant, temptress, ingenue, extra. but when the casting changes, and the secondary characters usurp the stars, the play spills dangerously over into life, and one of them is found dead. the rest face their greatest acting challenge yet: convincing the police, and themselves, that they are blameless.
ace of spades by Faridah Abike iyimide. welcome to Niveus Private Academy, where money paves the hallways and the students are never less than perfect, until now. because anonymous texter, Aces, is bringing two students’ dark secrets to light. talented musician devon buries himself in rehearsals, but he can’t escape the spotlight when his private photos go public. and head girl chiamaka isn’t afraid to get what she wants, but soon everyone will know the price she has to paid for power. someone is out to get both of them, someone who holds all the aces and they are playing way more than a stupid high school game.
a lesson in vengeance by victoria lee. in the catskills mountains, the centuries old ivy covered campus was home, until the death of her girlfriend. now, after a year away, felicity is returning to graduate. and she even got her old room in the godwin house, the exclusive dormitory rumored to be haunted by the spirit of the five dalloway students, who are believed to be witches. the school doesn’t talk about it, but the students do, and before her girlfriend died, felicity was drawn to the dark, and she is determined to leave that behind now, all felicity wants is to focus on her senior thesis and to graduate. but, it’s hard when dalloway’s occult history is everywhere, and when the new girl won’t let her forget. it’s ellis haley’s first year at dalloway, and she already has a following, a prodigy novelist at seventeen, ellis is a so called ‘method writer.’ and she is eccentric and brilliant, and felicity can’t shake the pull to her, and ellis asks felicity to help research the dalloway five for her second book, and felicity can’t say no.
the ivies by Alexa Donne. everyone knows the Ivies, this is one of the most loved universities in the United States. but, way more importantly, there are the Ivies. the ivies at Claflin academy are five girls with the same mission, to get into the ivy league schools, with any means necessary. they disrupt class ranks, club leaderships, and academic competitions, among many other things. they improve their odds, by decreasing the fortune of others. since hyper elite competitive college admissions are a serious business, and in some cases, they are deadly.
the secret history by donna tartt. under the influence of their charismatic classics professor, a group of clever and eccentric misfits at an elite new england college discover away of thinking and living that is a world away from the humdrum existences of their contemporaries. but when they go beyond the boundaries of normal morality they slip gradually from obsession to corruption and betrayal and at last, into evil.
ninth house by leigh bardugo. galaxy “alex” stern is 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 and dead end jobs and much worse. and by the age of 20, 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 one of the world’s most elite universities on a full ride. still searching for answers to this herself, alex arrives in new haven tasked by her mysterious benefactors with monitoring the actives of yale’s secret societies. these eight windowless ‘tombs’ are well known to be haunts of the future rich and powerful, from high ranking politicos to wall street and hollywood’s biggest players. but their occult actives are revealed to be more sinister and more extraordinary than any paranoid imagination might conceive.
vicious by VE schwab. victor and eli started out as college roommates, brilliant, arrogant and lonely boys who recognized the same sharpness and ambition in each other. in their senior year, a shared research interest in adrenaline, near death experiences and seemingly supernatural events reveals an intriguing possibility: that under the right conditions, someone could develop extraordinary abilities. but when their thesis moves from the academic to the experimental, thing go horribly wrong. 10 years later, victor breaks out of prison, determined to catch up to his old friend, aided by a young girl whose reserved nature obscures a stunning ability. meanwhile, eli is on a mission to eradicate every other super powered person that he can find, aside from his old sidekick, an enigmatic woman with an unbreakable will. armed with terrible power on both sides, driven by the memory of betrayal and loss, the archenemies have set a course for revenge but who will be left alive at the end?
a deadly education by naomi novik. there are no teachers, no holidays, and no friendships, save strategic ones. survival is more important than any letter grade, for the school won’t allow it’s students to leave until they graduate or die. the rules are deceptively simple: don’t walk the halls alone and beware of the monsters who lurk everywhere. el is uniquely prepared for the school’s dangers. she may be without allies, but she possesses a dark power, strong enough to level mountains and wipe out millions. it would be easy enough for El to defeat the monsters that prowl the school. and the problem is that her powerful dark magic might also kill all the other students.
anyway, that is all for today! happy freak week day 4! i honestly really loved making this list and i can’t wait to read these in the future, since they all sound like something i could totally get into in the winter when it’s cold and snowy. and hopefully, i’ll see you again tomorrow for day 5!
r.bookish 