God-tier Dark Academia Reads
The leaves are turning, the air feels crisp, the word “pumpkin” can be seen or heard around 250 times a day, school is back in session, and it’s the perfect time to get lost in a moody and atmospheric book.
Dark Academia is the best genre to explore in September because it gets you in that spooky mood while also letting you live/re-live the glory days of academia but with slightly grimy rose coloured glasses… with a crack in them… and a creepy professor lurking in the corner.
These books, as dark as they can be, uplift me in the best ways and I hope the following recommendations can do the same for you.
Here are my top tier, creme-de-la-creme of Dark Academia books:
NINTH HOUSE
Galaxy Stern is recruited to Yale’s freshman class, hired to keep an eye on the secret societies of the university that all practice various aspects of the occult. When a classmate is murdered, it’s up to Alex to find out if the societies were involved.
A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES
Oxford scholar and witch, Diana Bishop, finds manuscript linked to the supernatural. So starts the race against time to make sure this manuscript doesn’t fall into the wrong hands. With war brewing, Diana finds her closest ally in ancient vampire, Matthew Clairmont.
VICIOUS
What starts as a class project turns deadly when Victor and Eli unlock the secret to gaining super powers. As each is corrupted by power and their differing morals pull them in opposite directions, the ultimate morally grey, villain vs hero battle begins. But which is which?
IF WE WERE VILLAINS
When Oliver Marks gets out of jail, he reminisces in an interview on what landed him there. He takes us back to the 90s to his elite Shakespearean drama school where him and his classmates found themselves in the midst of a tragedy of their own making.
A STUDY IN DROWNING
Effy has the chance of a lifetime. For her university project she gets to visit the misty manor of her favourite author and learn the secrets of the Fairy King that has haunted her for so long. Her and a rival student soon find themselves surrounded by danger and wicked truths come ti light about Effy’s favourite author and the lies he lived by.
Those five books are ones that sucked me in from page one and took me on the darkest most twisty of adventures. I’m excited to find more favourites this autumn as more Dark Academia reads hit the shelves. So I thought it would be nice to include an honourable mention to my current read and newest Dark Academia book to be in my possession:
IMMORTAL DARK
Lost heiress Kidan is forced to live with the vampire she suspects massacred her family and took her sister. As she tries to fit into this arcane society and find the truth, a new murder takes place, making this case turn a whole lot more dangerous for Kidan.
Dark Academia mixed with vampirism? SIGN ME UP!!!