One of my all time favorite tropes in books is an academic setting, and there is nothing better than a deliciously twisty, coming of age dark academia book! I fell in love with a certain Shakespearean inspired dark academia book, which will remain unnamed in an effort to create drama, as all dark academia novels should have in my opinion. Here I will be ranking the 20 dark academia books I have read from least favorite to all time favorite, listing the books that I still need to read, and also including a few manga’s that provide a dark academia mood.
So without further ado…
A Ranking of 20 Dark Academia Books. Least favorite to All time Favorite, plus a few Dark Academia Manga books listed below!!
#20 The Magicians (New Adult Fantasy/Dark Academia)
I do not like this series. In fact, I really can’t stand it. I am including it on this list because I know that a lot of people DO love it and it is an intriguing idea for a dark academia story. I love the mixture of fantasy with the genre and I had high hopes for it…but it’s a hard pass for me. The book is about Quentin, a seemingly average college kid who discovers a secret magic school in New York.
He is obsessed with a series of books called “Fillory and Fuller”, which gives off major Narnia vibes, and he eventually discovers that Fillory might just be real. Sounds amazing right? Well, nothing happens. I’m sorry, but it’s true. Personally, there was no plot here and all of the things that made up the “plot” were just so bizarre and it was just not for me.
It is important to note that this is actually advertised as an adult Harry Potter, but I really don’t see the comparison.
#19 Don’t Breathe a Word (YA Dark Academia Mystery)
This is a YA dark academia mystery thriller that floats back and forth between two timelines. The first, tells the story of a teacher who gathers a group of children overnight to participate in a bomb shelter/ hunker in place plan during the 1950’s. This sets in place a series of events that will eventually affect students to come.
In present day we follow the life of Eva, who begins to see that there is something not quite right with the school and sets about fixing the wrongs.
This book is fast paced and easy to dive into and binge in a night. I’m not normally a fan of multi perspective books with alternating chapters but I had no trouble keeping the two stories separate and I was invested in both stories equally. I would recommend this one for anyone wanting a quick entertaining YA boarding school read, but it’s toward the beginning of my list because it didn’t leave me feeling anything after reading.
#18 Trust Exercise (Fiction/ Dark Academia)
This book is very confusing, but it put me in the headspace of when I was in high school. There are a few “plot twists” in this that I don’t want to give away but essentially the book is about a couple of teens who attend a performing arts high school. I also went to a performing arts high school and I remember feeling the extreme highs and lows that come with learning how to tap into your emotions to such a large extent while honing your performative skills.
You feel things intensely as a teenager, and artistic teenagers can sometimes feel even more at times. In this regard I connected with the book, but these teens go through some extreme times and I very much did not. It was interesting to read about how one persons story of events can be so very different from another’s, and this too brought me back to some of the friendships and frenemy-ships that I had in high school. The teens also put a large amount of trust in their theatre teachers and when those people in power are not trustworthy it doesn’t always end well.
That is all I will say for fear of spoiling the most important points of the book, but overall it’s weird, confusing and chaotic…which feels like high school so for me it succeeded in it’s dark academia goal, but I have no desire to read it again.
#17 Ninth House (New Adult Dark Academia Fantasy)
Alex, the main character of Ninth House, is the sole survivor of a horrible unsolved homicide. Her life has been less than ideal before this. She is caught up in the world of drug deals, dead end jobs and worse, but when she wakes up from the hospital she is offered a free ride to Yale. She just has to keep an eye on the campus’s occult activity. This is a dark (super dark), new adult, dark academia fantasy book and I expected TO LOVE IT! I didn’t.
I liked it ok. At its heart this book is about exposing the world of privilege in society, and I applaud the message she was trying to bring awareness to, but it didn’t wow me. There were moments that I was very invested, and it was twisty in the way I usually like, but there was still something lacking. It was also darker than I was expecting it to be honestly. I’m going to read the next one, because it (OF COURSE) ends on a cliff hanger, and the promise of what could be is still enticing enough to continue!
#16 For Your Own Good (Mystery/Adult Dark Academia)
Teddy Crutcher is a teacher at a private school who believes that it is his responsibility to teach the children lessons…lessons beyond what the everyday teacher would teach. For example, certain cockier students should be brought down a peg or two…it’s his duty to teach them a lesson, for their own good. This dark academia thriller was interesting because we were given a deeper look into the mind of a teacher, rather than focusing on the students like most dark academia books tend to portray.
It is an entertaining mystery but I didn’t have a heart connection to any of the characters, which is what I usually love about my dark academia books. Meaning, my heart didn’t break while reading it.
#15 Catherine House (Adult Dark Academia/Fiction)
This is a dark academia novel that had all of the fixings to be THE PERFECT DARK ACADEMIA, but it sadly fell slightly short for me. It is about a school whose graduates all become successful after graduating, but they must devote 3 years entirely to the school. There is no outside communication, no tv, no cell phones. The students belong to Catherine House for the 3 years they attend, and in return they are almost guaranteed successful careers. Only problem is, some of the students don’t graduate…they just disappear.
The premise sounds amazing right?? The execution is a little lackluster for me and the story is a bit slow, but I still feel like it is worth a read for the true Dark Academia savant.
#14 A Lesson in Vengeance (YA Dark Academia)
This was another idea that really excited me and offered a lot of potential, but slightly underwhelmed me during the execution. It is essentially about an all girls boarding school that allows its students to specialize in subjects in order to create a thesis by the end of the year.
The Dolloway house is where our MC lives with a group of other literature loving students who are all a bit obsessed with an already published author (Eliis) who is living in their house and attending school that year. Ellis considers herself a “method author” and she is writing a horror book this year, I will let your imagination come up with what might unfold here.
Felicity, our narrator, provides the book with a deliciously gothic atmosphere. We are never sure when we can trust her accounts of events since she is haunted by the death of her girlfriend the previous year. The book also ties this into mental illness, and how literature often uses mental illness to provide the trope of (can we trust this narrator or is she mad? Because it is almost always a woman cast in this role).
#13 The Atlas Six (New Adult Dark Academia/Fantasy)
The Atlas Six is about a prestigious secret society where 6 initiates are invited to join every year, and at the end of the year only 5 will be allowed to stay. All six initiates have special gifts (magical abilities) that they can offer the society and they must learn to work with the other initiates, while also competing against them. I gotta say, the first 1/4 of this book blew my mind and I was so excited to maybe find my next 5 star read.
The premise sounded amazing. There was magic, an exciting game, competition (a favorite trope of mine), a secret society, and it was dark academia?!?!?! Sadly, the remaining 3/4 of the book did not live up to the premise or the beginning. The last 50-75 pages picks up again, but not enough to earn 5 stars from me. I am definitely still interested in the rest of the series though!
#12 The Grimrose Girls (YA Dark Academia/Retelling)
This is both a fantasy retelling and a dark academia novel which makes the premise super unique. It is about four reimagined fairy tale characters who attend Grimrose Academy and are trying to solve the murder of one of their friends. They soon learn that they are in danger also, and they must learn about the curses that are intertwined into their own stories to rescue themselves. Although it is not at the top of my dark academia list, it is a great retelling, and a great YA fantasy book. Super fast and easy to binge in a night.
#11 Truly Devious (YA Dark Academia/ Mystery)
This dark academia takes place in a prestigious (invite only) boarding school where the original owner was obsessed with games and puzzles. It is divided into two timelines, with one taking place in 1936 when the owner’s wife and child are abducted and a letter with a puzzle is delivered to him that he must solve before he gets his family back. The second timeline is in the present day where a young teen is obsessed with solving the case. She is invited into the school after writing an essay about the case, and then deciding to devote her final project to solving it. She is truly a true crime aficionado, and aspiring detective.
This was an easy to binge, entertaining YA dark academia. There is nothing in the plot that left me thinking about the book after reading it, but I still enjoyed the process of figuring out what happened.
#10 A Deadly Education (Adult Dark Academia/Fantasy)
I was nervous going into this series because I absolutely LOVED Uprooted by Naomi Novik but was very disappointed with Spinning Silver. I was happily surprised while reading Deadly Education though because I ended up really enjoying it.
Deadly Education, book one in The Scholomance series, is evidently inspired by the fabled school in Romania called The Scholomance. It was said to be run by the Devil, and taught all about the dark arts. In Deadly Education the school seemed to be a living entity of its own, and the students had to be careful of what the school might throw at them if they wanted to survive through graduation.
I liked the world, and the magic of the school, and I also really enjoyed the main character’s journey into finding friendships. The vibe didn’t exactly scream dark academia for me, but it is still set in a school and deadly things are happening around the main characters so it does technically fit the bill. There have been some reviewers who have criticized the book for racist issues and I would recommend reading this review which thoughtfully fleshes out some of the issues that have been brought up.
#9 Ace of Spades (YA Dark Academia/Mystery)
Wow! This was marketed as being a mixture of Gossip Girl meets Get Out and it did not disappoint. Ace of Spades sets up a scenario where two black teenagers are being bullied by an anonymous texter at their prestigious prep school. At the start of their senior year they are at the top of their class. After school begins they realize that as the only 2 black students, they are being targeted for the color of their skin.
The mystery that unfolds does not hold the adrenaline thumping fun that books like Gossip Girl and Pretty Little Liars hold. Instead, the deeper you read into the book, the more horrified and uncomfortable you begin to feel.
The scenarios in this book are meant to provide a hyperbole for systemic racism but if even a percentage of what is happening in this book is real (which it is) one can’t help but feel angry after reading it. This book touches on important issues, and forces you to face some of the hard realities that our society is still dealing with today. It is a fast read, and I would encourage everyone to add this to their Dark Academia reading lists.
#8 Plain Bad Heroines (Adult Dark Academia/Horror)
This is a story, within a story, within a story. It is a bit slower paced than most novels but it is extremely unique, and has a perfect blend of dark humor for the dark academia genre. It is told in two time-lines, one during 1902 set at an all girls boarding school where the girls are quickly becoming obsessed with the book of Mary Mcclane. This book tells the inner thoughts of Mary, a girl with questionable morals and thoughts (so says the people at that time), and the girls who begin reading it mysteriously begin showing up dead.
During the present day, a woman has written a book about the events that took place at the women’s boarding school in 1902 and now it is being adapted into a movie in Hollywood. Mysterious events begin taking place with the actresses cast to play in the movie here as well. Honestly, it is one of my favorite dark academia novels. It is sapphic, and dark and humorous and all of these things together form into a really intriguing dark academia read. It is maybe a bit longer than it needs to be, it could have had a good 200 pages cut out, but still totally worth the read.
#7 We Were Liars (YA Mystery/ Dark Academia?)
I actually really enjoyed this book! It’s been a while since I felt the need to finish a book in one sitting because I HAD to know how it ended. The characters were out of my reach, as they all come from a very wealthy family, but I still connected to them and the story. The book is told from the voice of Cadence, who is suffering from headaches and has holes in her memory following a tragedy one summer. The family is told to let her piece it together in her own time, so the reader finds out what happens as she remembers.
I get the hype with this one. I was immediately enthralled with the story and I binged it in about 3 hours. I do not however understand how it is categorized as a dark academia book? I miss the connection there, but it’s on quite a few dark academia lists so I included it here as well.
#6 The Secret History (Adult Dark Academia/ Fiction)
No matter who you ask this will most likely be at the top of their dark academia reading lists. It is basically the Mother of all dark academia, and there is a very good reason for that. It’s good. It is mysterious, elitist, pretentious, scholarly, murderous and you can’t help but become enthralled with what is happening. T
he book is about a group of elite college students who are all studying Greek mythology and their intense study eventually leads one of them to murder. The book tells the events leading up to the murder, and the aftermath. It is one of those few books where you hate ALL of the characters but still can’t help but keep reading.
If you are setting on a path to read dark academia this is the one book I would say MUST be on everyone’s list. It might not be my favorite dark academia, and if it were up to me only it would not have made it so close to the top of this list, but it is necessary to read and the world has spoken about its dark academia prowess.
#5 Vicious (Adult Dark Academia/ Science Fiction)
When I first read Vicious it didn’t occur to me to categorize it as a dark academia novel because it felt like something wholly different. However, it does take place at a college setting and a murder does happen so…there ya go. This is the only dark academia novel I have read that has science fiction elements involved, and that makes this a really unique experience.
The story is about two college friends who stumble upon the idea that you can give yourself extraordinary abilities by living through near death experiences. There is a really intense dichotomy of evil vs. good between the characters, and within the characters themselves that makes this book one of my favorites.
#4 Bunny (Adult Dark Academia/ Fiction)
What a strange and darkly humorous book! I listened to this one as an audio book, and I am really glad I experienced it through this avenue. The individual voices of each character were great to listen to, and really helped sell the satire behind the pages. The book is an ode to the clique mentality, and the lengths humans will go to in order to “fit in”. This book is essentially The Heathers meets The Craft and it is entirely weird, “but in the best way.” (Quote from the book, read it to understand how hilarious I am.)
It follows the life of four MFA writing students who all refer to themselves as a collective “Bunny” and have basically lost the ability to understand where their own individual personalities end, and the next person’s begins. They are basically one giant “we”, and they decide to bring a fifth member into their “clique”/”cult” this year. Samantha is brought into the clique and told how she is “such an outsider” and they love her work but “it’s so mean, and angry”, from here they begin to turn her into a Bunny…and friends, you have no idea just what that entails! Read it if you are looking for a hilarious, totally bonkers and unique dark academia read!
#3 Black Chalk (Adult Dark Academia/ Mystery)
This one literally has all of the elements that make the quintessential dark academia book for me! It is set in England, during college and is about a group of friends who gather around to play a game. It is playful at first, where they dare each other to perform silly things but the game eventually takes a turn. It is a game of consequences, and when someone fails to perform their consequences they are eliminated. The narrator is telling the story from both the 1990’s when he was at school, and in present day 14 years later.
He believes that he is writing the story of what happened while at school, but he soon finds out that the game is far from being over.I really enjoyed this book but I listened to it on audiobook and the voice portrayal for Chad (the American) was cringey. I couldn’t help but picture the little boy in the Polar Express whose ticket was LEARN. Go listen to a youtube video if you don’t know what I’m talking about.
Overall, this book is not without faults and is in no way perfect, but it had total dark academia vibes for me and grew on me more and more after reading.
#2 Confessions (Dark Academia/ Japanese Crime Fiction)
I was personally really invested in this dark academia story. I had a hard time putting it down once I started, and it felt like a true crime podcast at times. I listened to it as an audiobook which felt perfect because the story is told as confessionals. Confessions is a Japanese Crime Fiction novel that was translated into English. The book is divided into 5 parts, with each devoted to someones confession revolving around the murder of a little girl.
At first, the mother talks about how she went about exacting her revenge on the students involved in murdering her daughter, and then the students and family who were involved or effected by the murder share their stories. You begin to see how small and large events alike all lead up to the eventual murder. It is haunting and heartbreaking to read.
#1 If We Were Villains (Adult Dark Academia/ Mystery)
This is still my favorite dark academia book ever! It is a haunting tale of a group of elite Shakespearean theatre students. A murder takes place between the close group of “friends” and a heartbreaking coming of age story takes place. It is a great look into the competitive nature of the performing arts, and having come from a performing arts background myself I was instantly drawn into the events that took place.The ending is still one of my favorite book endings as well. I could gush about it but I might ruin the magic for you so that is all I will say!
Also, I read Crave which had a slight dark academia vibe but in the end I thought it was more fantasy than anything else so I did not include it in this list. However, if you are interested in reading about a boarding school with magical creatures and VAMPIRES, then here is my review.
Manga’s with a dark academia feel
I am very new to the Manga genre but I have been trying to branch out a bit, and there were a few manga’s that seemed to fit in well with the dark academia vibes so I decided to add them to my reading list. If you have read any manga’s with dark academia vibes that are not included in this list I would love to hear them!
The Drifting Classroom
This one is about an elementary school that disappears one day. The parents of the school think that there must have been a gas explosion or some other disaster, but the truth is that the school was simply sent somewhere else. When the teachers and students find themselves in this new location they realize that they must fight for their survival. I was expecting a Hunger Games vibe, but instead this book delivered Lord of the Flies and it is haunting to read.
Assassination Classroom
An alien has just destroyed the moon and threatens to destroy the planet unless the children in Classroom 3-E can kill him first. He insists on being the children’s teacher and while he teaches math and science, he also teaches the art of assassination. It has a dark humor to it that I really enjoyed, and I will definitely be reading some of the other volumes in the series. It is also a series on Netflix.
Kakegurui
Hyakkaou Private Academy is a school where the teachers seem to be strangely absent or very nonobservant, and the students have turned the academy into a gambling den. When a new student starts she begins playing some of the games with the kids and exposing some of the cheating students and placing extremely high stakes on each game. It was honestly really entertaining and I enjoyed the artwork a lot.
Unfortunately I didn’t get to ALL of the dark academia books that were on my list for this October’s Dark Academia Reading Extravaganza. Here are the books that I still need to read!
Wilder Girls
Magic for Liars
Middlegame
The Tenth Girl
The Divines
Ghosts of Harvard
Hex
The Mary Shelley Club
Those Who Prey
How We Fall Apart
The Truants
Dead Poets Society
People Like Us
Vita Nostra
The Likeness
The Ivies
S.T.A.G.S
The Furies
They Never Learn
These Violent Delights
We Wish You Luck
A Study in Charlotte
In My Dreams I Hold a Knife
