Erica Ezeifedi, Associate Editor, is a transplant from Nashville, TN that has settled in the North East. In addition to being a writer, she has worked as a victim advocate and in public libraries, where she has focused on creating safe spaces for queer teens, mentorship, and providing test prep instruction free to students. Outside of work, much of her free time is spent looking for her next great read and planning her next snack.
Find her on Twitter at @Erica_Eze_.
As a mood reader, I feel like I’m at full power. Since the first of October rolled by, I’ve read a cutsey witch/vampire mystery romance, one of the books below, started the OG ’90s dark academia classic The Secret History by Donna Tartt, and even put a little something together for those looking to deck themselves out in all manner of tweed and ancient Greek-inspired tees.
If you’re looking for something for your book club that’ll fully immerse you in these immaculate fall vibes, you could do worse than dark academia. The genre is, by definition, full of contradictions and provides excellent fodder for discussions on things like class and social hierarchies. Which means it’s perfect for book clubs.
Below is a mix of new and relatively new dark academia books that will take you through secret Ivy League societies and into haunted forests.
Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo
Reading the description for the second book in this series (Hell Bent) made me pick up this one, and let me just say that I inhaled both. Ninth House was an introduction to Leigh Bardugo’s adult fiction, and I now stan. It follows Galaxy “Alex” Stern, who dropped out of school and has had a string of bad boyfriends and crappy jobs. Then she becomes the only survivor of a multiple homicide, and while in the hospital, she’s approached with a rare opportunity: she will be admitted to Yale University. But, of course, there’s a catch. One she may not fully realize until later. Some of what she meets at Yale is not surprising — there are rigorous academics, smart kids, and spoiled rich kids. But there are also secret societies, mysterious benefactors, and occult practices that get pretty intense and gory. And trust, the sequel will also have you by the throat.
Society of Lies by Lauren Ling Brown
I’ve mentioned this fairly recently, but felt like I had to include it here since it is one of the dark academia of the season.
In it, Maya is excited to go back to Princeton for her 10-year reunion. She’s also hyped to see her little sister, Naomi, graduate from the same school. But then something terrible happens: Naomi is found dead. Police are saying it was an accident, but Maya knows better, and as she starts to look into Naomi’s life right before she died, she sees how right she is. Turns out, Naomi had joined the über exclusive social club Maya had warned her against, and Maya is certain they approached her for the secret society within it. Maya starts to wonder if she should have been more forthcoming about what really happened at Princeton when she went there as an undergraduate because Naomi isn’t the first woman who died.
An Academy for Liars by Alexis Henderson
A new Alexis Henderson for fall always bodes well, and An Academy for Liars is an especially fall-friendly dark academia novel that has a synopsis that kind of reminds me of Vita Nostra by Marina Dyachenko and Sergey Dyachenko, which I mention below. In it, Lennon Carter is invited to take the entrance exam for the mysterious Drayton College because of her innate gift of persuasion —which can be used on people and matter alike. Once she passes the test and gains entry to the school, she finds that the moss-covered campus, with its smartly dressed students, is the only place she’s ever felt like somebody. And her alluring adviser, Dante, is kind of enjoyable, too. The history of the college itself, though? Unnerving. As is her mentor’s connection to it and the role those in charge plan for her to have in it.
Vita Nostra by Marina Dyachenko, Sergey Dyachenko, translated by Julia Meitov Hersey
Sixteen-year-old Sasha Samokhina is vacationing with her mom when she notices a strange man following her. She finds out he’s there to recruit her by coercion for a magic school no one has ever heard of. Now, before you get it twisted thinking this is just another story of a magical high school, just know that the magic studied here is unlike anything you’ve read before. The students also have to do things that other magical high school students don’t (it gets dark, y’all). It flirts with metaphysical philosophy, teeters on the biblical, and is plum gibberish at times. This story has been described as what those popular wizard school books would be like if they were written by Kafka. This is an all-around darker take on the magical high school subgenre that’s definitely for adults.
Disorientation by Elaine Hsieh Chou
Ingrid Yang is 29 and going through it as a PhD student. For years, she’s been researching the late Chinese poet, Xiao-Wen Cho, even though she had no interest in him prior to starting her PhD (or any interest in since having started, if we’re keeping it real). Instead, the subject of her future dissertation was chosen by her adviser, a white guy who starts off being very invested in Chinese culture and ends up… being the opposite of that. One day, she finds a note in the Chou archives that leads to a helluva discovery. With her best friend, she sets out to get to the bottom of the mystery. There are book burnings, Anti-Asian propaganda, and a reckoning with how white men factor into her life that Ingrid experiences in this funny dark academia novel.
Babel by R.F. Kuang
Kuang is the award-winning author of The Poppy War, another banger. In Babel, she turns her talents towards the darkness inherent in Western academia. Robin, who was orphaned by cholera, was brought from China to London by a professor and studied Chinese, Ancient Greek, and Latin. His efforts through the years are so that he can enroll in a prestigious Oxford University program called “Babel.” The program’s location, the Babel Tower, serves as the world’s translation center and is the reason Britain is able to maintain power. This power comes as a result of the unique magic system of this world, known as silver-working. With it, meanings lost in translation are manifested with enchanted silver bars. Robin eventually realizes how much his own country — and others — suffer because of this magic and Britain’s use of it and must decide if he wants to serve that power or disrupt it.
Where Sleeping Girls Lie by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé
Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé has followed up the fire release that was Ace of Spades with another UK-based dark academia. This time, following Sade Hussein has just started her third year of high school at a prestigious boarding school when her roommate Elizabeth disappears — and people suspect her. Then, another student is found dead. As she tries to clear her name, she finds out that there’s something really funky going on at Alfred Nobel Academy.
Everyone’s Thinking It by Aleema Omotoni
Omotoni’s YA novel has a juicy mystery at its center. In a UK boarding school, two Nigerian cousins are having very different experiences. While Iyanu is comfortable living life behind a camera as an aspiring photographer, Kitan is an It Girl who sacrifices her dignity for popularity and protection. When pictures from Iyanu’s camera are stolen and placed throughout the school — each with a messy secret written on it — people think Iyanu is behind the whole thing. As Iyanu sets out to clear her name by figuring out who is behind the sabotage, the two girls will contend with all the racism, microaggressions, and classism that comes with being the few Black people at a majority white boarding school.
**Below is a Look at an extended list for All Access members**
English (US) · 