10 Dark Academia Novels to Usher in the Fall Season

Now that we are all thoroughly enmeshed in both the school year and autumn itself, the time has come to get lost inside the world of dark academia. Some of these texts are beautiful, lyrical, and literary. Some are filled with thrilling twists and turns and mysterious murders and disappearances. There are those that are fantastical and filled with magic—sometimes the villain is actually flesh and bone, even harder to come to terms with than the ghostly, the demonic. But all of these books take place in schools that would make amazing photo backdrops, but would be less fun at which to be a student. Grab a warm scarf, a steaming mug of tea, and settle in with one of these books—but make sure you only return to your school (if you go) in the light of day.

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

Seen as the text almost all other dark academia books are written in response to, The Secret History is a modern classic (and our co-owner Ellyn is a huge fan of Tartt). In this book, a group of awkward students fall under the thrall of a charismatic classics professor who shows them a world beyond their boring lives. But soon the group go beyond the realms of accepted morality, drifting into shades of gray, and maybe into that of evil itself. Haunting, cerebral, and mesmerizing, this will send you into the darkest dreams of a student’s school days. This is a hard book to talk about because it does so much, means so much—and as an older book tons of people have already read, you might as well find catharsis in joining the club and starting this one.

The Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

A delicious, twisted, fantasical story with a heroine you can’t help but root for. In famed YA author, Leigh Bardugo’s adult debut, The Ninth House follows Alex Stern, a dropout and lone survivor of a terrifying unsolved crime. Alex’s fresh start as an unlikely member of Yale’s freshman class is muddied when she is tasked with monitoring the suspicious activities of Yale’s secret societies. After a girl turns up dead on campus, Alex is the only one who doesn’t believe the neat story told by the police, and knows there is more to Yale than meets the eye. Dark, gritty, and utterly brilliant, Alex bruises her knuckles and faces the dark again and again to fight for the people she cares about. Pairs well with a stiff drink, a night light, and maybe going to a state school instead.

Madam by Phoebe Wynne

With the same kind of feminist power and inspiring characters as Madeline Miller’s Circe, Madam is like a classic with a major twist of creepy. Far above the rocky cliffs of Scotland sits Caldonbrae Hall—a boarding school for girls. Enter Rose Christie—a young classics professor and first new hire in a very long time. She soon grows suspicious of the sudden departure of her predecessor, and while searching for answers, uncovers the secrets at the heart of the school and her own role in perpetuating them. This feels like a Margaret Atwood book mixed with Charlotte Brönte’s Jane Eyre, and as Wynne paints this gorgeous picture of the school, she obscures the rot beneath. Drawing on classical tragedies and historical inequitable treatment of women, the bleak landscape and terrifying atmosphere of Caldonbrae will immerse you until the thrilling conclusion.

If We Were Villains by M. L. Rio

This richly woven tapestry of friendship, love, and obsession is an ode to the stage, and will hold you in its thrall until its final moments. After ten years in prison, Oliver Marks is finally ready to tell the truth to the man who locked him up. Before his imprisonment, Oliver was a Shakespearean actor at the fiercely competitive and ambitious Dellecher Classical Conservatory—a world of teen rivalry, firelight, and leatherbound books. But in their final year, friendly rivalries turn into real-life violence, and the young actors must convince the police—and themselves—of their innocence. A nerdily (and winningly) tale in love with the Bard himself, this smart, readable mystery will leave you pondering the weight of your biggest actions and their consequences. With a final, astonishing twist, this book is great for those with literary inclinations like Donna Tartt and Emily St. John Mandel

Bunny by Mona Awad

Nothing nauseates Samantha more than the Bunnies—the bright-eyed cloying clique in her graduate fiction cohort. Her and Ava, her best friend, have nothing but disdain for all their cooing and preening. But everything changes when Samantha is invited to one of Bunnies’ fabled “Smut Salons” and in spite of herself, feels drawn into the group. Friendships are made and tested as she slides further into Bunnyland and reality begins to melt like ice cream on a July afternoon. Reading like a dark comedy chick flick (think Mean Girls + Jawbreaker + The Craft), the gore is offset by saccharine hyper-femininity. The unsettling juxtaposition makes this an unmissable Lisa Frank Acid trip.

Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson

For fans of Nancy Drew, Agatha Christie, and E. Lockwood, this first book in a trilogy calls to mind all the classically famous detectives—with a modern twist. Set at the elite Ellingham Academy, Stevie Bell (former) kid detective believes she can solve the infamous kidnapping of the founder’s wife and daughter. Thing are made infinitely more complicated when one of her own classmates turns up dead, as well as notes from the original kidnapper. Now Stevie must solve both the old case and the new if she is to have any hope cracking any case at all. The school’s beautiful setting with lush gardens and old tunnels fuel an amazing fall vibe, but also leave plenty of room for nefarious deeds. This YA title is enormously fun, and might even make you start searching for your own magnifying glass and deerstalker hat.

Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé

Perfectly described as Gossip Girl meets Get Out, this thriller about two teenagers at an elite private school will leave you gasping at every turn. After they become the targets of an anonymous texter who’s revealing their secrets to the entire school, Chiamaka and Devon wonder why only the two of them—the only Black students in school—are being singled out. With nothing in common aside from these texts, the teens have to dig into their own social circles and the school’s dark history to even begin putting a stop to it . Who is behind the texts? Why are none of the teachers taking it seriously? Who can they trust? This book feels audacious in a truth-is-stranger-than-fiction way—at once entirely believable while also incredible, this is the experience of descending into the Sunken Place. The social commentary in this book is spot on, and leaves you reeling.
CW: racism and homophobia

Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth

On the creepy, is-this-real-or-is-this-ghosts side of the dark academia genre, Plain Bad Heroines is a haunting, reflective commentary on girlhood, love, obsession, and our own perceptions of reality. Beginning in 1902 at the Brookhants School for Girls, students Clara and Flo are obsessed with each other and an audacious feminist memoir found by their corpses in the apple orchard near the school. Over a century later, a book celebrating the queer, feminist history of the now-crumbling institution becomes the script of a horror movie intertwining past and present, and no one can tell where the curse of Brookhants ends and where Hollywood lies begin. Bursting with Victorian sapphic romance, ghostly (and ghastly) sensibilities, and Hollywood intrigue, this book will leave you unsettled, especially if you hear the buzzing of a bee or the sound of the wind in the leaves (and wondering if Black Oxford apples are real [spoiler: they are]).

A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik

The beginning to one of my absolute favorite series, the Scholomance is a dark, dangerous haven for magical teens—and is more likely to kill them than it is to deliver them safely to graduation. Galadriel “El” is more worried about making sure she doesn’t become a world-destroying witch than she is about the monsters and dark artifacts constantly threatening students—and the fact that hero Orion Lake won’t stop saving her life. When things start to go pear-shaped, El and Orion find themselves teaming up, and realize there’s more to the school than they knew. With a magic system based on how many languages one can speak and a setting that won’t give the characters one single instant of peace, this darkly funny and enormously dangerous adventure will keep your heart racing just like your favorite horror movie.

Babel by R.F. Kuang

I knew while reading this book it would be the best book I’d read all year. Following Robin Swift, a Chinese boy orphaned by disease as he goes to study at Babel—the Royal Institute of Translation. While there, he begins to question Britain’s—and his own— role in amassing wealth by taking the brightest minds and most valuable resources from its colonies while giving nothing in return. Featuring a magic system powered by the meaning lost in translation, this is a book about the subversive power of empire, the necessity of violence in revolution, and an individual’s moral responsibility to fight oppression. Featuring secret societies, an old, storied campus, and a group of found family clinging to one another to survive, Babel is a dark, compelling, deeply emotional tour de force.