Dark Academia continues to hold readers in its thrall. This moody subgenre blends intellectual ambition with emotional ambiguity, often set in cloistered institutions or haunted libraries, where the line between brilliance and madness is perilously thin. Whether you’re drawn to scholarly obsession, occult mysteries, or morally grey protagonists with too many secrets, these ten books offer a spectrum of the genre’s finest.
We’ve curated this list to highlight a blend of new releases, recent standouts, and essential touchstones — each one steeped in atmosphere, intrigue, and the quiet horror of knowing too much.
Spring/Summer 2025 Releases
The Incandescent by Emily Tesh
13th May 2025
At Chetwood Academy, a centuries-old institution steeped in magical tradition, Doctor Walden—one of England's most powerful magicians—serves as director of magic. Tasked with protecting the school from demonic forces, she must also confront the darkness within herself.
Secure Your Edition: Device-Ready | Shelf-Worthy | Voice-Performed
That Devil, Ambition by Linsey Miller
3rd June 2025
A standalone Dark Academia fantasy that delves into the complexities of ambition, power, and the supernatural within an academic setting. Details remain under wraps, but anticipation is building for this intriguing release.
Pre-Order Options: E-Book | Physical | Spoken Word
Immortal Consequences by I.V. Marie
31st July 2025
At Blackwood Academy, an enigmatic boarding school perched on the edge of the afterlife, six students compete for a once-in-eternity chance to alter their fate. This debut promises a gripping tale of twists, betrayals, and transcendent love.
Secure Your Edition: Device-Ready | Shelf-Worthy | Voice-Performed
Recent Favourites (2023–2024)
Gothikana by RuNyx
March 2023
A brooding professor. A mysterious European university. A dangerous secret buried in the past.
Part romance, part gothic mystery, Runyx’s cult hit reads like Jane Eyre fell into a fog-drenched campus thriller. For fans of aesthetic obsession with a pulse.
Goodreads: 3.78 | Amazon UK: 4.3
Available Now: Digital Download | Print Edition | Audio Experience
The Cloisters by Katy Hays
February 2024
At The Cloisters, a reclusive museum of Renaissance tarot, a graduate researcher stumbles upon a deck that may predict the future — and finds herself unraveling in its shadow.
Taut, cerebral, and quietly unsettling, The Cloisters is a gothic-tinged descent into obsession, academia, and the price of forbidden knowledge. Perfect for fans of The Secret History and Babel.
Goodreads: 3.4 | Amazon UK: 3.8
Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo
January 2023
Yale secret societies, blood magic, and a portal to hell.
Bardugo’s sequel to Ninth House is even darker and more emotionally raw — a sharp exploration of trauma, power, and the cost of knowledge.
Goodreads: 4.12 | Amazon UK: 4.4
Purchase Options: E-Reader | Bookshelf | Headphones
A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid
September 2023
Architect and literature student Effy Sayre wins a mysterious scholarship to redesign a famed author’s crumbling estate—only to discover a legacy of obsession and erasure.
Reid’s prose is evocative and lyrical, interweaving academic theory with a chilling feminist gothic narrative.
Goodreads: 3.74 | Amazon UK: 4.0
Genre Touchstones
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
May1992
The foundation of modern Dark Academia — and still its most intoxicating read.
A group of elite classics students crosses a moral line, unraveling the line between aesthetics and consequence.
Goodreads: 4.16 | Amazon UK: 4.2
If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio
April 2017
Shakespeare. Murder. Theatre kids with secrets.
Set in a conservatory drama program, this lyrical, suspenseful debut echoes Tartt while carving its own place in the genre’s canon.
Goodreads: 4.12 | Amazon UK: 4.4
Collection Essentials: Physical Copy | E-Version | Audio Rendition
Babel by R.F. Kuang
September 2022
Translation, empire, and rebellion converge at Oxford’s Royal Institute of Translation.
A towering academic fantasy that interrogates colonialism, language, and resistance — blending Kuang’s incisive critique with genre-defining ambition.
Goodreads: 4.16 | Amazon UK: 4.2
The Allure of Ink, Ash, and Ambition
Whether you come for the crumbling libraries, the cold betrayals, or the quiet brilliance of minds on the edge — Dark Academia endures because it dares to ask: What are you willing to lose for knowledge?
These ten novels echo that question through blood, beauty, and obsession. Some are already making waves. Others are just beginning to whisper.
Pre-ordering doesn’t just secure your copy — it helps signal that stories like these deserve to be written, published, and read.
Looking for More Fiction That Feels Like a Mood?
Step into The Mood Shelf — our recurring curation of books for when the world feels too loud. It's where we gather stories that speak softly but leave a lasting mark.
Dark Academia is just one of the atmospheric collections we feature. Each month brings a new emotional landscape to explore through carefully chosen books.
Explore The Mood Shelf
Because the right book isn't just about plot—it's about how it makes you feel.
Until next time, happy reading.
— The Page Sage
Thumbnail Photo by Олег Мороз on Unsplash
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