Autumn, to me, is about reading every dark academia book I can get my hands on. I mean, they’re spooky, atmospheric books about students going to school. They were made for autumn.
I have a list of dark academia reads that I find myself reaching for every year whenever someone asks me for a good fall read. Whether you want murder, magic, secret societies, or just an unhealthy amount of academic pressure, these books have you covered.
The Secret History by Donna Tartt. Duh. This is the dark academia book of the millennium, I swear. My emotional connection to this book is definitely in part because I was a Classics major, just like the characters here, but it’s also because it’s both utterly unbelievable and entirely believable. The duality of man, you know?
If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio. In my opinion, this book has the same vibes as The Secret History (beyond just dark academia), but the group of students’ focus is Shakespeare instead of Classics. Yes, they spend a lot of time quoting Shakespeare in everyday conversation, but it’s in a way that will make you want to learn more about his plays, not in a pedantic way.
Babel by R.F. Kuang. If you’ve read some of my other posts, you know I love R.F. Kuang. For context, she majored in international history at Georgetown, went to England to get master’s degrees in Chinese studies at both Oxford and Cambridge, and has pursued a Ph.D. in East Asian Languages and Literatures at Yale, all while writing seven books. Babel was my first R.F. Kuang book, and it really set the bar high with topics like the impact of colonization in a dark academic, fantastical setting.
Katabasis by R.F. Kuang. Another one, oops! I won’t go into Kuang’s academic background for this book, but Katabasis draws heavily from her own experience as a Ph.D. student, as well as her husband’s background in philosophy. This book, like Babel, skews toward academic fantasy, but Kuang builds a magic system around logic and paradoxes in a way that a philosophy-ignorant person like myself could actually comprehend with ease. Plus, it follows two graduate students who literally have to travel to Hell to rescue their dead professor. If that isn’t dark academia, I don’t know what is.
The Maidens by Alex Michaelides. After reading The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides (first of all, that’s an absolute banger, and if you haven’t read it yet, you should), I was ecstatic when his next book focused on a sub-program in a Classics department. Again, as a Classics major, I felt seen (which, considering these books have some murder in them, is probably not a good thing).
The Scholomance trilogy by Naomi Novik. If you like your dark academia with a lot more magic, this trilogy is for you. The Scholomance is a magical school where students are basically left to fend for themselves against monsters that want to eat them, so it’s less “studying for finals” and more “trying to survive until graduation.” El is a student with a particularly dangerous magical affinity, and she has to navigate the school, its deadly creatures, and the complicated social politics of her classmates. It’s dark, funny, magical, and surprisingly heartfelt, with just enough academic setting to scratch that dark academia itch.
Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo. If you’re looking for secret societies, murder, ghosts, and an Ivy League campus, look no further. Ninth House is centered around secret societies at Yale, which is peak dark academia. Alex Stern is an outsider who can see ghosts, and she’s brought to Yale to monitor the university’s secret societies, only to discover that there’s much more going on beneath the surface. The third and final Alex Stern book is coming out this month, so this is the perfect time to start the series and catch up before the finale!
Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang. This one is for anyone who likes their dark academia with a side of magical academia and a lot of commentary about who gets access to knowledge. The story follows Sciona, the first woman to become a highmage at a prestigious magical university, as she works to prove herself in a world that very much does not want her there. When she’s assigned an unlikely assistant, the two uncover something much bigger — and much darker — than either of them expected. It has academia, magic, ambition, institutional rot, and an absolutely gorgeous world, which is basically everything I want from a fall fantasy read.
Whether you’re old hat at dark academia or you’re ready to pick up your first book in the genre, autumn is the time to do it! Give me old libraries, morally questionable students, secret societies, complicated magic systems, and enough academic drama to make me grateful I’m no longer writing term papers. Light a candle, grab a blanket, and prepare to spend the next few weeks pretending you, too, attend an impossibly atmospheric university where everyone is suspiciously well-read and probably hiding a murder.
What’s your favorite dark academia book?
Sequels and Scribbles 