The Best Dark Academia, According to Goodreads

This dark academia YA thriller explores what happens when Devon Richards and Chiamaka Adebayo, the only two Black students at Niveus Private Academy, are faced with the threats of an anonymous bully who goes by the name Aces. Will Devon and Chiamaka be able to stop Aces before things get deadly? This novel is described as Gossip Girl meets Get Out and apparently that is a winning combo for Goodreads fans, because Ace of Spades has generally high ratings.

This 1992 novel is one of the most iconic examples of dark academia. Let’s be real. Many fans of dark academia are really just on the hunt for the next Secret History. This book tells the story of a closely knit group of six students at Hampden College who are deeply influenced by their charismatic classics professor. But when their connection to one another goes from obsession to corruption and betrayal, things go too far. Someone ends up dead, and that’s only the beginning.

Olivie Blake’s The Atlas Six was originally self-published in early 2020. Then it became a TikTok sensation and was picked up by Tor for traditional publication earlier this year. This first book in the fantasy series follows six talented young magicians as they compete for a place in the secretive Alexandrian Society, a secret society of magical academicians, the best in the world. Those who win a place among their ranks are promised a life of wealth, power, and prestige. Five of the six will be initiated. One will be eliminated.

This 2005 novel was ranked #4 on The Guardian’s 100 Best Books of the 21st Century. In this heartbreaking, somewhat sci-fi story we follow the lives of three students at Hailsham, a boarding school in the English countryside. Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy have been told by the teachers at Hailsham that they are special and that they’re being educated for a special purpose. Cut off from the rest of society, the students know very little about the world outside of Hailsham. And when they start to discover more, the truth is unsettling.

Catherine House is one of the most divisive titles on this list, as it seems Goodreads readers either love it or hate it. But those who love this book really love it quite a bit. Catherine House is a school for higher learning hidden deep in the woods of rural Pennsylvania. Students from this school have gone on to be successful authors, artists, inventors, Supreme Court justices, and even presidents. But while tuition is completely free, it still comes at a cost. Students are required to be completely removed from the outside world during their three-year stay at the school — separated from television, music, and even their family and friends.

If We Were Villains is a dark academia novel that has The Secret History vibes and has been getting high ratings from Goodreads readers. This book follows the story of a group of actors studying Shakespeare at an elite arts college. But soon their obsession with the theater becomes deadly, and now the students will face the greatest acting challenge of their lives: pretending they’re innocent enough to convince the police and themselves.

Ninth House is fan favorite author Leigh Bardugo’s first adult novel, and it’s the first in the Alex Stern series. This dark fantasy novel is set at Yale University where eight secret societies are known to house the future richest and most powerful people in the world. Galaxy “Alex” Stern has been invited to attend Yale on a full ride. The catch? Her mysterious benefactors want her to monitor the activities of these secret societies. It turns out their inner workings are much more sinister than anything anyone could have imagined.

This is another book that Goodreads readers either adore or hate, but here’s one thing everyone can agree on: Bunny is a wild ride. It’s the story of Samantha Heather Mackey, an introvert who feels like an outsider in her highly selective MFA program at Warren University. The rest of her cohort is incredibly cliquey. Oddly, they all call one another “Bunny.” Then Samantha gets invited to the Bunnies’ “Smut Salon,” and she finds herself drawn to the strange group of girls. When she starts going to their off-campus workshops where otherworldly monsters are conjured, reality begins to blur.

Legendborn, the first book in the Legendborn series, is one of the buzziest YA novels in recent years, popular amongst BookTube, TikTok, and Goodreads crowds. Based on Arthurian legend, Legendborn follows Bree Matthews, a teen who joins a residential program for bright high schoolers at UNC–Chapel Hill. When a flying demon attacks the campus, a secret society of “Legendborn” students hunts the creature down. Bree wasn’t meant to see any of this, and so a mage called “Merlin” attempts to wipe Bree’s memory. But when he attempts to do so, he instead unlocks dormant powers within Bree.

Here’s another popular dark academia book that’s the first in a series. For as long as she can remember, Blue has been told that she would be the cause of her true love’s death. But it had never been anything she’d been worried about, until she met Gansey. Blue is immediately drawn to Gansey, a student at the local private school called Aglionby. Blue has generally tried to stay away from Aglionby boys — known as Raven Boys — because they’re known to be dangerous. But she finds herself inexplicably drawn to Gansey.