I’ve always loved the darker side of academic elitism. Maybe because I grew up so far removed from that life. I never got to partake in secret societies or the centuries-old rituals associated with these types of educational facilities. Places where mysterious things happened in the shadows, where intense devotion to the classics informed every fiber of daily life, and where sexuality ebbed and flowed just as it did in the works of Homer and Ovid and Plato.

Wicked Academia

If you have drop caps, there needs to be enough minimum space around the drop capped letter that it doesn’t cover any of the surrounding text. I’m hard-pressed to think of a more explicitly queer dark academia novel than E.M. Forster’s magnificent Maurice. The book follows the titular Maurice Hall from his days as a schoolboy into his adulthood. Maurice is gay, and the book delves into his two most prominent relationships with men. First, with Clive Durham, his formative lover; and then with Alec Scudder, his true soulmate. Maurice learns about his queerness through the classics, and (spoiler alert) gets one of the few happy endings in queer literature. The book was also turned into a lovely 1987 film adaptation directed by James Ivory, who would later win an Oscar for Call Me By Your Name. I thought the book was going to continue past the Star Ceremony (which held me on edge till all of them swallowed their stars) and I want more: I am glad the sequel is being released soon. I think that having the pictures at each chapter confused me a lot too; I didn’t picture the triplets the way they’re drawn and I think a small motif would have been nicer designed to represent each triplet (similar to the swashes used to separate sections of text).As the triplets unravel the secrets of the school, they begin to realize their father didn’t want to protect them from the Celestial Academy. He wanted to protect the Academy from them. I have to begin this list with the aforementioned novel that started it all. Well, sort of. There are older books on this list and in the dark academia genre, but The Secret History is responsible for popularizing the trend. The 1992 novel by future Pultizer winner Donna Tartt had a cult following from the beginning. It follows a college student named Richard Papen who transfers to an elite east coast college called Hampden. (Tartt based the school on her own alma mater, Bennington College.) There, he gets involved with five other students who exclusively study Classics under the tutelage of a professor named Julian Morrow. The concept laid out here is really cool and interesting. I found this book to be very full of promise, and yet there was something not quite fulfilled here. It feels like there was more story to be told before this first volume of the series concluded. Across the plot, the characters, and the world building, I felt like there was so much richness swirling just under the surface, but they just did not quite come to the fore. Marion needs to save her family before her sister starts eating people alive, and her only hope is a silver-tongued revolutionary who could charm the pants off a god...which she so happens to be. I am however also a strong believer of putting things and designing things where and how they make sense.

Wicked Academia Series by Jasmine Jenkins - Goodreads

Insta-love. Hate that trope. Insta-attraction and insta-connection, sure! Those are fine, and more realistic. Marion and Khalid’s immediate attraction and Timothée and Val’s instant hate-like connection are more realistic. But Vivian and Darius falling in love at first sight? I like them as characters and I can see them together, but to have them be in love immediately ruined their relationship for me. I can see if their instant attraction was the foundation for the development of a bond that became a relationship that had to battle through Vivian’s curse and Darius’ prejudice. But I’m a firm believer in letting love grow over time. I think Carmilla and Val are also intriguing characters and I would like to read more about them on book 2: why Val regrets getting the star (bc his brother died) but because I am noisy I want to know how it happen.Listen...the only thing I liked was their sibling dynamics and i guess the magic was also kinda cool, but everything else was very meh. Regarding the side characters, again there's a sense of neutrality when it comes to my feelings about them. I like them, don't get me wrong, but none of them really impacted my reading experience. Well, that was until I met Val! He was probably the only character that I felt strong emotions towards. First, I felt immediate dislike, but then when he referred to Rhaemyria as the "sun b*tch", I have to admit I may have fallen in love with him just a little bit. A university in the sky. Clouds that rain starlight. Students with terrible magic and worse intentions. The Academy will test not only the triplets' ability to survive, but their loyalty to each other. If you like The Secret History and want a story even more explicitly queer, I can’t recommend Emily M. Danforth’s Plain Bad Heroines enough. The book is equally intoxicating and way more sapphic. It’s set in Rhode Island at Brookhants School for Girls in two timelines: 1902 and present-day. The 1902 plot centers on two female students, Clara and Flo, who are in love with one another. Tragically, the girls are stung to death by wasps. Several other students also die, leading the school to shut down five years later.