Dark Academia

Last Updated: March 8, 2024

Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé

Ace of Spades
by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé

At Niveus Private Academy, Devon and Chiamaka are the only students chosen to be Senior Prefects who are also black, which makes them targets for a series of anonymous texts revealing their secrets to the entire student body. Both students were on track toward valedictorian and bright college futures, but this prank quickly turns into a very dangerous game and they are at more than one disadvantage as it looks like things could turn deadly.

How We Fall Apart by Katie Zhao

How We Fall Apart
by Katie Zhao

Nancy Luo, Krystal Choi, Akil Patel, and Alexander Lin, juniors at Manhattan’s elite Sinclair Prep, are forced to confront their secrets after Jamie Ruan, once their closest friend, is found dead.

Promise Boys by Nick Brooks

Promise Boys
by Nick Brooks

J.B., Ramón, and Trey, students of the Urban Promise Prep School, must follow the school’s strict rules, but when their principal is murdered, the three boys must band together to track down the real killer before they are arrested.

Someone Is Always Watching by Kelley Armstrong

Someone Is Always Watching
by Kelley Armstrong

Blythe and her friends—Gabrielle, and brother and sister Tucker and Tanya—have always been a tight friend group, attending a local high school and falling in and out of love with each other. But an act of violence has caused a rift between Blythe and Tucker . . . and unexpected bursts of aggression and disturbing nightmares have started to become more frequent in their lives. The strange happenings culminate in a shocking event at school: Gabrielle is found covered in blood in front of their deceased principal, with no memory of what happened.

Tender Beasts by Liselle Sambury

Tender Beasts
by Liselle Sambury

With the death of Sunny’s mother, matriarch of the wealthy Behre family, Sunny’s once picture-perfect life is thrown into turmoil. Her mother had groomed her to be the family’s next leader, so Sunny is confused when the only instructions her mother leaves is a mysterious note: “Take care of Dom.” Sunny is determined to fulfill her mother’s dying wish. But when a classmate is gruesomely murdered, and Sunny finds her brother with blood on his hands, her mother’s simple request becomes a lot more complicated. Dom swears he’s innocent, and although Sunny isn’t sure she believes him, she takes it upon herself to look into the murder—made all the more urgent by the discovery of another body. And another.

The Grimoire of Grave Fates created by Hanna Alkaf and Margaret Owen

The Grimoire of Grave Fates
created by Hanna Alkaf and Margaret Owen

Told from more than a dozen alternating viewpoints, this spellbinding collection of stories follows eighteen students at the Galileo Academy for the Extraordinary as they each try to solve the murder of a professor, discovering that magic doesn’t always play by the rules.

The New Girl by Jesse Q. Sutanto

The New Girl
by Jesse Q. Sutanto

A transfer student and scholarship recipient, sophomore Lia Setiawan is angered when she discovers a cheating ring, but by the time she finds a dead body and shuts down the campus drug dealer, she fears she might be the biggest snake in the Draycott Academy nest of vipers.

The Revenge Game by Jordyn Taylor

The Revenge Game
by Jordyn Taylor

Seventeen-year-old Alyson discovers her classmates’ dark side when a top-secret competition to see who is the most datable ends with a popular LAX captain’s disappearance.

Their Vicious Games by Joelle Wellington

Their Vicious Games
by Joelle Wellington

Eighteen-year-old Adina Walker, a scholarship student at a prestigious academy, faces the consequences of a single mistake and competes in a high-stakes contest hosted by the wealthy Remington family, where she uncovers unsettling truths about the sponsors and the contest’s high stakes.

We Set the Dark on Fire by Tehlor Kay Mejia

We Set the Dark on Fire
by Tehlor Kay Mejia

When she is asked to spy for a resistance group working to bring equality to Medio, Daniela Vargas, a student at the Medio School for Girls, questions everything she’s worked for.