When we think of fall, the imagery of pumpkins, the changing color of the leaves, and cozy sweater weather always seem to be at the top of most people’s minds. For myself, fall always brings to mind the “Back to School” commercials on television, lists of new school uniform requirements, and covering my textbooks with brown paper grocery bags to protect them for the year. I looked forward to school each fall – seeing my friends and discussing our respective summers, being curious about any new students, and, of course, that first Scholastic book fair. Since I am a member of the last generation to grow up without the internet, books provided much of my escape as a young child. But, while school and academia provided comfort and stability, I had friends and classmates who dreaded the school structure.
What is it about school-setting stories that make us as readers sink into the world so much faster? Is it our nostalgia for a time when life seemed much more straightforward than our lives as working adults? We’ve seen it across the tales of boy wizards, lightning thieves, and even young women writing love letters. As a dark fantasy/horror author and fan, there’s something about school being a nightmare that just sings to my penchant for the spooky season of fall. So, just in time for the switch to the fall season, my second novel and companion book, The Girl, comes out on October 1, 2024.
The Demon, both in the title and main character, takes our leading new adult to the Bay Area and the world’s number one public institution for education – UC Berkeley. The Demon explores the mortal realm as a freshman in college. She should be thrilled – she has received a body, and things went according to plan…she just cannot remember what or why the plan existed. On top of navigating legal adulthood in the US, she faces the consequences of her former master – Death, and the three other generals she once served alongside. Toxic friendships, relationships, power dynamics, and heartbreak all come to a head as the Demon faces the tried-and-true proverb – be careful what you wish, as you just might get it. In that spirit of Dark Academia, I want to acknowledge five of my favorites from the genre just in time for the Back to School season:
Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo – What is it about the secret societies of the Ivy League schools that are so interesting? Is it our own hunger for conspiracy theories when dealing with the institutions that have produced several of the United States’ most notorious leaders? Follow Galaxy “Alex” Stern as she navigates her first year at Yale University as the occult apprentice of a missing mentor trying to handle school and the varying power dynamics of the illegal occult use of the secret societies. This is the first book in a two-part Bardugo series that will make you snuggle in your college sweatshirt tighter.
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Macguire – With the major motion picture coming this November 2024, why not look at the novel on which (no pun intended) the Broadway musical is based. In the land of OZ, a young Elphaba has green skin, sharp teeth, and a fear of water, with a broken home before meeting the young social-climbing Galina at Shiz University. Soon, Elphaba and Galina, the unlikely frenemies, discover that Oz has a lot of political strife, and Elphaba desperately wants to help fix it. The Wizard of Oz, however, is not only not what he claims to be but does not share Elphaba’s dream. Wicked thrills with its reexamination of this lore and characters while questioning what it means to be evil.
The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani – With a title like this, how could it not be on this list? The novel and series follow two female best friends, Sophie and Agatha, who attend the school with the same title. Both girls hail from the quintessential fairy tale village of Galvadon, which for the past 200 years has had two children kidnapped once a year. The usual qualifications for the two kidnappees are one must be “hideous and peculiar” and the other “well-behaved and majestic.” The “School Master” responsible for the kidnappings does so to funnel the leads of many of the world’s fairy tales into the school for training.
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros – When you combine dragons, chronic illness, and a school filled with intrigue and believable friends-to-lovers romance, you get the viral hit from Rebecca Yarros. In the fictional land of Navarre, Violet Sorrengail enters the famed Basgiath War College with contradictory goals from her parents. She’ll first have to survive the entry process into the school, the deadly famed Conscription day, of which only a small percentage survive to reach graduation. Physical and emotional challenges amongst the political intrigue only heighten the stakes for Violet and the kingdom as news of violent acts along the borders comes to a head.
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Epoca: The Tree of Ecrof by Kobe Bryant (creator) and Ivy Claire (writer) – Follow Princess Pretia and street urchin Rovi as they discover their land is threatened by a terrible evil. While this story takes place in an elite sports academy, there’s still danger and magic, known as grana, as the story traverses the kids for their first year. As each of them tries to navigate learning everything they can to be at the top of the freshman class, Petia and Rovi soon suspect there is something far more sinister happening at the school. While they may mistrust each other initially, they may have no choice but to work together to keep their families and secrets safe. This is also the first book in a two-part series.
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