I have to start off today’s rec list with a little definition because, above all others, dark academia seems to be a genre that could mean absolutely anything. I mean, when I was researching for this list, someone had added Pride and Prejudice as dark academia to their recs. So, before we go anywhere, I’m going to lay out what I consider to be the hallmarks of dark academia (and thus, the criteria by which I’ve selected these recs).
First and foremost, I think this is a genre that needs to be set in and around academia. I mean, it’s in the name! Thus, these books are set at university and/or other schools (or school-equivalents). Secondly, I think what makes this genre is the themes, that is those of obsession, possessiveness, unhealthy relationships and desire. There’s a certain headiness to the genre, where, while events may seem outlandish, while you’re reading you’re just as absorbed as the characters themselves. Oh, and there might be a little pinch of murder to spice it up.
So, with luck, I’ve selected 10 books that fit this description. And hey! They are, as ever, all gay.
A lot of those titles are available on Scribd, so if you want to check out that service but don’t have an account yet, use my invite code to get 2 months for free! (This also gives me one free month.)
If We Were Villains
M. L. Rio
Goodreads
Rep: bi mc, bi li
Why Should I Read It?
Perhaps a book that most closely fits my remit, if you haven’t yet read If We Were Villains, how do you call yourself a dark academia fan? It ticks so many of the aforementioned boxes and, not only that, it’s one that will make you feel obsessive too. There’s no limit to the damage they can do. Yeah, to me the reader!
The Atlas Six
Olivie Blake
Goodreads
Rep: bi mcs
Why Should I Read It?
A more fantastical dark academia rec here, but one that is more than up to the label. Think the kind of book that will make you feel unhinged, and you might have something like this. Only. This doesn’t just unhinge you, it rips you away from sanity with a jolt. And with such prose that’ll absorb you completely.
A Lesson in Vengeance
Victoria Lee
Goodreads
Rep: lesbian mc with anxiety & psychotic depression, lesbian li, Black side character, nonbinary side character
CWs: animal death
Why Should I Read It?
Something about mysterious new girl at school strikes up a friendship with an outcast, that leads to obsession and murder, but it’s lesbian just hits different. And that is so clearly the case here. You can feel viscerally the fixation, not least in the line I want to unravel her. Like! Victoria Lee is so so good at making it suck you in, until you’re just as fixated, until you want to know what really happened to Felicity’s girlfriend and what the truth about Ellis with almost the same obsessiveness that Ellis has.
These Violent Delights
Micah Nemerever
Goodreads
Rep: achillean mcs
CWs: antisemitism, dissociation, panic attack, suicide, self harm, medical experimentation, animal death
Why Should I Read It?
When you read in the blurb As their friendship spirals into an all-consuming intimacy, you know it’s going to be a good one. This one has that heady feverishness to it, writing a la Donna Tartt, where the codependent infatuation leaps off the page. Julian is just as charismatic to you as he is to Paul, which is the mark of a great book.
Summer Sons
Lee Mandelo
Goodreads
Rep: achillean mc, bi li, bi trans side character, achillean side character, Black gay side character
CWs: gore, violence, blood, f slur, internalised homophobia, implied suicide, body horror, animal death, drug use
Why Should I Read It?
Think Ronan and Adam from The Raven Cycle, but they’re at university, and also that codependency is fully leaned into, and you get something approaching this book. It’s a heady read, one that absorbs you from page one, that you’ll find yourself unable to put down, because it’s twisty and turny and you can’t predict where it goes next. A perfect way to spend a few hours, really.
Babel
R. F. Kuang
Goodreads
Rep: Chinese gay mc
Why Should I Read It?
I turned to Larissa to fill in this section, since this is a book I’ve not read (not least because it only released yesterday). So: well one thing I loved is that this book is not just about dark academia for the aesthetic’s sake, there’s an importance to what the characters are learning and, most important, it’s blatant on how academia has roots on colonialism and how western academic institutions prop up empires. The magic system was nice too, it’s based on translation so I feel like I was given a lecture about etymology and linguistics in the best way possible, those parts were super interesting to read, a lot of research went into it and it shows! The themes were also done in a clever way, in my opinion, the way the characters are written as a group and then separately was smart (…) it’s a book that made me feel a lot of mixed emotions, it made me excited about learning, it made me speechless at some points, sad, and made me so angry, there’s a building rage thoughout the whole thing (the title “the necessity of violence” was very fitting); I just really appreciated that.
People Like Us
Dana Mele
Goodreads
Rep: bi mc, lesbian li
CWs: animal murder, past suicide, murder
Why Should I Read It?
You may have noticed the lack of YA dark academia novels on this list and, honestly, that’s because I, personally, don’t think enough of them have the range to actually feel like dark academia, as much as they might try. People Like Us is a clear exception to that. Dana Mele is the type of thriller writer who makes you genuinely gasp out loud as everything comes to light, and that’s exactly what’s great about this book.
The World Cannot Give
Tara Isabella Burton
Goodreads
Rep: lesbian mc, lesbian side characters
CWs: sexual assault, revenge porn, lesbophobia, suicide
Why Should I Read It?
It’s hard to tell whether this book is meant to be satirical or not, but either way it’s an absorbing and compelling read. A cultish choir group, an obsession with a novel by an old alumnus of the school, fanaticism, and the introduction of someone who might threaten it all: peak dark academia.
Hex
Rebecca Dinerstein Knight
Goodreads
Rep: sapphic mc
Why Should I Read It?
A web of illicit relationships, grudges, and obsessions and All six are burdened by desire and ambition. If those two phrases from the blurb don’t have you rubbing your grubby little hands together in glee, then I don’t know what will. All the best dark academia books leave you feeling a little bit feral and/or insane, and that’s exactly what this one will do.
Welcome to Dorley Hall
Alyson Greaves
Goodreads
Rep: trans mc
CWs: torture, manipulation, dysphoria, self-injury, nonconsensual surgery, kidnapping
Why Should I Read It?
With a little bit of (much needed) help from Aster, I’m able to add a book with trans rep to this list! This one features obsession of a different sort, obsession with finding the truth, and in the process find your own truth. It’s a long book and, I have to admit, one that I haven’t had time to read myself before posting this list, but by all accounts it’s a compelling page-turner, and one you won’t want to miss.
What would you rec?
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