Where to start with reading Dark Academia
We are self-proclaimed dark academia experts here at Books, Burgers and Backpacks, but it can be an intimidating genre to dive into if you don’t know where to start, or even really what to look for when building your TBR.
Dark academia is a sub-genre of literature often set in a school or university, usually dark and intense, with a mystery or a crime at the centre of the action. There are influences from classic literature and classical history and mythology. It’s also a popular aesthetic on TikTok and Instagram with a corresponding clothing vibe of tweed, muted colours, and rich, cosy fabrics that work best in the cool, grey days of Autumn and Winter.
Sarah and I run a dark academia podcast called The Dark Academicals Book Club where we examine the books marketed as dark academia and work out whether they really are dark academia based on the tropes we identified in Donna Tartt’s ‘The Secret History’ as the origin of dark academia. We also have a Substack where we share exclusive episodes about the genres, topics and authors that influenced dark academia and the books we’ve looked at during the podcast.
There are a lot of books out there proclaiming to be dark academia, but not all dark academia books are made equal. This is where you should start:
‘The Secret History’ by Donna Tartt
“The snow in the mountains was melting and Bunny had been dead for several weeks before we came to understand the gravity of our situation”
The granddaddy of dark academia, and my favourite novel, is the first book you should start your dark academia journey with. It is a long novel and it’s intimidating at first, but it’s worth starting at the starting point, and it’s truly a spectacular novel.
Set in the 1980s in New England, we follow Richard Papen as he moves from California to Hampden College and joins a mysterious, close-knit classics course where there obsessive studies lead to murder and betrayal in the most haunting, atmospheric way.
It’s a stunning novel and, quite frankly, it’s one of my aims of this website and our podcast to get every single person possible to read ‘The Secret History’.
Listen to our two episodes on the book here and here.
‘If We Were Villains’ by ML Rio
“You can justify anything if you do it poetically enough.”
Oliver has been in prison for 10 years, for a murder he may not have committed. Or he might have. On his exit from prison, he decides to tell the full sorry to the detective that put him behind bars and he takes us to Dellecher Classical Conservatory, an elite arts college where Oliver is studying Shakespeare.
With the amount of Shakespeare in this book, ‘If We Were Villains’ is a bit of a marmite book, but give it a chance. It’s part of the experience and the immersion in Oliver’s world. It’s an intense read, and a really fun one, that’s the perfect follow up to ‘The Secret History’.
Listen to our episode on the book here.
‘Ninth House’ by Leigh Bardugo
‘Ninth House’ takes dark academia to Yale University and to the realm of demons and fantasy. I’m not always the biggest fan of Bardugo’s novels, but the world of ‘Ninth House’ sucked me in completely. It’s very dark, very intense, and the perfect fantasy novel for the season of dark academia.
“You couldn’t keep sidling up to death and dipping your toe in. Eventually it grabbed your ankle and tried to pull you under.”
Alex Stern has had a rough upbringing, so being rescued at death’s door and inducted into the freshman class at Yale was unexpected by everyone. She arrives in New Haven and is tasked to monitor the activities of Yale’s secret societies, making sure they follow the unwritten rules of the college.
Listen to our episode on the book here.
‘Bunny’ by Mona Awad
Mona Awad’s ‘Bunny’ is a surreal, wild and unexpected look at what really happens on a Creative Writing MFA.
We never joke about bunnies, Bunny.
Samantha is a scholarship student on her elite and exclusive course, and she doesn’t fir in, especially when her class is dominated by a group of rich, primped and perfect girls who all call each other Bunny. Then they invite Samantha to join her at their legendary Smut Salon and she becomes lost in their world of excess and absurdity.
Listen to the podcast episode here.
‘The Raven Boys’ by Maggie Stiefvater
She wasn't interested in telling other people's futures. She was interested in going out and finding her own.
I know, I know, now you’re questioning my sanity, but bear with me for a little longer, okay?
Blue Sargent lives with her mother and her aunts who are all psychics, but Blue sees nothing, until she sees a ghost in a graveyard. His name is Gansey, and Aglionby boy, but she can’t keep herself away from him and his friends, the group she calls the Raven Boys. She is inexplicably drawn to him, but for as long as she can remember, she has been told that if she kisses her true love, he will die.
‘The Raven Cycle’ is one of my favourite series ever and you should read it, dark academia or not. Ethereal writing, a world of privilege and a doomed love story? It’s perfect.
Listen to our episode on the podcast here.
Happy reading, and welcome to the world of dark academia!
Written by Sophie
