Laurel M. Stevens's Blog

“Does such a thing as ‘the fatal flaw,’ that showy dark crack running down the middle of a life, exist outside literature? I used to think it didn’t. Now I think it does. And I think that mine is this: a morbid longing for the picturesque at all costs.”

It’s nearly impossible to escape The Secret History if you look up dark academia – it’s on all the lists, in the articles, and on all the book displays. While it’s far from the first dark academia novel, it is arguably the largest dark academia book so far.

The writing has been described as sumptuous, the characters as morally corrupt, and while readers who both love and hate it argue about what is most tragic about it, it’s a fairly even consensus that there is indeed tragedy. When I have to sum up this book in as few words as possible I often choose “Murder and Pretension.” Regardless of any personal opinion of the book, some of the more scintillating discussions I’ve had on Dark Academia are thanks to this book. It’s everywhere for a reason.

“I love having existential crises at bedtime, it’s so restful.”

It’s 3-in-1 with The Scholomance series by Naomi Novik. I can’t give too much away about The Last Graduate and The Golden Enclaves spoilers, but be assured that this series is chockfull of sass. Galadriel (yes, her mother is absolutely a hippie) is enrolled at a magical. Unlike most magical schools you may be familiar with, this particular magical school kills most of the children enrolled. So, of course, anything that will help you survive is at a premium and things like romance become quite a bit trickier.

In My Dreams I Hold a Knife by Ashley Winstead is a fabulously character drive thriller that I absolutely detested reading but am absolutely thrilled to have read. The characters? Hated most of them. The plot? Took a backseat to the characters and was a tad predictable. Bad book? Absolutely not. That ending??? The way the characters present themselves versus the information our narrator gives us? Yes. Just, yes.

“She is always there, always ready, always on time, like only the truly mediocre are.“

Miranda Fitch is a small college Theater Professor (and hence, by default, director as well), and she is always in pain. Exasperation sidles alongside a deep despair here as Miranda takes us deeper and deeper into her own mind. The way her words and voice twist and turn in response to the people around her is fascinating. It’s simultaneously wonderful and awful.

“All I’ve ever tried to do is the right thing. If that’s so very different from how things have been done before, then what’s done before was wrong.”

Dragons. Family. Determination. Erasure. Consent. Friendship. Power. To Shape a Dragon’s Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose touches on all of these themes and even more (not going to put them all here – if these pique your interest grab the book!).

”It’s much easier to tell yourself you’re a good person than it is to actually be one.” – Blood Over Bright Haven by M. L. Wang

“They all warned her about Marec Górski.”

The Two Doctors Górski by Isaac Fellman follows PhD candidate Annae Hofstader who has changed institutions after escaping an abusive relationship with her previous advisor (both romantically and intellectually toxic). She studies psychiatric magic and has been coping by reading other people’s minds to escape her own thoughts. While at times the story felt more ephemeral than concrete, I’d say that it only lent to the impact of Annae’s story.

“Today I will go to wait for her again, because I cannot help it, because my whole being seems now to be bound up in the being of one so different from myself and yet so exquisitely familiar that I can scarcely understand what has happened.”

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova has too many good quotes to pick from. The story is lush land a beautiful homage to both the modern day idea of an archive and to Stoker’s Dracula.

For those of you that prefer a heavy horror tinge to your dark academia, may I recommend The Weight of Blood? It keeps all the horror beats of the work that inspired it (Carrie), but with the unique twist of following a young biracial teen at the first integrated prom in a small Georgia town. The modern setting allows for some of the interspersed news pieces to be things like a podcast and internet commentary as well.

When a book starts with someone being released from prison I am intrigued. The fact that the events he went to prison for are still a mystery? Okay, yeah, I’m hooked. Then it turns out all the characters are theater kids (to the nth degree) and they bring the drama. Rio manages to blend performance and lyricism on the page in a way that has you imagining a stage. It’s brilliant.

”But that is how a tragedy like ours or King Lear breaks your heart—by making you believe that the ending might still be happy, until the very last minute.”