The universal truth: if Summer is for swoon-worthy romances and Winter is for heartwarming, cosy mysteries, then Autumn is the season of Dark Academia novels. While I haven’t read that many Dark Academia novels, here are some of my favourite. What are yours? Have you read any of these? Let me know in the comments!
Anything Leigh Bardugo is obviously god tier, but this book is especially.
Find my reviews of Six of Crows here, why the SOC characters match up oddly well with the Umbrella Academy crew here and my excited rantings on Shadow and Bone tv show here.
The ULTIMATE book to lose yourself in. That’s genuinely the only way to describe it. This is one of those books where you could never recreate reading it for the first time (although I wish I could!). Find my full review here.
I didn’t enjoy The Night Circus, the author’s debut book, as much because of how slow the pace was, but I know some people preferred it to The Starless Sea. Did you? You can find out why I wasn’t the biggest fan in my review here.
I read Ace Of Spades recently and while I’d align it more with thriller than dark academia, it was an absolutely gripping book. Find out why in my review here!
Wilder Girls is the best horror book I’ve I’ve ever read. It’s gruesome, beautiful and full of heart. And gore. It also made it onto my sapphic novel top tier! ——>
Find my review here for why you neeeeedddd to read this. (Ahhh it’s so good).
I don’t know about you, but to me dark academia screams classics. Classics that you can’t forget and change the way you view those offhand things people say and do.
May I present! Some of the oddest metaphors ever written! But seriously, Fahrenheit 451 is such a powerful book and something I’d recommend to everyone.
(Especially if you want to see kerosene described as ‘the trail of an evil snail’.)
Lose yourself in the unfathomably cool Locked Tomb series. You won’t be able to put it down – possibly quite physically, because you’ll be so confused! If you want badass bone nuns, warrior lesbians in space and a lots death, read this series. You won’t regret it.
Find my review of Gideon The Ninth here and Harrow The Ninth here. I can’t wait for the next instalment in the series!
Hundreds & Thousands of Books 
I’m currently reading Ninth House! So many of the other books on here are on my TBR
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Really! Ahhh I hope you enjoy it 🙂 That’s so funny that a lot of them are on your TBR (you must have great taste hehe). Which ones are you reading soon?
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That’s it, you’ve convinced me I need to do a reread of the starless sea for spooky season!
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Hahaha I’m glad I convinced you! Did you prefer it or the night circus?
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I loved both “The Night Circus” and “The Starless Sea”! XD And I just started with “Ninth House” and hope it will be good. *lol*
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I’m so glad to hear it!! Ahhh morgerstern’s books are sooo good and I really hope you like ninth house!
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Thank you for this wonderful list!! I am definitely a mood reader and I have been trying to make my way into dark academia/ spooky books so this is just perfect! 🥰💕
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Aww I’m so glad you liked it! I’m totally a mood reader too – it feels so weird reading a summery book when it’s freezing outside 😂 I hope you enjoy the reads 🙂
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