HeyJaredThe Dark Academicals Book Club
Primarily a podcast. Secretly a syllabus. Definitely a descent into the beautiful mess of dark academia.
- Indexed issues, last 90 days
- 10
- Latest publication
- Sep 22, 2026
- Audience
- Checking…
- Earliest in this view
- Jul 14, 2026
Latest issues
On Solace House, overwriting, and why “too much” is often part of the fun in Dark Academia (opens the original)
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There is a line in ‘Solace House’ that could probably stand as a warning above the entrance to the entire Dark Academia genre:“Gothic always tries too hard.”It absolutely does. And sure, context is key and we’re talking more architecturally, but the try-hard nature is half the fun in both building and narrative.(We talk about ‘Solace House’ in more depth in the latest podcast episode) —>Dark Academia, also, has never had much interest in restraint. It likes its campus experiences to be aesthetic
Turns out the secret society wasn’t very secret... (opens the original)
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We LOVE a secret society. Obviously. What is Dark Academia without a locked door in an old college, a mysterious Latin password and a handful of worryingly intense students, ill-met by moonlight, eating dinner and debating if Aristotle was right all along (IYKYK)?It’s ridiculous and yet, as readers, we still want in.The funny thing is that the real secret societies of elite universities often aren’t very secret at all! They have well-known names, everyone knows where they meet, and they have fam
‘An Arcane Inheritance’ and Dark Academia’s money problem (opens the original)
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I don’t think the argument is simply that Dark Academia, as a genre, is full of rich people. I mean, it absolutely is, but that’s not a good enough assessment. It’s perhaps more that the genre’s central fantasy (beautiful libraries, prestigious institutions, endless time to study) is itself a wealthy one.(this week’s episode, where we touch upon this, but also more broader themes of Dark Academia) —>For many readers, that life can be as every bit fantastical as the magic (or the academia, depend
Annotated Extras: ‘Fundamentals of Being a Good Girl’ by Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone (opens the original)
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It’s no secret that we’re die hard fans of Sierra Simone - we featured ‘A Lesson in Thorns’ wayyyy back in season three and loved it - so the second we realised we were getting an academic-set romance from this duo. Subscribe nowWe tackle dark academia romance and dark academia fantasy with strong romance plotlines pretty often, but romance-set academia (that’s not a college rom
Annotated Extras: ‘Ruinous Ends’ (by way of ‘Immortal Consequences’) by I. V. Marie (opens the original)
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What’s better than talking about one book in a series? Easy. Talking about two!Thank you to PRH (US) for reaching out to us and setting us up with an interview with I. V. Marie to talk about all things ‘Ruinous Ends’. You’ll be able to catch that at the end of this season.But UNTIL THEN here’s Sophie and I chatting about the both books in the duology.*All thoughts and opinions remain honest and our own.<a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!EXE
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