Wicked Academia: Lost Stars: 1

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The queer representation and normalization was pretty good. I appreciate that one of the leads is openly pansexual (assuming they’re pan until told otherwise). I will say that I found that having the only two overtly queer characters both be associated with the “dark and evil” house was a touch problematic, but I’m going withhold judgement on that because I don’t want to “Slytherin-ize” the Dark Stars. I liked how it slowly built up to the triplets going to the Celestial Academy, and didn't rush into it, like many other fantasy books.

Wicked Academia: A Celebration Among the Stars - Goodreads Wicked Academia: A Celebration Among the Stars - Goodreads

A magic school on a floating island, not one but three romances, characters you can’t help but love, and beautiful sibling relationships? What more could you ask for? Chapter 1 told through Darius's point of view. What was he thinking when he first met the girl working in the candle shoppe? A wonderful new adult, fantasy web serial updated weekly from authors Jasmine Jenkins and Sophie Suliman. Okay, as I already mentioned, read this in one day because I was captivated, entertaining and curious about the plot and the world. Nice, neat and well structured pillars for a book series: world building + characters + magic system + source of conflict/plot 👌🏼 Also that the art was all the same made it a bit hard for me to picture the characters as I wanted to. Some books I’ve read that have included art tip-ins have had art of the same character is different (but still cohesive) styles which have not been all exactly the same but have also worked to support the book itself, not just be thrown in for the sake of it. Some of the characters descriptions in scenes didn’t even match the images drawn (Marion seemed to be described as a lot fuller than the image drawn of her with Khalid??)The Den is the Evening Star’s common room, a place where all the change-makers of the Academy can rest…though more often than not, they are found practicing their magic. Like the pegasus who was born to fly, Evening Stars can’t help but push the boundaries they were born with. There were also so many moments throughout the book that caught my attention, hinting at past events or foreshadowing future ones, and has me looking forward to the next book to see those things being elaborated on.

Wicked Academia

I have to begin this list with the aforementioned novel that started it all. Well, sort of. There are older books on this list and in the dark academia genre, but The Secret History is responsible for popularizing the trend. The 1992 novel by future Pultizer winner Donna Tartt had a cult following from the beginning. It follows a college student named Richard Papen who transfers to an elite east coast college called Hampden. (Tartt based the school on her own alma mater, Bennington College.) There, he gets involved with five other students who exclusively study Classics under the tutelage of a professor named Julian Morrow. I only have the print version, I’d assume the digital version is pretty much the same though I’d hope there’s more flexibility with the layout too. If you're like me and are a reader of the online novel, then great news ! The published book is still worth reading. I'm not sure how it is for people who have access to patreon content but there's a bunch of extra scenes (including spicy ones hehe) that really made a difference for me. I'm thinking in particular about one with Vivian & Darius and especially the ones at the end of the book. It added details that I didn't think were needed but actually were really necessary!!!Layne Fargo’s book isn’t about queer identity in any grand sense, but features characters that identify as queer, and that often feels equally like a win. They Never Learn is a delectable book about two women who team up to take down evil men. It centers on Scarlett Clark, a (bisexual) English professor who searches for the worst men at Gorman University, where she teaches, and plots their demise. But her latest target puts her in the focus of Mina Pierce, whom Scarlett sets her sights on to avoid notice. I absolutely ADORED this book. It was an adventure from start to finish. I can’t even explain the felling it me. The characters? The world? The magic? Amazing!! One of my favourite things about this book is that the representation is pretty good! Of course, I'd want more interaction with the characters that are POC, aside from Khalid as much as I like him, but in general it was quite nice seeing things like the triplets being fed bowls of kheer. As someone who is South Asian, it's little tidbits like the mentioning of kheer that makes me happy! The setting was so whimsical and interesting and the magic system was unlike anything I’ve read before, I could not get enough.

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My first criticism, however, comes along-side the double edged sword of those well loved fantasy tropes. Our initial introductions to both characters and love interests felt very rushed and painfully predictable. It necessitates, but the level of affection between Darius and Vivian especially, feels almost unwarranted despite the insistence of Fate playing part.I’m hard-pressed to think of a more explicitly queer dark academia novel than E.M. Forster’s magnificent Maurice. The book follows the titular Maurice Hall from his days as a schoolboy into his adulthood. Maurice is gay, and the book delves into his two most prominent relationships with men. First, with Clive Durham, his formative lover; and then with Alec Scudder, his true soulmate. Maurice learns about his queerness through the classics, and (spoiler alert) gets one of the few happy endings in queer literature. The book was also turned into a lovely 1987 film adaptation directed by James Ivory, who would later win an Oscar for Call Me By Your Name.