For me? A Wizard of Earthsea. Always, undisputed, and long-reigning. I appreciate the suggestions here, only some of which I've digested, and they help me explore the modern entries to our "speculative fiction". But Le Guin's Earthsea stands alone in its elegant language, saying more with its elisions and diction than others do with their pages and pages of prose -- however spellbindingly Rothfuss (or Kvothe?) can weave a tale. She taught me, in that one little volume, about pride, discernment, self-patience, and the uttermost friendship. "To hear, one must be silent." --Master Ogion
I would add The Scholomance Series by Naomi Novik and Skyward (first book) by Brandon Sanderson both are set in school though different types of schools
Betrayals was such a surprise favourite for me. Especially with the romancey plot line, which is something I wouldn't normally like. Actually, there's a lot I wouldn't normally like in there, but I loved the way the Game was described and their passion for it.
I remember really enjoying the Scholomance trilogy by Naomi Novik. I stumbled across the first 2 and flew through them and was super excited to see the 3rd had recently been released so I impulse bought it and finished it in a day or 2. Basic breakdown is that kids with magical talent are being sent to a semi sentient school called the Scholomance where they are trained in magic by the school itself, no adults are allowed in. The twist is that the Scholomance is kind of a death trap and most kids dont survive
this has reminded me to pick up my copy of name of the wind! 💚 ive been eyeing it up for a while but long books intimidate me so i keep putting it off !
I don't recall liking many of the books I read when I was at school, sadly other classes read the Hobbit! and I didn't. I did enjoy 1984. I was too old to read the Australian novel "Looking for Alibrandi", which is a pretty good Australian movie about a coming-of-age teenage girl, however I recently watched the movie again with my son, and partly because of my own Italo-Australian background and the culture, the city setting from the 90's, I really enjoyed the movie.
Yesterday I listened to an interview in which Emily Tesh (who just won the Hugo for Some Desperate Glory, which I still need to read) said she has a magic school novel coming out in 2025, focused on a teacher at the school. I don’t think I’ve ever encountered a story that took that approach (I’m not counting non-fantasy campus novels). I’m intrigued and hope it freshens up the school story genre.
The way you describe The Secret History’s dark academia sounds a lot like Foucault’s Pendulum. Although that doesn’t center around students. Sounds really cool though!
I recently reread Ender's Game (and the rest of the books in the Enderverse), and it actually dropped a little bit for me. It's still good, but I think my tastes have changed since I first read that book and had it rated fairly high. I had to force myself to finish the rest of the books, as the quality significantly decreased over time.
I still think If We Were Villains by ML Rio is still the closest to true Dark Academia to follow The Secret History. It has the academic obsession and elitism, that makes the darkness ABOUT the academia. Your description of Dark Academia is the definition I use too, and it bothers me when book are incorrectly sold as DA
@@LienesLibrary the Oxford Time Travel series. 4 books, all different in tone, but connected by the time travel history department of Oxford University.
