Book Review: Arcana Academy

When I saw the news that Elise Kova was releasing the first book in a new series called Arcana Academy I was immediately intrigued by the premise and the book cover, but I wasn’t sure how good the book would be. I have read most of her Married to Magic series, featuring most notable A Deal with the Elf King. I enjoyed that series, but I did feel like as the books went on the writing declined – not sure why. However, I decided to give Arcana Academy a try and I’m so glad I did because I believe it is the best thing Elise Kova has ever written.

The novel follows Clara, a young woman imprisoned for illegally using magic and inking tarot cards. When she is called upon by the prince to answer for her crimes she is sentence to death, but she manages to escape only to realize the prince, Kaelis, let her escape. Kaelis is the 2nd born son to the current king and he is the headmaster of Arcana Academy – an academy to train young men and women to wield magic. Kaelis needs Clara to become an initiate at the academy so she can help him steal tarot cards from his father, the king, in order to re-create an all-powerful tarot card that Clara believed only to be myth.

In order to avoid the speculation of who Clara is and where she came from, Kaelis announces that she is his fiancée. Now Clara and Kaelis must pretend to be in love while she tries to stay alive during the different trials at the academy, and help Kaelis steal from his father while also plotting how to escape and find out what happened to her sister and friends while she was imprisoned. Oh, and try not to fall for her enemy – the prince – along the way.

I loved this book and genuinely believe it is the best thing Elise Kova has written. The storyline was so interesting and I loved the magic system. I think tarot magic is so unique and I loved it. I loved the characters – even some of the characters you start off hating you can’t help but like and root for as the novel goes on. The tension and slow burn was so good, but at times I felt like the slow burn was a little tooooo slow. I’m excited to see what happens in the next book though especially with that cliffhanger!

Read this if you want a slow burn, spicy dark academia fantasy romance with the enemies to lovers and fake dating tropes.

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