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Fantasy fiction, especially for children, has long featured magical schools and camps, and the recent rise in dark academia has added gothic horror flare (and a sharp look at privilege) to the genre. But there’s also plenty of room for fun hijinks in school stories for YA readers—and there’s an even wider potential to tell new stories within SFF that feature grad school students and other academics. If you’re school-affiliated and need a mid-semester boost, if you miss your own days in academia, or if you just like to dabble in the school setting, here’s a syllabus you can use for your own study!
The Entanglement of Rival Wizards by Sara Raasch
Getting a prestigious grant to finish graduate studies might be a dream for any grad student—but not when they have to share the funding with their bitter academic rival! That’s the situation for evocation student Sebastian Walsh, who thought he might be stepping into the career-making moment of his dreams. But to keep both his funding, his future job offer, and earn his degree, Seb has to work with conjuration student Elethior Tourael, a member of an infamously wealthy and powerful family—who are also responsible for trauma in Seb’s past. Raasch uses the grad school set up and the D&D style magical bickering to create a fun romantic m/m romp in a surprisingly convincing setting that blends magic and modern life in surprising and fun ways. Though the characters have much deeper, more painful issues than the candy pink cover implies, the relationships (friendships and romance) are well drawn, and readers will root for Seb to stop tripping himself up on his way to find happiness.
Higher Magic by Courtney Floyd
Some grad students don’t need to be motivated by a prestigious grant—they just want to be eligible to actually finish their degree and become mages like they’ve always dreamed. Dorothe Bartleby failed her exam to be qualified to complete her degree with a dissertation, and for her second attempt, her committee has advised her to apply digimancy, a form of magic that has held a prophecy of doom over her head since childhood. But when she codes a magical skull who seems to be able to narrate her own life, she begins to realize that there may be a connection between the university’s growing population of missing students and her own magic. But solving the mystery isn’t a task for just one person, and Floyd populates the novel with earnest, likeable characters driven by a sense of justice that feels on point for a current read.
Where Bartleby is plagued by doubts about her own belonging, Alice Law has never doubted her own abilities and skill. Determined to be the best of the best, she decides to go to hell to retrieve her doctoral advisor, because no one else in the world will be able to help her chart her future better. Also, it’s possibly her fault that he’s dead. (Strike possibly; it’s definitely her fault.) But when her rival and one-time friend and colleague Peter Murdoch interrupts her ritual to travel to hell, saying he wants to help rescue their professor, the two of them plunge into the afterlife together. Surprisingly, some of the courts of Hell remind them an awful lot of the Cambridge of the living…
One of the fun things about this trio of novels is that it showcases how different a grad school experience in magic could be, depending on the university. The Entanglement of Rival Wizards takes place a large university in Pennsylvania where following the rawball team (an adventuring party replacement for football) is a huge part of college life. Higher Magic is set at a state university where sports plays little importance, but the bureaucracy and the unions are at the forefront. And Katabasis centers Cambridge, both in the living world and in Hell, focusing on students who know they are some of the most elite (if not the best) in the world. And yet, so many of their struggles connect, it makes for a fun set to read together.
The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow
Of course, graduate students aren’t the only ones who compete for prizes or funding. Owen Mallory, a member of the Cantford College Department of History, is ecstatic to receive a rare tome he’s spent his life searching for—which arrives mysteriously on his desk. And one of his first thoughts is to make sure that fellow lecturer Jeremy Harrison doesn’t spot it. Soon, Owen is sent back in time, through some unknown means, to make sure that national hero Una Everlasting follows the course of history that made her a hero. And still, he thinks like a competitive scholar; Harrison won’t have access to any of this primary source, after all! But soon, Owen realizes that to build the legend, he may have to betray Una herself, and as his love for her deepens, he begins to question everything he’s ever known about the legend he studied so thoroughly.
Not everyone who enters academia is there intentionally, and for Clara Graysword, Arcana Academy is better served as the setting for a heist than a place of learning. But when she gets caught inking tarot cards without a license, the headmaster of the elite school, Prince Kaelis, offers her an escape. All she has to do is pose as a first year student, pretend to be his fiance, and help him steal a tarot card belonging to the king in order to create an all powerful card. Kova mixes dark academia, heist novel, and romance in this series starter.
Fallen Gods by Rachel Van Dyken
Rey, on the other hand, has been raised from birth for one task: steal back Mjolnir (yes, that Mjolnir) from Endir University, a college where gods and monsters and mortals roam the halls side by side. As Odin’s daughter, it’s her duty to obey. But when she meets Arik Erikson, her plans start to fall apart, because she can’t help her attraction her icy classmate, even though he’s the son of Odin’s nemesis. If she loses, the fate of the gods is at stake. But if she wins, she might have to sacrifice her heart. This romantasy blends the college scene with Norse mythology and a heist a lifetime in the making.
Bones at the Crossroads by LaDarrion Williams
This sequel to Williams’s Blood at the Root returns readers to magical HBCU Caiman University, where Malik is reeling from discoveries about his powers and his legacy. The family he thought he knew, especially the mother he’d have done anything for, may turn out to be his enemies. And while all he truly wanted was a normal magical college experience, he’s realizing that he may need to use his powers to save that world—even though he’s no longer sure it’s where he truly belongs. This is a fantastic duology to pick up between installments of Tracy Deonn’s “Legendborn” cycle.
An Arcane Inheritance by Kamilah Cole
Ellory Morgan knows how to spot freshmen among the library stacks—they’re the students who don’t yet have the look of desperation and fatigue, because they haven’t discovered just how hard university is. She’s already in the thick of it, though, as one of the few BIPOC students at the elite ivy league Warren University. But worse than her courses, she has this eerie sensation of deja vu, which may be warning her that there are greater dangers at Warren than she ever realized. What forbidden magic lies beneath these halls? Ellory is determined to find out, before she loses herself.
My Roommate from Hell by Cale Dietrich
Some colleges aren’t specifically for magic. They’re just your normal college, except that after it’s been determined that the dimension of Hell is real, the world itself feels a little more magical. Owen really just wanted to have a typical college experience, but when he’s given the Prince of Hell, an exchange student named Zarmenus, as a roommate, his life is going to be anything but typical. And then, when the King of Hell demands that his son settle down, Zar comes up with a brilliant plan: pretend he and Owen are boyfriends. Zar hasn’t been the best roommate, and Owen’s not sure he’ll be a better boyfriend, but even he can’t deny their chemistry. And when anti-Hell activists try to hurt Zar, Owen realizes there’s more to their relationship than he wanted to admit. (Add a delightfully fluffy-yet-scary hellcat as a pet, and the scene is complete.) While Deitrich has some confusions about American colleges and their seasons (he’s a writer from Australia), this is a fun bit of brain candy romance that also combats prejudice with panache.
House of Hearts by Skyla Arndt
When Violet Harper enrolls at Hart Academy, it’s not to learn magic or have classes with monsters—she doesn’t know anything about any of that. She’s there for one purpose: revenge for the death of her best friend. Everyone else says it was a freak accident. She knows it was a murder, based on the cryptic messages her friend sent from the elite boarding school. Now, Violet’s at Hart, determined to bring down her suspect and make sure he pays. Unfortunately, her suspect’s brother is Calvin Lockwell, an infuriating boy Violet is helplessly attracted to. And as Violet follows her friend’s path through Hart’s halls, she realizes that there’s more haunting the school than memories—and that a curse may be behind her best friend’s death. This YA horror is full of chills and plot twists, with a slow-burn romance to keep the pages turning.
Love at Second Sight by F. T. Lukens
It’s tough being a nonmagical student at an entirely magical high school—that is, until, Cam discovers he’s got one of the rarest magics of all. He’s a seer, gifted with psychic glimpses of the future that he doesn’t want. That’s especially true when what he sees is the gristly murder of a girl he doesn’t know. He and his friends have to solve the murder before it happens, figuring out the identities of both the murderer and the victim, while also figuring out who they can trust. (Cal also has to manage a crush on his werewolf friend, Al, but that’s fine. He won’t be distracted from the murder mystery by that tension at all…)
The Princess Knight by Cait Jacobs
Fantasy schools aren’t always about magic. Fourth Wing has an elite academy for dragon riders, and The Princess Knight has a school for warriors. Many of those who apply never successfully graduate, making those who earn their titles some of the world’s elite. Princess Clia had no intention of ever learning to be a warrior—until she is abandoned by the prince who had been her betrothed. He believes his nation, on the verge of war, needs a warrior queen, and Clia, who comes from a kingdom more concerned with parties than armies, has none of the needed training or reputation. So she does what any scorned woman would do: she enlists in military academy alongside him. (What, like it’s hard?) While this plot clearly draws on Legally Blonde for inspiration, and has many of the same story beats, the characters are wholly themselves in a setting inspired more by other romantasies than rom coms. Clia’s earnestness and self-doubt put her in direct contrast to Elle Woods, and her prince never comes across as the villain here (although he makes some utterly awful decisions). The result is a really fresh take on a familiar story, with much larger stakes than a single legal battle.
School settings aren’t just for fantasy! Chloe Gong’s first non-Shakespearan outing, a cyberpunk dystopia, centers on a final exam for Nile Military Academy. One of the POV narrations features Lia and her friends competing for the highest points in their field operation test, behind cold-war lines. The other centers on Eirale, whose final exam in the online world of Kathmandu has made her a valuable hostage for activists determined to bring down the corporate-military that props up the cold war. The action trades back and forth between perspectives in a race for resources that have the potential to bring down the “upcountry”—the virtual world in which most people spend their time when the real world is ravaged by pollution and pandemic. As the first in a trilogy, this may be some of Gong’s finest work yet, with detailed worldbuilding and spy-thriller twists that should keep audiences guessing.
A Forbidden Alchemy by Stacey McEwan
In this first book of the Artisan trilogy, getting into Artisan School means everything. All young people are tested to see if they have the spark of magic that will allow them to join the elite, or whether they will be destined to a life as Craftsmen, doing societies lesser respected, more dangerous jobs. It’s all Nina Harrow has ever dreamed of. It’s everything Patrick Colson hates. When the pair of them discover the truth—that Artisans are chosen, not born to their futures—they part ways and choose very different paths in the Craftsman revolution that follows. While more of this tale is about the rebellion than the school, the idea of schools shaping the future of magical students at the age of twelve has resonance with other tales, giving it a more grown-up angle on a familiar theme.
Whether you’re looking for college, high school, the lofty halls of graduate schools, or the profession of academia, there are plenty of takes on making schools—magical and not—a staple in SFF. Which ones do you think make the grade?
*Note: This article was originally commissioned by amazing editor Lacy Baugher and written for Paste magazine, which now focuses on music coverage. Thanks to Paste for all the articles over the years!
