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Academy of Villains by Ever King
4.5
adventurous dark emotional fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Academy of Villains is a dark academia romance inspired by Nyx and Erebus.

The story begins with one of the Nameless hired to assassinate Prince Lucian at the Academy of Magic. She makes a careless mistake and finds herself at the sorting ceremony where the mages elemental magic are revealed. When she is called upon the platform, a stone pillar reacts to the magic she is unaware of even possessing. She is what she hates most, a mage. Kiara's element is celestial and believed to be eradicated many years ago. As Kiara learns how to use her magic, she awakens a magical thread that may alter her original mission. Kiara might need the prince alive to save the kingdom.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

The concept of this story was so interesting, and I enjoyed it way more than I was anticipating. This is a series I plan on devouring!

I loved the magic system. The mages receive their grimoire based on their elemental magic. The grimoires start out blank, and when needed, the spells appear to the user of the grimoire. To everyone other than the owner of the grimoire, it stays blank. The mages elemental magic also has a beast form. I loved Kiara and Lucian's beast forms! The mages also have an affinity, for example, healing or being able to know when someone is being dishonest.

Lucian is our shadow daddy, and I love him. He is respected as the prince and feared for his element. He is a Shadowmage. He possesses cursed, dark magic that he spent years learning to control. When he meets Kiara, his control falters. He was aware that Kiara was planning to assassinate him, and he was exhilarated. Like, this man had a fancy lamb chop dinner awaiting her, as if it were a date and not her sneaking into his room to assassinate him. As we get to know him, he is actually so sweet, caring, and genuine.

The imagery during battles was beautifully written. I could easily visualize Kiara's celestial magic: her starblades slicing through the air, stars shooting down from the sky, exploding in a glowing light as they hit their opponents.

I highly recommend this book if you love dark academia, trials, secret societies, and elemental magic.

dark academia • dark fantasy • dark romance • enemies to lovers • greek mythology • magic • retelling • romantasy • secret society • self discovery • shadow daddy