Arcana Academy has all my guilty pleasures in one book. There's romance, mystery, fantasy, and dark academia. The world building grabbed me from the beginning. We start with the FMC in prison for illegally inking and using magical tarot cards. It reminded me a little bit of One Dark Window with the cards. She is "encouraged" to escape by the headmaster of the magical academy, who also happens to be a prince and the man that she believes killed her mother. Enemies to lovers, anyone? The only way she can avoid being sent back to prison is to enter the academy as a student, and his fiancé. I will definitely be looking for the follow up books in this series.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC e-copy.

Arcana Academy is a hauntingly lyrical dark academia filled with tarot magic, simmering tension, and prose that paints every scene like a spell. The slow-burn romance had me hooked—the dialogue is sharp, tender, and addictive. While the pacing stumbles occasionally with quick time skips, the emotional payoff and that brutal cliffhanger ending make it all worth it.

Rounded up to 5 stars for the atmosphere, character chemistry, and stunning writing. However I would rate it 4.5 in writing.

Huge thanks to Elise Kova and NetGalley for the advanced copy!

Personal compatibility 3.75 ⭐️
For its Written Purpose 3.5 ⭐️

I had a really good time with the plot and ESPECIALLY the magic system!! Wow, 10 stars for the magic system, and I've found myself so much more interested in real tarot than ever.

Clara felt like a strong character and I loved how competent she was, I feel like she carried a lot of what I had problems with although she's not without her flaws.

The found family aspect is also starting to form, and I know it’s early on in their first year but I’m loving the support that Clara has from all angles.

I wanted to like Kaelis more than I do so far, I feel like we didn't get enough time with him to flesh him out any further than "dark haired bad guy who's not actually that bad? And maybe a cinnamon roll for her? And definitely down bad" I dunno I was just expecting a bit more from an author like Elise.

That being said, I'm sure we will get MUCH more of them on the coming books.

Now on to why I couldn't rate this higher— several times simple explanations were repeated 3-4 times within a couple of chapters, Clara seemed to conveniently ignore major threats even though she acknowledged that they were threats, every time she was faced with prison guards it felt very convenient that she was able to evade them, and a few other plot related issues.

Overall though, I had a great time reading and will absolutely be recommending and continuing the series!

Thank you NetGalley for an advanced reader copy of Arcana Academy in exchange for my honest review!

description:
Clara Graysword has survived Eclipse City through thievery, luck, and illegal magic. Caught in the act of inking tarot cards, a rare power reserved for Arcana Academy, she’s sentenced to life in prison.

But Prince Kaelis, the academy’s mysterious headmaster, offers her a deal: freedom in exchange for helping him steal a powerful tarot card from the king to recreate a long-lost legendary card.

To keep her close and hidden, Kaelis brings Clara to Arcana Academy, posing her as a new student and his bride-to-be.

Now caught in a web of magic, politics, and secrets, Clara must decide: can she trust the prince she was meant to hate... or seize power for herself?
✨

review:
Elise Kova said "I wanted tension so thick that I hope it breaks my readers" and SHE DID NOT DISAPPOINT. Where do I start?
I love a marriage of convenience but an enemies to lovers marriage of convenience? 🥵 and when I say enemies to lovers I mean: she believes he killed her mother and is the reason she's been in prison. The tension is so thick you could cut it with a knife:
“To be honest, Kaelis, the only thing I ever thought I’d want from you is your heart, carved from your chest.”
“Say the word.”


Next we have: the BANTER
“I prefer my women with more substance.”
“I don’t care how you prefer your women.”
“The way you looked at me just now said otherwise.”
And to think that was only the beginning. You ever read banter so good you need to stand up and walk around for a bit to cool off? 🔥

Long story short, I clearly loved this book. The unique magical system. The academia mixed with some deadly competitions. The ROMANCE. I love it all. I can not wait for book #2. Until then, I hope you check this one out when it comes out.

one of my favorite lines:
"Love me, hate me, but only look at me like my existence sets you on fire"

Arcana Academy by Elise Kova is the first book in a dark academia fantasy series. It follows Clara Graysword, a street-smart young woman who was imprisoned for using forbidden tarot magic. She’s offered a deal by a second-born Prince Kaelis: pose as his fake fiancée at Arcana Academy and help him steal a legendary, reality-bending tarot card. In exchange, she gets her freedom. But inside the elite school, Clara must hide her past, survive deadly magical trials, and navigate growing tension with Kaelis—all while unraveling dangerous secrets within the academy’s four tarot-based houses.

This hooked me right in. It’s gripping story filled with secrets, slow-burn forbidden romance, and a well-developed magic system using tarot cards. I *cannot* wait for the next book in this series!

You’ll love Arcana Academy if you enjoy:
✨ dark academia vibes
📚 magical schools
🔥 slow-burn enemies-to-lovers
🖤 morally gray characters
🔮 elemental magic + high stakes secrets

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and author for granting me a complimentary advanced reader copy of the ebook. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own and based off of this draft; the final publication may be different. Expected publication date is July 22, 2025.

I really wanted to care about Arcana Academy (and Owlcrate is coming out with the most stunning edition that I may get anyway) BUT this book had WAY too many characters and didn’t make me care about any of them. I felt like I was just plodding along from time skip to time skip.

I think it may be because the characters we do get to know are just copy/paste romantasy tropes. Our FMC, Clara is stubborn and sassy, with innate powers and abilities. She is a “cool” girl, who is so much stronger than everyone around her and she has to rebuild her body after being imprisoned. She is saved by our MMC, Kaelis, who is a dark and evil prince, but wait, he’s not actually evil, it’s just an act to get everyone to believe he wouldn’t be the one with an agenda to save the world. Genuinely could have pulled the two of them from any standard romantasy book.

The magic system in this is SO strong and interesting. That’s what kept me going through this. I love the tarot cards and their powers, I loved how there were different things you could do with them. If as much care had been put into the characters like the magic system, I think this could have been a perfect start to a series.

I will likely read the sequel, just to see if we get any better character work, but I don’t think I’ll be dying to pick it up when it comes around. We practically started and ended in the same vein which made the book feel like a moot point. Thank you to the publisher for early access to the eARC!

Arcana Academy by Elise Kova is a fun and exciting fantasy with great magic, strong characters, and a fast-paced story. The world-building is creative, and the main character’s journey kept me hooked from start to finish. It’s perfect if you love magical schools and adventure.

4.5/5 stars
Clara is in prison for illegally inking Tarot cards, which can be used to wield magic. When she’s given the opportunity to escape, it’s too good to be true, and she finds herself trapped in a new way, this time as a first year at the Arcana Academy. The headmaster of the school, Prince Kaelis, is Clara’s lifelong enemy, but he’s the one who got her out of prison, and now she has to fake a relationship with him to keep herself from being sent back to prison.

Arcana Academy contains one of my favorite magic systems I’ve read in a while. I found the interplay between the Tarot deck and magic to be fascinating, and I loved that there were three branches to the magic - inking, wielding, and reading Tarot. However, it was at times a bit hard to keep track of the different cards and what they do and mean, but the magic was so well crafted I didn’t mind. I found the book to be extremely interesting and fun to read. While I was weirdly bothered that Clara has a very “regular” name when all the other characters have more “fantasy” names, I think that’s just my own issue. I really enjoyed the characters, and I can’t wait for book 2!!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House - Del Ray for the ARC!!

Clara is an arcanist—she is able to ink and wield tarot cards to harness their magical ability. I really enjoyed this academic setting and learning about the three-year structure of the schooling system. I especially liked the exploration of the corrupt rulers monopolising the arcane and using it to oppress the working class.
While I found that the actual tarot wielding system led to some lacklustre and monotonous fight scenes, the deeper Major Arcana was interesting, especially the secret World card that everyone is trying to harness to change humanity.
I especially like the insights we got into Clara’s past with the Starcrossed Club and their way of life, and am so curious to know more about her mother and her knowledge of The World.
I didn’t love the romance aspect of this book but I do think it has potential, it just moved a little too fast for my taste, as I would have preferred the tension to be more drawn out before it was overtly stated.
Overall I quite enjoyed this and am very curious as to how the sequel will unfold!

This was the perfect dark romantasy. The world was so interesting and I really loved the magic system and the idea of the cards. Clara was an intriguing main character and I think she really developed and experienced a lot of growth as the book went on. Kaelis was a perfect broody male main character and I liked how we slowly got to peel back the many layers. Their chemistry was so compelling - the yearning! The ending was so thrilling and I already can’t wait to see what happens in the next book!

3/5 ⭐️

To be honest, this isn’t a bad book. I would 1000% recommend this to others. It just wasn’t for me right now. I think I could’ve really liked this a couple years ago, but right now it feels very similar to other books. The “badass” FMC, the plot, the dark & broody love interest, the dialogue. It’s not bad, it’s just too familiar to me right now and I’m a little burned out. However, there were parts I was reading where I went, oh this is interesting. And people will love this. I personally know people who I would recommend this to who are still deep in wanting books like this. Sadly, I miscalculated and it ended up not being for me.

Thank you to NetGalley & Del Rey for providing an advance reader copy of this book for my honest review.

Thank you Net Galley & Elise Kova for entrusting me with this wonderful ARC, Arcana Academy.
Right from the beginning of this 5 star read, i was immediately hooked. I would’ve thought the use of tarot cards would be confusing and hard to read. Safe to say, I was mistaken as development of the plot and characters was beautifully written. The plot twists & the ending had me in utter shock! I’m already on my toes impatiently waiting for book 2, despite the fact that book 1 isn’t even out yet…
Elise Kova has always been on my TBR list and i’m sorry i hadn’t read her any sooner.
I would definitely recommend this magical, perfectly balanced romantasy book, anytime & anywhere.

This was definitely one of my favorite books that I read this year. I enjoyed the magic system, the action, the characters, the romance - all of it!

The magical card component reminded me slightly of <i>One Dark Window</i> or the Deck of Destiny from <i>Caraval</i>, but this book also has the addition of a magical school setting more similar to <i>Harry Potter</i> or <i>A Door in the Dark</i>.

I appreciate a FMC with some grit and unique skills but who also has some realistic flaws. I also enjoyed that I couldn't predict what was going to happen or even what I wanted to happen. I cannot wait for the next book in this series!

Thank you to NetGalley and Del Rey for this ARC!

ELISE KOVA DOES NOT MISS.

Did you know, I have read all of Elise Kova’s books? I am a major fan girl and I have been so excited for this new series and it absolutely delivered. This was one of the COOLEST magic systems!!! I loved all of the tarot cards and majors and how they all wove into the world. The houses and academy were an intriguing aspect I look forward to seeing more of in book two.

AND THE ROMANCE? THIS IS HOW YOU DO ENEMIES TO LOVERS. I have been begging for an enemies book with actual enemies and BLESS. I GOT IT. The building tension between Clara and Kaelis was exquisite. Thank heavens for a true slow burn as swell.

One thing I love about EK books is never knowing who is going to make it out alive. The ruthlessness of her game creates such a harrowing dynamic as the pages turn. But alongside that I love the deep friendships that are built and the trust communicated between characters too. The ending will send you into the stratosphere because I am always here for a cliffhanger.

There’s just so many nuanced things I loved about this book y’all. It’s a great place to start for Elise Kova (BUT DON’T FORGET TO READ AIR AWAKENS TOO).

Overall audience notes:

Fantasy Romance
Language: moderate
Romance; 2-3 open door
Violence: moderate – high
Content warnings: loss of life, murder

Amazing read! Loved every second of it. It has an amazing magic system, great characters, lots of mysteries to be solved and of course the main couple you fall in love with. You get a love story with super hot yearning very skillfully incorporated with a historic conflict and a caste system that is not working any more. This is so far, my favourite read of 2025 and i have read 57 books so far this year.

This was an ok read for me. I think if I were in a better mood for it I may have liked it more. It felt to much like a mixture of the very popular fantasy books that out there some of which I like other I dont.don't. It felt a bit forced.
I did like the magic system, I felt that was the most interesting part of the story since I don't read a lot of fantasy with tarot based magic. The romance was just the for me and a bit inconsistent. Enemies to lovers is my fave troupe but I don't feel like this really did it justice.
In theory this would have been a book I would normally love but it fell flat for me. I may give it another read closer to pub date.
2 1/2 stars

Arcana Academy✨🃏⚔️🖌️


This one was so unique with the aspect of using tarot cards for magic! It was still very Harry Potter-esque but this was a super fresh take that I felt really changed the game and kept the plot going. Definitely some good twists and turns — can’t wait to see where the next one goes!!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you @netgalley for the chance to read and review this ahead of time!

Releases July 22, 2025 ✏️ 🗓️

I went into Arcana Academy relatively blind but did notice that the early reviews have been overwhelmingly positive so I was excited to dive in. Unfortunately, I think I'm maybe just not a fantasy academia girlie?? I had a difficult time getting invested into the story and didn't actually start enjoying this until a little over 50% of the way through. I feel like about 100+ pages could probably be cut OR used instead for a period of introduction to Clara, her sister, her mother, and her found family. We're dropped right into a plot with little to no world building or character introduction/development, so I didn't care for or understand Clara's drive and relationships. Usually, I don't mind being slowly explained lore and such throughout the story, but we never really got that at any point, thus I had zero emotional connection to the majority of the conflicts. However, once things start picking up and the fighting happens, I started to understand the hype a little bit more. The magic system is super cool and Elise can write fantastic action sequences - I wish there was much more magical tarot card fighting! I also overall enjoyed the tension and chemistry between Clara and Kaelis, as both were very present on page and elevated the story for me. There were a few plot twists that actually surprised me and I will definitely be picking up the next book when it's time. I also plan to probably reread Arcana Academy and hope I'm just suffered from a book hangover currently and will enjoy it at a later time.

TLDR: Arcana Academy was slow in the beginning and lacked world building and character background but picks up eventually and becomes a worthwhile read. It's basically a not as good One Dark Window but throw in more fighting, academics, and no monster card possession.

Thank you to Del Rey, NetGalley, and the author for sending me an early copy!

This is a fun read with a good story, and well thoughtout magic system. We get to know the main character, Clara, very well, since the entire book follows her first person narration. But with her so focused on her own pursuit, the readers are not given much chance to get to know the side characters, or how those outside of Clara's circle generally think.
But all in all, this is a solid fantasy, and I look forward to continuing the series!

Arcana Academy is for the Gambit and tarot card girlies first and foremost. And, unfortunately, I am not one of those girlies. However, I still enjoyed this book, but I had a rough time getting through the beginning. The story starts out pretty heavy on the world- and magic-building. It's a little info-dumpy, similar to the first Crescent City book. I stuck with it, though, and the payoff was worth the confusion and head scratches that consistently popped up while I was trying to figure out what the heck each card did and who everyone was. After the first third of the story, though, things started to get fun.

Let me back up a bit. Our main character, Clara Graysword, has been imprisoned for illegal tarot card magic. She shouldn't be creating or using the cards she's been wielding, so she's locked up by the royal family. A year later, Prince Kaelis comes to get her for his own reasons. He wants her help with a secret task. Now, she has to pretend to be his fiance (fake engagement!) and successfully graduate a magical school (trials and competitions!). It's also the school where he rules as the headmaster. Clara is a strong female lead. She didn't fold easily just because a prince batted his eyes at her, which I appreciated. She was also confident in her abilities and weaknesses. It was refreshing to see for a female main character in a fantasy world. Kaelis, on the other hand, is kind of a jerk at first. But, the tension between the two was very nice. I was actually a bit disappointed when they started getting along. The two still had their moments, though.

As for the magic and world, that's where the book lost me at first. It was really hard to follow the card logistics. And maybe that was because I was reading an e-ARC, so it wasn't easy to flip back to the descriptions of various cards, houses, or characters. Maybe the finished copy will have a nice list of all the important magical terminology in the front of the book for the card types, uses, houses, and house members. I think readers would really appreciate that. For the story itself, it was fun. The academy elements are very reminiscent of the Zodiac Academy series and Fourth Wing while still managing to be its own thing. And while the ending wasn't unexpected, I am sad to have to wait a year or more for book two after that cliffhanger. Boo.

All in all, Arcana Academy was a good read. It had action, intrigue, unique magical powers, romance, and a few twists to keep people reading. I do, however, think readers need to be prepared to go into it with that heavy worldbuilding in mind. If you're not mentally ready to be in a story with descriptive magic, come back to Arcana Academy later, when you can digest all the things. It's a long book, and it takes some brain power to get through. It's very similar to an epic fantasy in that way, just without the larger-scaled setting (the academy is pretty much the primary setting) and multiple points of view.

3.5 stars

*Note: I received a copy of this book to review from the publisher via NetGalley. This in no way affected my opinion/review.