These Dreaming Spires is a dark academia anthology consisting of 12 short stories from a list of bestselling authors that includes Olivie Blake, Genevieve Cogman, Kate Alice Marshall, and many more.

I'm not one for short stories, but I do think dark academia stories work quite well in this format, and found myself enjoying most of the stories in this one! I was a little worried going in that the stories would get repetitive but many facets of dark academia were explored, and kept it super interesting.

Now I'm just waiting for more reviews to pop up so I can figure out what on earth was going on in that Olivie Blake story.

Like a box of chocolates, with anthologies you never quite know what you are going to get. This book offers it’s reader stories from the ok to the totally bizarre, proving the unexpectedness of such a collection, something for all tastes.

I’d like to say that for me the ok outweighed the bad, but honestly not in this case. As an avid and long time devourer of dark stories, be they fantasy, horror or anywhere else on the spectrum, I am quite open to “different“ ideas of the genre, but some of these stories left me cold and not in a ghostly icy blast kind of way.

The best for me was Tallow’s Cove (which would be very good as a full length novel), followed by A Short List Of Impossible Things and The Coventry School For The Arts. The remaining stories, though well written and showed the authors skills in their craft, were not for me, sorry.

2.5*

Thank you NetGalley and Titan Books.

Thank you NetGalley and Titan Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

These Dreaming Spires is a set of twelve dark academia stories with a wide range of themes, voices, and sub-genres to explore.

With twelve different authors creating stories for this anthology, readers are taken on a journey that feels like a rollercoaster (in the best way possible). Some stories stay within the range of what is typical for dark academia--think moody libraries and dangerous projects--while other stories toss tradition to the side and take readers on a completely new journey. Though no matter how close they stayed to the most common interpretation of dark academia, each story was wholly unique.

While reading, I found a few stories that stood out among the rest for me. Five, to be exact. In chronological order (as they're all too good for me to rank them):

-Utilities by Genevieve Cogman: Set in a virtual university, this story takes readers on a journey in a world of coding and virtual reality. This was my first time reading a dark academia story that took on sci-fi, and I loved it. The virtual setting was also paired with a wildly good twist and an ending that wrapped the story up perfectly.

-Advanced Dissection by Taylor Grothe: This story's sharp teeth rip through the pages and plunge straight into the heart of the reader. Complete with gore, girls in love, and unethical science, the story reminds us why it's called dark academia. The women are allowed to be angry and violent and all the horrible things they please. It also has a focus on the science side of academia, specifically dissection, that you don't always see. It's dark and emotional, and it is so addictive. With its explorations of power and love in a truly dark setting, this one stands out among a crowd.

-God, Needy, Enough with the Screaming by Olivie Blake: With a writing style as unique and a voice as clear as Olivie Blake's, this story shines through the pages and calls readers into its dark embrace. I haven't read an Olivie Blake book yet, but this story just confirms that I need to. This is definitely one of the stories that pushes the boundaries of dark academia. Blake writes without fear, giving readers a story they can't find anywhere else. This has demons and dark magic and love surrounded by, and perhaps built upon, madness. Though it is a short story, it feels like so much more. Even with an abrupt ending, it still feels so satisfying.

-Poisoned Pawn by De Elizabeth: This was the third story in a row that I would give five stars. It's filled with chess, a deep desire to succeed, and past loves. This one also felt like a story that focused on the dark part of dark academia. It's not afraid to explore betrayal and pain and violence. I was almost in tears at one point during this one. Elizabeth has a method of storytelling that is determined to make itself seen. With the unique abilities and dynamics within this story, it was easily one of the most memorable of this anthology.

-The Coventry School for the Arts by Ariel Djanikian: A lot of the thoughts I have about this story go into spoiler territory, so I will have to keep it brief. This story will capture readers with an exploration of complex family dynamics and an art school by a river with a dark history. One of the most incredible elements of this story was the twist, and how the story continued after it. I wish I could come on here and scream about how wonderful this was in the last half, especially, but all I can say is that readers will be in awe of how great the reveal and ending of this story are once they read it.

While there were some stories I didn't love, it's easy to see the appeal in each and every story. There's not a single poorly written story within the entire anthology. This is not only perfect for dark academia lovers, but it's great for people who are new to it as well. With twelve uniquely wonderful stories, this is a great place for people to get a taste of different takes on dark academia. Readers will be introduced to authors they may not have known or read from before that they can now fall in love with. Whether you're looking for a candle-lit library or a blood-soaked science lab, you can find a story (or several) in this anthology that you'll never forget.

Review on Goodreads (sophreadingbooks https://www.goodreads.com/sophreadingbooks) expected 9/3/2025
Review on Instagram (sophiesreading https://www.instagram.com/sophiesreading/) expected 9/3/2025

When I saw it was a dark academia anthology, I was excited to read it. The stories felt like small episodes of The Twilight Zone: twisted. creepy, and thought provoking.

That said, my experience was a bit of a mixed bag. The stories I enjoyed most were those with strong dialogue. Those moved more fluidly and held my attention much better. In contrast, some of the others felt more like a slog, where I was invested enough to want to know the ending, but the journey there was slow or confusing. A few stories jumped straight into their world-building with little context, which made it hard to follow or connect with what was going on.

Still, I’d say it’s worth giving this collection a try. While not every story worked for me, the ones that did were engaging and memorable.

Standouts for me were:
-Advanced Dissection
-God, Needy, Enough with the Screaming
-Poisoned Pawn
-A Short List of Impossible Things

I overall enjoyed this set of campus novels with a dark theme from haunting to murder. As with any short story collection, some of the stories grabbed me more than others. I particularly love the stories that are atmospheric, and a few of them delivered on that. The Tallow's Cove by Erica Waters and Poisoned Pawn by De Elizabeth were my favorites among the collection. More established author Olivie Blake also contributed to this collection, and her contribution was also excellent. I intend to read more of her books.

These Dreaming Spires is an anthology of 12 dark academia short stories. It opens with an introduction explaining that while the collection does include some stories which are more traditional dark academia, they have intentionally pushed the boundary of what constitutes dark academia, and have included innovative examples of dark academia which push into other subgenres. I definitely feel this in the stories - some mash up dark academia with different subgenres that you might not expect, and it definitely feels like the authors had fun with them! It's a really varied collection because of all the genre hybrids.

Normally with anthologies, I say that not all of the stories will work for all readers but that there'll be something for everyone. But with These Dreaming Spires, every single one of these short stories was 4 or 5 stars for me. Quite a few are gory, disturbing, and creepy. Some are really creative - I never would have imagined dark academia within a Virtual Reality university! It's just an amazing collection by fantastic authors!

"Get ready to go to the top of the class, people, because a brand new term is about to begin..." - Introduction by Marie O'Regan and Paul Kane

Disclaimer: I received an Advance Reader Copy from Titan Books and NetGalley but this is my voluntary and honest review.

Note: I will publish my reviews on Goodreads, Fable and StoryGraph in the month of release (September) as requested in the publisher notes. I'll come back and update this feedback page with the review links on 1st September.

I love dark academia, so was excited to read this anthology and it really delivered. I inhaled this book in a single afternoon and am now going back to read some of the stories for a second time, I’m not ready for it to be over.

Erica Waters pulled me in with an atmospheric, creepy story about a haunted church that forces visitors to look after it and every story that followed was gripping, interesting and unique. Picking personal favourites from this collection was hard but if I had to choose then Taylor George’s monstrous and terrifying “Advanced dissection” would be my winner, that story will stay with me for a long time. Close runners up would be Olivie Blake’s demon infested “God, Needy, Enough with the screaming” and Genevieve Cogman’s deeply unsettling virtual reality academy in “Utilities”.

A great read whether you already love dark academia or just want to try the genre out.

Like all anthologies, some stories were stronger than others, but overall they were written at high levels of craft, each with their uniqueness distilled in it.

I love Dark Academia and this compilation served as the perfect method to deliver short stories to readers. Many beloved authors that specialize in this genre are featured. I really enjoyed picking up this novel whenever I wanted to read a short story in one sitting and get a glimpse into a new Dark Academia created world. Each story was unique with a different twist on the characters, magic, and genre.

Many thanks to the author and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC.

Thank you so much Titan Books for the arc! This might be my favorite anthology ever! There wasn’t one story I didn’t like!

A quick summary of all the stories:

🥈Tallow‘s Cove: 5/5
* Chronic illness
* Haunted abandoned chapel
* Academic researcher fmc
I loved it, wished it would be a full length novel!

Utilities: 4/5
* Virtual reality university
* Artificial intelligence studies
* sci-fi horror
Couldn’t happen to me, I would be way to stupid for that university.

Destroying Angel: 4/5
* doppelgänger
* book of evil spells
* Unhinged mmc
The mmc has some seeerious problems!

Within the Loch 3/5
* Women‘ college
* Missing student
* Rituals
I liked the setting, but the pacing felt too slow for a short story.

Advanced Dissection 3,5/5
* Human experiments
* Unethical science
* Dystopian feeling
So gory!

🥉Good, Needy, Enough with the Screaming 5/5
* Asylum
* Summoning demons
* Portals
I loved the fmc! So typical for Olivie Blake.

🥈Poisoned Pawn 5/5
* Chess tournament
* Friends to lovers turned rivals
* Brain enhancing pills
Sooo good, right up my alley!

Open Book 4,5/5
* Archivist of books
* Grimoires
* Rival students
I would’ve been satisfied even if we only followed the archivist to work.

A Short List of Impossible Things 3/5
* Scholar of the impossible
* Letters
* Grief
The worldbuilding is so intriguing!

The Harrowing of Lucas Mortier 4,5/5
* Hell
* Ways to save the soul
* Expert on deification
So so good!

The Coventry School for the Arts 3/5
* Hauntings
* Art teacher
* Dysfunctional families
Loved the ghosts, would have loved it even more, if the unsettling paintings would’ve been included more.

🥇The Magpies 5/5
* Stolen magic
* Multiple worlds
* Power hungry fmc
I loved the magic system! I would definitely read a full length novel about it!