While I haven’t read much of Elise Kova’s extensive book list, what I have read has been phenomenal. When Arcana Academy came across my desk months ago, I was determined to devour the book, but unfortunately, life got ahead of me. However, I picked it back up as my read for a trip recently, and I DEVOURED the book over the course of two days. It was my first time seeing tarot cards being woven into a magical system, and it was absolutely fascinating alongside the dark academia vibes too. This is a book that would make a great read for someone looking for a dark academia and fantasy romance with an enemies to lovers romance.
Arcana Academy starts with Clara Graysword, a young woman who has survived through sheer force of will, luck, and thievery. After one of her jobs goes awry, she gets sentenced to a lifetime in prison for inking tarot cards, a now outlawed practice in Eclipse City. As she’s bemoaning her luck running out, Prince Kaelis offers her an escape from her circumstances, but the price is her freedom. In order to escape the prison, she enters Arcana Academy as a first year student and bride-to-be for the prince. Meanwhile, she’s also secretly working to ink a card for him that has been lost to time, and also has the power to re-shape the world. Clara will have to survive a world that is out for her power, and she may not survive long enough to save herself.
To start, this book is THICK. I’ve read a lot of romantasy recently that needed some extra world-building, so I was hoping that Arcana Academy would deliver based on the length. In all honesty, I was hoping for a bit more, but I think that it was partially because of everything going on in the story that I might have felt like it was a bit disjointed. The magic system was definitely fascinating, and I wanted to know all about how it worked, however there needs to be a bit more development in the following books. I definitely wanted to know more about Eclipse City and Arcana Academy, because I do feel like we are building up to a bigger thing, but am not sure if others will want to invest the time into the story to find out. With that said, I really enjoyed a lot of the mystery aspect surrounding Clara’s powers and what is to come in the next book.
Character-wise, Clara was not my cup of tea. She seemed more of a teenage protagonist than an adult, but I could see where her heart lay. She cared a lot about her family, but unfortunately it also blinded her ability to reason. Prince Kaelis was more broody than villainous, and the romance felt like it was non-existent one minute, and the next second punched us right in the face. I didn’t hate that, but I would have loved a little more build up to the romance as it made me a bit paranoid, like another shoe would drop and something else would happen to the characters I would be shipping. By the end of the book, I was definitely rooting for their relationship, but more development on the front end would have been ideal to make it a bit more believable.
Although the pace of this book was a bit disjointed, this did not deter me from finishing the book and there were several moments where it felt like it was taking me quite a bit to get through the story. There were also times where I felt like there was an onslaught of action happening and I needed to go back and reread to make sure I hadn’t missed anything happening between characters. I’m curious if this might change in the next book as we lean more into the development of characters and motivations than as much of the world-building.
Overall, I enjoyed this book, and while it left a lot of questions unanswered, it did open up a mystery that I am dying to find out the answers to. This was a book that left me second guessing where the story would go next, and there were several plot twists that I was not expecting. I do encourage you to pick this book up if you’re wanting to start a new series from an author with a large backlist to explore.
Arcana Academy is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore.
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Synopsis
A woman who wields magical tarot cards lands herself in a false engagement with the headmaster of a mysterious academy in this first installment of an enthralling fantasy romance series from the bestselling author of A Deal with the Elf King.
Clara Graysword has survived the underworld of Eclipse City through thievery, luck, and a whole lot of illegal magic. After a job gone awry, Clara is sentenced to a lifetime in prison for inking tarot cards—a rare power reserved for practitioners at the elite Arcana Academy.
Just when it seems her luck has run dry, the academy’s enigmatic headmaster, Prince Kaelis, offers her an escape—for a price. Kaelis believes that Clara is the perfect tool to help him steal a tarot card from the king and use it to re-create an all-powerful card long lost to time.
In order to conceal her identity and keep her close, Kaelis brings Clara to Arcana Academy, introducing her as the newest first-year student and his bride-to-be.
Thrust into a world of arcane magic and royal intrigue, where one misstep will send her back to prison or worse, Clara finds that the prince she swore to hate may not be what he seems. But can she risk giving him power over the world—and her heart? Or will she take it for herself?
