Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time
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Not for me

A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik

May 18, 2026 by Ellesfena Leave a Comment

So far, my big plan to read a bunch of dark academia this year isn’t really working out for me (other than The Raven Scholar). I didn’t really like this book. Galadriel (El for short) is a junior at a boarding school for teens with magical powers. The idea behind the school (called the Scholomance) was to keep the students safe from “mals” (maleficaria) which like to eat magical humans and are particularly attracted to teens rather than children or adults. Unfortunately, long ago the defensive mechanisms […]

Filed Under: Fantasy Tagged With: dark academia, magical boarding school, Naomi novik, scholomance

Ellesfena's CBR18 Review No:11 · Genres: Fantasy · Tags: dark academia, magical boarding school, Naomi novik, scholomance ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

“Christ,” said Peter. “Hell is a campus.”

Katabasis: A Novel by R. F Kuang

April 11, 2026 by bjornsnipe Leave a Comment

Katabasis, noun, Ancient Greek: The story of a hero’s descent to the underworld Alice Law has but one goal: to become one of the greatest in the field of Magick; to make all the sacrifices (her pride, her health, her love life, her self-respect, and most of all her sanity) worthwhile. All to work with Professor Jacob Grimes at Cambridge, the greatest magician in the world. (And one of the worst humans; but what does a vicious personality and a tendency to drive others to […]

Filed Under: Fantasy, Fiction Tagged With: academia, academia is hell, Dante, dark academia, hell, R.F. Kuang

bjornsnipe's CBR18 Review No:14 · Genres: Fantasy, Fiction · Tags: academia, academia is hell, Dante, dark academia, hell, R.F. Kuang ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

Elastic tension lashed their cars together across space, alone on the road, nothing in his head but grief and freedom.

Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo

February 26, 2026 by carmelpie Leave a Comment

Andrew held the clutch and eased onto the gas, pushing revs while the digital readout reminded him to hold it, wait for the right moment to explode. Sam’s fingers touched the rim of the moon hanging in the sky. A shudder ripped across the bones of Andrew’s forearms, terror and delight and the promise of risk bringing him to life. ― Lee Mandelo, Summer Sons For fuck’s sake Andrew. Is there anything in this scenario that feels heterosexual or well-adjusted to you? ― Lee Mandelo, […]

Filed Under: Fantasy, Fiction, Mystery Tagged With: American History, angst, Classism, curse, dark academia, drug use, Fighting, gay awakening, gay romance, Ghost Stories, homoerotic behaviour, Lee Mandelo, LGBTQ author, LGBTQ romance, murder mystery, Nashville, psychic abilities, queer romance, self-destruction, sexual tension up the wazoo, street racing, Tennessee, toxic friendships, toxic relationships, Toxic Romance, transgender characters, transgender main character, trauma bonding

carmelpie's CBR18 Review No:9 · Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Mystery · Tags: American History, angst, Classism, curse, dark academia, drug use, Fighting, gay awakening, gay romance, Ghost Stories, homoerotic behaviour, Lee Mandelo, LGBTQ author, LGBTQ romance, murder mystery, Nashville, psychic abilities, queer romance, self-destruction, sexual tension up the wazoo, street racing, Tennessee, toxic friendships, toxic relationships, Toxic Romance, transgender characters, transgender main character, trauma bonding ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

Going to hell to finish school

Katabasis by R. F. Kuang

February 22, 2026 by CoffeeShopReader Leave a Comment

I could not get more than halfway through R. F. Kuang’s Babel. The world and magic system were amazing; I could not stay interested in all the character personal drama. Thus I was hesitant to try Katabasis. I finally did though, as I have some experience in the world of higher education as well as the Classical background to appreciate that title reference. On the other hand, that didn’t help The Secret History; hated that, mostly because of the stupid unlikeable character drama. Tragedy in […]

Filed Under: Fantasy, Speculative Fiction Tagged With: dark academia, Divine Comedy, Katabasis, R.F. Kuang

CoffeeShopReader's CBR18 Review No:9 · Genres: Fantasy, Speculative Fiction · Tags: dark academia, Divine Comedy, Katabasis, R.F. Kuang ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

My Year of Dark Academia is Off to an Uneven Start

If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio

A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid

January 25, 2026 by Ellesfena 16 Comments

Lately I’ve been finding myself drawn to dark academia, so I thought this year I might embrace it and go whole hog. I started the year off with two very different dark academia novels–one that I mostly enjoyed, and one that I didn’t really enjoy at all. First up, I read A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid. Effy is an architecture student at a prestigious college, but she wants to be a literature student–only women aren’t allowed to study literature. Her favorite author is Emrys Myrddin, […]

Filed Under: Fantasy, Fiction, Young Adult Tagged With: A Study in Drowning, Ava Reid, dark academia, if we were villains, M.L. Rio, Shakespeare, the fairy king

Ellesfena's CBR18 Review No:3 · Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Young Adult · Tags: A Study in Drowning, Ava Reid, dark academia, if we were villains, M.L. Rio, Shakespeare, the fairy king ·
· 16 Comments

Hell is Academia

Katabasis by R.F. Kuang

December 15, 2025 by Jen K Leave a Comment

I read this one rather close to the release date so am a little fuzzy on details – but I had a book club on it this weekend which has helped me clarify my thoughts. While I still liked this novel, my immediate reaction was also that this was my least favorite Kuang novel, especially after Babel and Yellowface. Even with that, there are so many interesting thoughts and ideas being explored that it’s worth the read, and has quite a few tongue-in-cheek moments (like […]

Filed Under: Fantasy, Fiction Tagged With: dark academia, R.F. Kuang

Jen K's CBR17 Review No:124 · Genres: Fantasy, Fiction · Tags: dark academia, R.F. Kuang ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments
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Recent Comments

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    on Failure to Launch
    I loved the book
  • vega-table
    on Let me tell you about your case, little girl
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