Book Review: Arcana Academy by Elise Kova
Published: July 22, 2025
Series: Arcana Academy #1
Genres: Adult // Romantasy, Dark Academia
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice Rating: 🌶️🌶️🌶️
Quick Thoughts: Arcana Academy combines a unique tarot-based magic system with true enemies-to-lovers romance as Clara, imprisoned for illegal card magic, must fake an engagement with the mysterious Prince Kaelis who she believes killed her mother. Despite some pacing issues, this dark academia fantasy delivers a complex world and magic system and an ending that will leave your jaw on the floor.
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Death of Family Members (Murder)
Blood & Violence
Torture (Off Page)
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Enemies to Lovers
Captive to Lovers
Slow-burn romance
Dark Academia
Forced/Fake Engagement
Found Family
Tarot Card Based Magic
Complex Magic Systems
Settings with Plenty of Lore & History
ABOUT THIS BOOK
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?
INITIAL REACTION
Arcana Academy was one of my most highly anticipated reads of the year and it did not disappoint. The story is intricate, dark, and features a unique card-based magic system reminiscent of the one in One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig.
MY REVIEW
At the center of Arcana Academy is an enemies-to-lovers romance featuring a dark, brooding prince and woman imprisoned for illegally inking magical tarot cards. The book kicks off with Prince Kaelis helping Clara escape prison, forcing her into a fake engagement, and striking a deal with her: maintain this ruse while helping him steal rare tarot cards from the King to re-create an all-powerful card and then she’s free.
Add in that Kaelis is headmaster at the mysterious Arcana Academy, where Clara must survive deadly trials to become a student and learn more about her magic. One misstep sends her back to prison.
Oh, and she believes this same prince sent her to prison in the first place and killed her mother.
Yeah, this book was a rollercoaster ride from beginning to end.
World-building & Pacing
There is a lot of plot and substance to this story, which I've been craving from romantasies recently. However, because there is so much going on, we also have extensive background and lore we need to absorb—understanding the tarot card magic system and its origins, the history of Arcana Academy, the background and key players of the current kingdom, uncovering who Clara is, and the truth behind her mother's murder. I appreciated how layered the plot and magic system were, but this complexity created pacing issues.
The beginning is exposition-heavy and particularly drawn out. While mostly necessary, there were too many redundant scenes that repeated information we'd learned chapters earlier. That said, if you're a reader who appreciates slower world-building that gives you time to process, you might appreciate this approach.
What I did enjoy was how the world-building was integrated into Clara's classroom experiences as an initiate, and even demonstrated in the very first chapter with Kaelis. There are three different components to the magic: inking the cards, reading them, and wielding. The classroom scenes scattered throughout the book demonstrate how each component works, which helped anchor the world-building, which is always helpful when trying to wrap my mind around new magic systems.
I suspect this would be much more enjoyable on re-read now that I've wrapped my mind around the tarot magic and its origins.
Setting
The dark setting of the academy was one of my favorite aspects of the story, but I appreciated the backstory told about the academy's origins the most. The Arcana Academy was established so all could learn to harness their magic without people getting advantages based on class (common-born vs. royal court members), wealth, resources, etc. Throughout the book, we see examples of how Arcana Academy's establishment was well-intentioned but bred nepotism, classism, and privilege in its flawed execution (so not unlike many things in real life).
"A wave of hushed yet panicked conversations crashes around me from about half of the initiates. The other half look as unsurprised as I am. Nobles already know this was coming. . . A house will accept them regardless of how skilled they are with magic. They have already built the relationships with their peers. . .For them, the rituals and trials of the first year are but a formality. . .The common-born are fighting for what little hope remains to avoid a Mark and a future at the mills."
Clara and her common-born friends navigate this system designed to keep people like them out and this is woven into their narratives throughout. Having these social issues woven into the characters' dialogue and actions throughout the book felt authentic to the story and I love when authors execute this well.
Characters
Clara is my new favorite type of FMC—she's tough, independent, has a big heart, and is intelligent enough to outmaneuver Kaelis even though she is literally at his mercy. She also has more experience with magic than she can let on, so we don’t get the weak to strong character arc that is typical in the fantasies I’ve read. To top it off, she’s emotionally mature and made smart choices even when she didn’t want to.
"I've built myself up from nothing more times than I'd like to count. I'll do it again. I'll play Kaelis's game and keep his eyes on me and me alone. That way, they'll never turn to the people I love."
One of my pet peeves is when FMCs have opportunities to make strategic decisions but instead make reckless choices based on emotions. Fortunately, there are moments where we get glimpses into Clara's internal struggles, and it's satisfying to see her play the same game as Kaelis throughout the book.
Romance
It's been a while since I read a true enemies-to-lovers romance (I mean, thinking your fake fiancé killed your mother is certainly a valid reason to hate him). Kaelis is the perfect morally grey tortured soul but his care for Clara and his cat, Priss, showed he wasn't just the empty husk he tried to portray. There were significant trust issues and miscommunication, which made the romance move torturously slow and frustrating at times, but set up a strong foundation for a satisfying romance the next books.
"Love me, hate me, but only look at me like my existence sets you on fire."
Ending
By the end of the book, we don't really get satisfying answers to our questions, so if you're looking for a story that will tie up loose ends, you won't get that here. The cliffhanger ending had me in tears, fear, and shock all within 30 pages. It was perfectly paced and left my jaw on the floor.
Overall, I highly, highly recommend Arcana Academy if you're looking for a unique story with complex magic and a world filled with intricate lore and history!
Check out this review on Goodreads or Storygraph.
Happy reading!
Kim
ARCANA ACADEMY FAQs
Some of the answers may be spoilers if you haven’t read it already. Proceed with caution!
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No, Arcana Academy is not a standalone. According to the author, this book is the first in a projected trilogy.
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As of the date of this post, the second Arcana Academy book has not been announced yet.
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Yes, Arcana Academy is spicy. It’s considered 3 🌶️ (open door) on Romance.io, which means readers are present for the intimate scene but uses euphemistic language for act and body parts.
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Yes, Arcana Academy has a few spicy scenes. Some chapters just include kissing. Those steamy chapters are marked with a bell pepper (🫑).
Here are the steamy/spicy chapters:
Chapter 27 🫑
Chapter 50
Chapter 52
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Yes, Clara eventually does find out what happened to her sister.
Despite Clara finding her sister’s bracelet on a skeleton, Clara later finds out that Arina is still alive. The ending of the book suggest Clara will have a reunion with her sister soon.
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There are definitely unresolved feelings and tension, but Clara has to run for her life and Kaelis can’t stop her. They both believe they are destined to be