Arcana Academy by Elise Kova

Title: Arcana Academy

Author: Elise Kova

Genre: Romantasy

Series: Arcana Academy # 1

Publication: July 22, 2025, 553 pages

Source: Personal Library 

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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?

MY THOUGHTS

Arcana Academy is one of my most anticipated releases this year. I’m a fan of Kova’s books, so when I heard she was publishing a new series; a dark academia with a tarot twist, it sounded right up my alley. Overall, Arcana Academy was a decent and solid series starter, but it wasn’t without flaws.

The world-building took some getting used to. Kova’s entire magic system revolves around tarot cards: the ability to read them traditionally, “inking” them, where an arcanist creates them using special ink and blank cards and, lastly, wielding them in a fight. The first two aspects were simple and straightforward. I thought the wielding element was the coolest of the three, though for some reason it reminded me of Yu-Gi-Oh! or Pokémon. As a tarot fan, I found Kova’s interpretation fairly basic. Anyone familiar with the cards can easily determine whether a card belongs to fire, earth, water, or air. She didn’t go beyond those basics, and it felt like the research didn’t extend past a quick Google search. Everything stayed very surface level.

The pacing was slow and, at times, a struggle to get through. The book felt unnecessarily long and while I have no problem reading chunky novels, this one seemed three times longer than it actually was, and it failed to hold my attention for much of the time. I didn’t care for most of the characters, especially the female protagonist, Clara. If you’ve read any of Kova’s books, you’ll notice a pattern with her heroines: the underdog who inevitably becomes “the chosen one,” the all-powerful figure no one saw coming… except we all saw it coming. Clara, however, was annoyingly arrogant for most of the book. Like many romantasy heroines, she’s brimming with “female rage,” driven by hate and revenge against those who wronged her or her loved ones. Same shit, different book. I lost track of how many times I rolled my eyes. I wanted to DNF, but having made it past the halfway point, I pushed on. Kaelis (atrocious name), the prince, was selfish but at least upfront about what he wanted and who he was. While that honesty was refreshing, he was still a run-of-the-mill male lead; the same type found in countless other romantasies. Their fake relationship was irritating from start to finish. I didn’t believe it at the start, and I didn’t believe it at the end. Clara’s hot-and-cold attitude toward Kaelis made it worse; one moment she’s lusting after him, the next she’s plotting his downfall. You’d think the fake relationship would be the highlight of a romantasy, but I couldn’t care less.

The book didn’t truly get good until about 80% in, when Clara went head-to-head with Eza during the final trial. Speaking of the trials, they were overly simplified and low stakes. It felt like the author spent too much time on Clara and Kaelis’s bland relationship, letting the world-building and big scenes fall to the wayside. While there were some good moments scattered throughout, they were far and few between. The only redeeming portion of the book was the final trial and everything that followed. Those last sections were excellent, and I am genuinely curious to see what happens next. And yes, I totally saw that ending coming.