Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

 By the time Alex managed to get the blood out of her good wool coat, it was too warm to wear it.

Alex Stern is the most unlikely member of Yale's freshman class. A dropout and the sole survivor of a horrific, unsolved crime, Alex was hoping for a fresh start. But a free ride to one of the world's most prestigious universities was bound to come with a catch. Alex has been tasked with monitoring the mysterious activities of Yale's secret societies who tamper with forbidden magic and raise the dead. Now there's a dead girl on campus and Alex seems to be the only person who won't accept the neat answer the police and campus administration have come up with for her murder.

This had everything I love about dark academia. Ninth House is full of secret societies up to no good, ghosts who hang around campus, a twisty murder mystery, and an underdog outsider who will not allow a girl's death to fade into obscurity. My only niggle was that it was a little slow at the start but it was absolutely necessary to create the rich and believable world of Ninth House.

Recommended For: Fans of dark academic stories with a touch of the supernatural

Read On: Not fantasies, but The Secret History by Donna Tartt and The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova are other dark academia books I've really enjoyed. I also loved Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo, a YA-fantasy duology.