An Academy for Liars

Dark Academia isn’t a subgenre I read a lot of. I tend to prefer my magic school stories on the kid-side of things. But when this year’s bingo card asked me to dive into a Dark Academia, I started looking for a 2024 release that would satisfy me. An Academy of Liars seemed like fun, and I had a great time with it, even if I had some issues with the book’s execution.

Elevator Pitch:
Lennon’s life is in pieces when she’s invited to Drayton, a college secluded in time and space for those who have the gift to persuade people (and reality itself) to bend to her will. She just fled an engagement with a cheating fiancé, is in the midst of a sever mental health crisis, and is looking to reinvent her life. While there, she meets a hot tattooed professor who becomes her advisor, and discovers that she’s got abilities that the everyone is jealous and terrified of. Oh, and the school and all its inhabitants are all harboring dark secrets. Fun times!

What Worked for Me
I have no idea if this was a viral BookTok book. However, it feels like it has all the best things BookTok books can bring to the table. It’s got the rapid-fire style that makes a book a joy to read. Chapters are fairly short, and Henderson isn’t afraid to skip big chunks of time to get to interesting parts of the story. She easily could have strung this book out for another 200-300 pages, but kept things moving. Lennon is special in the classic chosen-one, and it felt like a natural fit for the story. There was never anything particularly deep in this book, but I found myself unable to put it down.

Secondly, The vibes were immaculate. People are smoking all the time. The school is vaguely haunted. We’re using old style elevators with grates. Classes usually happen at night. Everyone has secrets, and nobody is totally happy. The mysteries of the school got drip fed in the best ways possible, with a sense of mounting dread and tension. This was a really great example of how Dark Academia can work well in a more pulpy-style story. I think sometimes it gets tied to the more Literary side of things, and this did a lot that I wanted from Atlas Six, but that Atlas Six failed to sell me on. I do wish the author had leveraged the Savannah, Georgia setting more, but it wasn’t a significant negative for me.

What Didn’t Work for Me
I think I can summarize my thoughts about this book as one that I found enjoyable to read, and perhaps even binge, but one that doesn’t stand up to much scrutiny. Sometimes these were minor things: Lennon is either vastly powerful or utterly helpless depending on the needs of the plot at the time. There were quite a few times where I had to compartmentalize my feelings about something to enjoy the ride, but when I did so it was a great time. So with that out of the way, let’s dive into some of the issues intellectual me has with the book that indulgent me didn’t. Some minor spoilers below.

First off, as a teacher, mentor/mentee relationships are a big no-no. And my god are they everywhere. There were at least four presented in the book, which was wild to me. Lennon pining after her teacher and advisor Dante was a recurring theme from early on. Yes it’s different in college than in school with kids. Lennon is an adult. However, it’s still a line I think unethical to cross, but I can acknowledge this may be more of a ‘me thing’. It is odd that there were so many of them though, going far beyond just our lead character and her mysterious tattooed mentor.

What I do have a more impersonal objection to though, is that Dante (mentor and love interest) made it abundantly clear that he wasn’t interested in a relationship, set clear boundaries, and tried to take steps to remove himself from the situation after Lennon made an advance against his express will. Her response was to blackmail the school as the chosen one to force him to remain in contact with her as advisor and to keep flirting with him.

Now, toxic relationship dynamics aren’t exactly novel developments. The romance genre is rife with them, including some of my favorites (like Captive Prince). But the book was very interested in calling out other toxic dynamics, both when Lennon was on the receiving end of them and when the occurred in the greater school environment. Yet there was no calling out of how emotionally manipulative this was, and the book went on to present Dante as the bad guy for not divulging some sensitive secrets about his past to someone he’s been dating for a few months. I understand that we are so closely tied to Lennon’s character in the narration, and she obviously doesn’t see herself as abusive, but the book wasn’t really interested in exploring how Lennon is an unreliable narrator in any meaningful way. This was the issue I had the biggest issue with.

Another thing that bugged me is the depiction Lennon’s mental illness. The story really opens with how Lennon gets panic attacks, at one point going catatonic for three days straight and needing to be drip fed food by her sister. This all vanishes pretty rapidly when she arrives at magic school, and has almost no impact on the plot. It felt like something remarkably tacked on for the sake of giving her some extra characterization, but without actually wanting to write a book engaging with mental illness aside from it being a checkbox. With how close we are to Lennon’s POV, it absolutely should have been a major part of the book. I wish this element had either been canned, or actually used consistently as part of her character. It felt like a very bizarre choice.

Where does this leave me with the book? I liked it. Had fun with it. I don’t regret reading it. I’d definitely like to read more by Henderson, but I will keep an eye out for similar issues in future books. If my issues are a one-off that’s fine, but there are enough great writers out there that if this is a pattern I’m not interested in it. Your mileage may vary on whether these issues will meaningfully affect your enjoyment of the book.

In Conclusion: A dark academia book with gothic vibes, a problematic romance, and lots of fun plot beats

• Characters – 3
• Worldbuilding – 3
• Craft – 3
• Themes – 2
• Enjoyment – 4