Happy Tuesday, shipmates! It’s Alex, with some new releases for this last week of March (don’t let the door hit you on the butt on the way out, March — nothing personal) and a couple of dark academia recommendations. It’s…sure been a month, hasn’t it? But we made it through! And unironically, it’s been a fantastic month for books, and I expect we’ve got even more good ones on the horizon. Also, I think we’ve all made it through the various time changes, if that’s something our country of residence subjects us to! Stay safe out there, space pirates, and I’ll see you on Friday!
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Bookish Goods
Gothic-Style Journal With Bronzing Process Cover by PunkBlueJournal
With a bit of a dark academia theme going for this newsletter, what more could you need than a pretty journal to take to your horrifying magic school? $33
New Releases
Chaos & Flame by Justina Ireland and Tessa Gratton
Darling Seabreak survived the slaughter of her family by House Dragon; after hiding in the sewers for a time, she was rescued and raised by House Kraken. When her adoptive father is captured in battle, she vows to rescue him, and she will kill any member of House Dragon who stands in her way. But she didn’t reckon with Talon Goldhoard, the War Prince of House Dragon, whom she ambushes. Talon quickly realizes that she’s the girl his brother, whose rule has become increasingly erratic, has been obsessively painting for years.
A Door in the Dark by Scott Reintgen
Ren Monroe is a scholarship kid at Baelmerick University, and she promises to be one of the greatest wizards in her generation. Not that her top marks will mean anything if a major house doesn’t recruit her…a house like Theo Brood’s, who is an unpleasant and rich boy. When he is punished for a failed party trick by being made to use the same portal home as the scholarship students (ugh), his unpleasant presence causes a fight to break out and then the spell to go awry in the chaos. Six of the waiting students, including him and Ren, are whisked away to the middle of nowhere…and only five make it alive. If the rest want to make it out, they’ll have to work together.
For a more comprehensive list, check out our New Books newsletter.
Riot Recommendations
Inspired by Scott Reintgen’s book, how about a couple more fantastical dark academia novels?
Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution by R.F. Kuang
The British Empire rules the world with the power of silver, using the linguistic magic of the languages it has stolen from the people it has conquered to maintain supremacy. It steals the most academically children from those people as well, using them to build more of their magical machines. Robin Swift is one such child, orphaned by a cholera epidemic in Canton and brought to London by Professor Lovell. There, he trains in London before enrolling in Oxford to become a translator. And there, he will have to choose between the purity of learning and the horrors of the world that he cannot ignore, between the colonial empire that is all he’s really known and the home he barely remembers.
A Lesson in Vengeance by Victoria Lee
The Dalloway School, perched in the Catskill Mountains, was Felicity Morrow’s home until the tragic death of her girlfriend. After a year away to recover, she has returned to finish high school. She’s even returned to her old room in Godwin House, a dormitory rumored to be haunted by the spirits of five dead girls who were witches. In a school steeped in the occult, it’s not such a strange thing — even if Felicity has sworn to not be drawn into the dark again.
See you, space pirates. If you’d like to know more about my secret plans to dominate the seas and skies, you can catch me over at my personal site.