Really liked this, the narrator brought the story to life, I was engaged and listening to this book; at times I felt like I was part of the story

Cannot wait for the next book, I will be reading it immediately

5 ⭐️

A huge thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

What a beautiful and amazing book. This book has me along for the ride with the rest of the characters, I felt their pain, their joy and part of the team when the plot thickened.

Whilst at times, the world building was a bit heavy and confusing, and some key plot revelations were swiftly moved on to a bit of rambling. It’s safe to say I was hooked through every page. It might take a reread to fully understand the world, but buying the physical book additionally helped with this.

I’m very certain I will reread this and make a plot summary for book 2.

Highly recommend 😍

3 stars

This was my first book by this author, and it'll not be my last. I like how immersing the writing is, and the magical world was fantastic, although I do wish some things were better explained.
The romance was slowburned and very subtle, but it was lovely.
The ending left me wanting more, so I'll definitely check out the next book.
Audiobook narration was fantastic, and it added to the story.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the chance to listen to this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Arcana Academy By Elise Kova. I absolutely love dark academia and have been in a slump finding one that really draws me in… well this one did. You can love or dislike the lead characters and still root for them. I am looking forward to reading more from this talented author I was lucky enough to receive both the arc and audio arc so read along as i listened. The narrator is perfect.

The world's biggest thank you to @hodderscape for this gifted proof. I have been a fan of @elise.kova since Air Awakens, and I still find myself absolutely enthralled with everything that she writes. How someone can write both atmospherically and character-driven plots at the same time blows my mind. #ArcanaAcademy has one of the most unique, in-depth magic systems I have ever read. You can tell that Elise studies the tarot thoroughly. Arcana Academy is a school that trains how to use and wield the tarot in order to protect the crown. All tarot wielders must attend this school or be faced with death or working mills. Clara and her family were on the run as magic wielders who wanted to avoid working for the crown, when her mother is murdered she finds she must do what she can to protect her family in order for them to survive. When a bad job gets her caught and thrown into the worst prison you can imagine, she is faced with a choice. She can either go to Arcana Academy or rot away in prison. Clara, in hopes of finding her sister chooses the school. Within its walls, she uncovers much more than she could have ever imagined about her past, her present and her future. 

This book had it all, magic, tarot, dark academia, found family, pining, love, hate.

Absolutely outstanding! I cannot wait to meet Elise at Apollycon and get one of my now favorite books signed. 

Be sure to pick up Arcana Academy 22nd July and not a moment later.

ugh!!! I don’t even know how to review the perfection that was this book! it was everything I wanted and more. truly a captivating plot, beautiful writing style and loveable characters.

the use of tarot cards as a magic system was phenomenal. I know nothing about tarot, yet arcana academy did a beautiful job at explaining everything in a way that I could understand without feeling dumb for not knowing. the tarot magic was super unique and fun to discover and learn about.

clara and kaelis were amazing characters. I loved them both. their dynamic and banter was on point. I was constantly surprised by both characters as they always kept me on my toes. I like when characters do unpredictable things as i find it realistic.

there wasn’t a part somewhere in the middle that I found a bit difficult to get through. it’s the unfortunate side effect of books this long. while it was important to the story, I found the plot lacking and it was harder to get through. (although it didn’t effect my rating at all! I still loved it- I just want to mention it for other people who might get stuck).

as for the audiobook aspect of this review: I had no issues with the narrator. I found the quality of the audio excellent and the voice was nice and crisp.

this book is everything that I love about elise kova.

I was provided with an advanced reader copy of this work in audiobook format free of charge from Netgalley in return for an honest review.

As with all my audiobook reviews i will start by saying that narration was excellent and that the reader did amazingly in bringing the characters and the world of the story to life.

There is soo much to say about this read! I was drawn to it by the cover art the castle swirls of vine work and the mystical symbols all done it what was made to look like gold leaf. and against a black background was stunning and eye catching. So I would have picked it up for that alone. Then I read the blurb and I knew I had to know what the story was.

I was not disappointed! the magic system based on the Tarot cards is fresh, new and different from others and immediately caught my imagination. Add in a very kick ass strong sassy and smart main character in Clara and you a recipe for pure adventure.

this book has world building, character growth, political intruge and mystery. It builds slowly but its sooo very worth it. I really loved this read and can not wait to see what happens in the next book.

3.8⭐️

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the eARC and eALC in exchange for an honest review!

I read this using a combination of the eARC and eALC. The narrator on the eALC was very engaging and kept me listening even when the world building was intense.

This book introduces a very unique style of magic - tarot cards. I have some knowledge of tarot so understood some of the effects of the cards (e.g. using Ace of Wands causes fire), however I could understand that it could cause some confusion for those without that understanding.

I did enjoy Kaelis and Clara’s relationship development and the slow burn was pretty good. The world building was a bit confusing at times, but that cliffhanger was pretty intriguing and I’ll definitely pick up the next book!

3.5 stars!

This was a promising start to a new series. It read a bit younger than expected, but once I got used to it, I had a fun time with it. The magic system based on the Major Arcana felt creative and unique. And the narrator did a wonderful job bringing the world and its characters to life.
The opening chapters were engrossing and showed Clara's tenacity. She was determined to persevere to get back to her loved ones and make things right again. And even though she made some messy decisions, I loved her fighting spirit throughout the book. Nobody was going to dissuade her from her path. She continued undeterred on her quest for answers, all while trying to survive her surroundings and navigate the politics of this world.

Using magic-infused tarot cards as tools of power felt like an exciting way to do magic, although I have to admit that I felt kinda lost at times. All the different cards with their meanings and purposes were a bit overwhelming, and it was hard to fully process what was happening. There were also some other small details that didn’t always make sense, but I tried to just go with it. Towards the middle of the story, the pace slowed down a bit too much. However, little reveals here and there kept things interesting.

The romance part was very subtle. I feel like there could've been more tension, more intense scenes between the 2 main characters. It was almost surprising to see how Clara & Kaelis felt about each other towards the end. I liked the love interest, but would've loved to learn more about his background. The same goes for Clara's little crew of misfits. There was so much potential for found family vibes, unfortunately, I didn't really feel their connection.

The book could've been a bit shorter, but overall, I enjoyed the story, the atmosphere, the characters. And what an ending! The last pages had me fully absorbed, I will certainly be picking up book 2 to find out what happens next!!

Read this if you want : dark academia vibes, a cool tarot card magic system, not sure who to trust, main character discovering their abilities as you do, will they wont they, some heat (slow burn, so late in the book), and an insane last line reveal making you need more details and book 2 now already...
I had the audiobook and it was a great experience, narration was great.

*Thanks to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton Audio for access to the audiobook against an honest review.*

The premise of this book grabbed my attention immediately and I loved that we drop right in to the story from the start.
Given the FMC circumstances when we meet her, I immediately warmed to her and wanted her to get away, when she does (with caveats in place) I was intrigued to find out where her story was heading and for the next 100 or so pages I was right there with her.
Unfortunately what killed my enthusiasm for this story was the pacing. It's nothing to do with the SLOW burn of the FMC and MMC pairing, it's the entire pacing of the story.

I have been learning and reading Tarot for 15 years so I had no issue with the card meanings, the Wands, Swords, Cups and Coins symbolism and the Major Arcana significance, however if you go into this book with no knowledge of Tarot as a system then I would imagine it would only add to the slow pacing as you'd have to keep referencing why a certain card was considered good or bad in regards to the story.
The dialogue also lost me and more critically, my ability to connect or actually feel for the characters. By the time I was 70% in to the book I was forcing myself to keep reading.
The pacing does pick up slightly towards the end and yes, we get a cliff-hanger but unfortunately I don't feel invested enough to read the sequel.

A real shame because the Author was new to me, the premise was very interesting and Tarot is a fascinating and deep system that makes an excellent basis for a story.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the chance to read and review this ARC.

Unfortunately this one was just not for me. I just wasn't in the right mood for it and the characters didn't grip me. I wasn't invested in what happened to them.

Thank you, Netgalley and Publisher, for the audiobook ARC of Arcana Academy.

This book was everything a fantasy reader like me could wish for. The top-notch trope enemies-to-lovers, the gripping plot, and world-building were on another level. The bantering and tension were a little than I expected, but it made me stare at the wall listening. It was my first time listening to a fantasy audiobook that had such a strong and need-to-be-attentive kind of plot, I kinda did an injustice with this one. I know I would have devoured this one if only I had this in a physical copy, but listening to this made me kinda bored, and most of the time I could not imagine the action scenes properly but once it got past the description of world i enjoyed it but still the use of cards was hard to follow IN AUDIOBOOK. i know the ones who had read in the book would have enjoyed it a lot, and to be honest, I am jealous of them all

I picked up this book because of the stunning cover, but it was the story, magic, and romance that completely hooked me. Clara and Kaelis stole the show—along with some of the smaller charactersand their chemistry and tension was sizzling without ever tipping into cheesy romantasy territory. Honestly, I’m already counting the days until book two!

If you love magical academies, high-stakes tests, and a touch of fake dating, Arcana Academy delivers all that and more. The way it reimagines tarot magic is utterly unique and fascinating—an absolute dream for any tarot lover.

I think the thing about this book is because I’ve not long since read the Shepherd King duology I was kind of comparing this book to it. I know Arcana Academy used Tarot cards versus unique ones from the Shepherd King duology but there are so many cards, I did sometimes get a little lost, and had to review to a table I had made but I did have to do the same for the Shepherd King duology to be fair. Saying that this book also have a lot of other world building things to get around, there are a lot of characters especially for book 1 in a series and it was often quite overwhelming.

There are some things logically that I just wished were stretched out or done in a different way, a key one being the set up. Certain things just don’t feel as fleshed out as I would have liked, but I do think that often happens with romantasy where it’s about balancing the romantic relationship and the fantasy story. Talking about the romance, it was a slow burn, like very slow burn and then suddenly all the romance. I just wish that the burn had been a little less slow and more even.

The characters in general aren’t super unique, and I feel like I have seen them all done. Normally that’s fine as long as there are interesting side characters as well but I never really felt that wasn’t really the case here, and there are a lot of side characters. I have seen the trial system done many times, and unfortunately this wasn’t a great version, and I think in general that sums up this book, I have seen lots of elements of this book done before and better.

I love this book. The setting, the story and the slowest burn. My rating is lower because of the magic system. I tried to understand it. I have no prior knowledge of tarot before reading this book and I found it very hard to follow. The basics I understood. But what every card does not. Also were do the houses come from? What's their story.

When you start the book it's at a running speed I loved that. You dive right in. The arrangement with the prince is a nice trade. Ofcourse you can see coming what happend next. But it still very good 🔥.

The side carakters and found family were amazing. I would have loved to know more about them. Maybe some flashback of here time in the club. The more day to day.

I loved the school setting and their work there. The interactions with others (enemies / bullies). She is kind but a baddest to stand up for here friend when the card goes wrong and later to help here roommate with extra lessons. On the other hand she knows what's she is doing. With the prince but also here enemies. Nothing to add, she is a very good fmc.

The plot twist at the end was cruel. Come on. I was so heartbroken before and then that last line. I need book 2 to come out!

This was a promising start to a new series with a unique magic system using tarot cards. This has a slow build up & the first half was a bit slow but the second half picks up as we get to see the threads joining to see the bigger picture. The characters were interesting and i liked the MC’s arc & the enemies to lovers romance with a slow burn filled with tension & angst. I am looking forward to the sequel!
The narrator did a really great job in bringing the story to life especially in the first half as if it wasn’t for the narrator i may not have continued but they kept me invested & I’m glad I did!

I love Elise Kova’s married to magic series so picking this up with a no brainer. I really liked the narrator and found it easy to listen to in the car or moving around while also speeding up your 2x.

The World building and tarot magic is really interesting and I would have liked to have learnt lots more about it. Even a table of cards and their abilities would be useful to get a better grasp of the magic. Maybe this will be in finished copies.

I enjoyed the romance and the spice, but I did find it all very predictable. I initially thought it being dark academia vibes and adult fantasy that it would perhaps have more twists that I wouldn’t see coming. The dark academia was more the setting but not a lot else.

I think this could be the start of an interesting series, it ended with a good cliff hanger.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review.

This book was great!
The audiobook was also a fantastic way to read this book.
I love the magic system of tarot cards, the world was interesting and the characters too.
The writing was captivating.
The romance was full of yearning and forced proximity.
Overall I loved this book.

The first in a trilogy, this story starts out with our main character, Clara Greysword, stuck in prison.
In this magical world, the ability to create magical tarot cards is restricted to those who have been properly trained at Arcana Academy, an elite and exclusive school. Tarot cards are not only used for readings, but they also have magical abilities which can be used in an endless amount of ways, such as battle or escape. (Think Cardcaptor Sakura and the way she draws power from her cards).

When Prince Kaelis offers Clara an escape from her prison life, she finds herself with little other option than to go along with his schemes. That doesn't stop her from plotting on her own and she'll stop at nothing to find out what happened to her sister.

I found the setting of Arcana Academy fascinating. There's a nice mix of royal and spoiled privileged wealth vs illegal magical trade and people just trying to get by with their lot in life. I also found the magic system of the tarot cards, which can be inked and used up, very intriguing. There's a bit of a mystery and intrigue going on and while some of it is answered in this first book, there's even more truth to uncover in the rest of the series.

Romance wise, there are definitely some descriptive moments and focus, but not as much as I was expecting (in a good way). There aren't any really long descriptive scenes but more shorter intense moments and a bit of tension/build up towards those.

I will for sure be continuing the series and am really grateful for the digital Arc I received from Hodder & Stoughton Audio. Thoughts and opinions are my own.

Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Confinement, Sexual content, Blood, Grief