4.0
Arcana Academy
ByPublisher Description
“Magical from nail-biting beginning to shocking end!”—Danielle L. Jensen, #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Fate Inked in Blood
A woman who wields magical tarot cards lands herself in a false engagement with the headmaster of a mysterious academy in this first installment of an enthralling fantasy romance series from the bestselling author of A Deal with the Elf King.
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?
Book One of The Arcana Academy Series
A woman who wields magical tarot cards lands herself in a false engagement with the headmaster of a mysterious academy in this first installment of an enthralling fantasy romance series from the bestselling author of A Deal with the Elf King.
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?
Book One of The Arcana Academy Series
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesArcana Academy Reviews
4.0
“Fun tarot magic system. Cliffhanger omg”
“Chomping at the bit for the next book. Love tarot magic, the chemistry, the tension, the deep entanglements of truth and lie. excellent”
“I truly am speechless after the ending of Arcana Academy, but I’m going to do my best at reviewing. My brain is drowning in all the revelations! Firstly, I’ll say that I did find this book a bit slower paced and struggled to stay focused at first which was a bit frustrating to me bc I love Elise’s books. I also think I had a bit of first book blahs. Once I made it to 70%… man did that last 30% suck me in and spit me right back out with my mind reeling. I can’t wait for book 2 now! I’ve given my brain a few minutes to process what just happened and it’s still 🤯. In true Elise Kova fashion every book is a twisting, winding path that always comes full circle and blows my mind.
Once again everything connects and never in ways I expect it to and in some ways it does, but it’s even worse or better (depending lol) than I thought. I definitely recommend Arcana Academy. And every other Elise Kova series too.
Spoilers below
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The cliff notes mind blowing plot points:
• Clara was always high born and part of clan tower. She’s illegitimate and a major. She’s also a worldkeeper.
• Ravin and his father know who she is and what she is, but not her real name. They’ve been hunting her and her sister. They had their mother killed.
• There’s been a lot of fabricating lies and reasons to imprison her as a low born illegally inking cards.
• Kaelis was never truly the bad guy Clara thought (but we shall see what he does in book 2). Also, lowkey hate they can’t be together, for now.
• Kaelis is just as illegitimate and I fear what’s coming for him in book 2. His father certainly knows he sired a child with the queen of the former kingdom, but hopefully no one else knows. And also I fear his usefulness to his father is waning and he won’t be able to help Clara. Even from the shadows.
• Bristara was a worldkeeper who kept too many secrets. Also upset she’s dead now. And Silas too.
• Ravin is the death card and I hate him even more about it.
• No one can use the world card bc Clara is the only one who can ink the vessel card and she has the real death card. Even Kaelis couldn’t summon the world card now. So at least there’s that. But she’ll be hunted even more once everyone realizes it.
• The king is a complicated man, but still horrible.”
Change and growMemorableMinor characters stand outMorally ambiguousMultilayeredStrong relationshipsStrong villainAction-packedClever plottingEpic scopeGripping/excitingSlow start, strong finishSuspensefulTwistyAtmosphericBeautifulDarkEtherealImmersive world-buildingMagicalSetting fits the storyVivid descriptionsBeautifully-writtenDescriptiveEasy to readAbuseExplicit sexual contentGriefMurderViolenceWar violence
About Elise Kova
Elise Kova is a USA Today and internationally bestselling author. She enjoys telling stories of fantasy worlds filled with magic and deep emotions. She lives in Florida and, when not writing, can be found playing video games, drawing, chatting with readers on social media, or daydreaming about her next story.
Other books by Elise Kova
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