“In These Hallowed Halls” is a dark academia short story anthology edited by horror authors Marie O’Regan and Paul Kane. Overall, I enjoyed this book, and short stories usually help get me out of reading slumps. However, not all of these stories fall into “dark academia”, and not all of them were enjoyable to read either.
This anthology really prompts the question: “What is dark academia?” It’s not a formal subgenre, with academically agreed upon elements. It’s new enough that it’s more of a “you’ll know it when you see it” experience. Readers generally agree that it should be set in an academic institution and the plot should surround some sort of mystery, but there are also plenty of novels people would call “dark academia” that do not meet one or both of these guidelines.
For this review, I’ll say that dark academia is a subgenre (and subculture) that blends the elements and aesthetics of both campus and gothic novels, campus gothic. The academic (or campus adjacent) setting has to be integral to the plot, and the mystery is of the lurking, corrupting, yet romantic variety one finds in gothic novels. After all, romanticizing is inherent to the dark academia subculture. Think: “The Secret History”, “Dead Poets Society”, or “The Magicians”.
Before I rate each story, here's my rating guide, which I adapted from sunshinetomorrow's guide on tumblr. It's in no way scientific or anything, I just found the guide helpful. I'll show it again at the end of each review to explain my ratings.
“1000 Ships” by Kate Weinberg is the first story in the collection and a prequel to the author’s dark academia novel “The Truants”. I haven’t read the Truants, so this was just an okay read for me. It’s well-written and the dark academia vibes are there, but it did feel like I was missing something. If you’ve read “The Truants”, you might rate this higher. 3.5/5
“Pythia” by Olivie Blake is a speculative mystery in the format of an interview, interspersed with narrative flashbacks. Olivie Blake just throws you blind into this scifi fantasy world, and I had to go back and reread the interview portions as I read the flashbacks. It’s definitely not for everyone, but I found it fun and exhilarating. The blending of scifi and fantasy is a fresh take on dark academia tropes while still staying true to the genre. 5/5 Kind of reminded me of “His Dark Materials”
“Sabbatical” by James Tate Hill is reminiscent of a gritty detective mystery, but with a not-quite-professor in the role of detective. It’s more of an anti-dark academia story, but not “anti-” as in against, rather “anti-” as in opposite. Hill subverts a lot of dark academia elements. The dark academia subculture has been criticized for romanticizing the elitism and pretentiousness of old private universities. “Sabbatical” is set at a thoroughly modern yet corrupt and decrepit college. The protagonist describes it as at the top of “U.S. News & World Report’s list of worst value colleges”, hence why he’s not actually a professor and, without tenure, has to live in a dirty motel. All of this made it a very unique and interesting read, if not actually dark academia. Like “1000 Ships”, it's tied to one of the author's novels (“Academy Gothic”), but this worked better as a standalone read. 3.5/5 But I liked it better than the other similarly rated stories in this collection, so more like a 3.75/5
“The Hare and the Hound” by Kelly Andrew is a magical realism horror story with folkloric elements. It’s about a boy haunted by a prophecy. This is another one where I’m not sure if it’s really dark academia but the vibes are there. The bulk of the story is set at a university, but it’s not integral to the plot. The writing had a dreamy quality that reminded me of Mona Awad’s “Bunny”, one of my favorite books and one that I would call dark academia. Kelly Andrew wove such an eerie and haunting atmosphere. 4/5
“X House” by J. T. Ellison was my least favorite in this collection, which is a shame because it has all the best elements of a dark academia story. It centers the new English Lit and Classics teacher at a prestigious and secluded all-girls boarding school where the students are separated into houses. The titular X House is isolated physically from their classmates by the geography of their dorm, and emotionally by tragedy when an “X girl” and the teacher last in charge of Xavier House die one after the other. With all the elements in place, “X House” fumbles the execution with rushed and awkward writing. We have no time to marinate in the mystery before everything is revealed one after another in quick succession. In fact, there’s so much telling and not showing that the dialogue ends up sounding like corny exposition to get us to the “twist” ending. 1.5/5
“The Ravages” by Layne Fargo is not a dark academia story, but it was a lot of fun to read. It centers Renee, a librarian working specifically at the 19th Century section of the Women’s Academy archive. She gets revenge on her cheating girlfriend via the fictional Viola Vance, a 19th century poet whose letters she has been studying. Letters to and from Viola and her childhood friend/presumed lover. 3.5/5 in honor of Emily Dickinson and Susan Gilbert, or Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West.
This next story made me consider lowering my overall rating. They should've at least included a trigger warning before this story, but they didn't, and I'm going to include one now. Trigger warning for mentions of a school shooting.
“Four Funerals” by David Bell does not belong in this anthology. It’s not dark academia but what should’ve excluded it from this anthology is its tone and heavy subject matter. It doesn’t match the rest of the stories, and neither should it. This story is very much grounded in reality and it’s about the aftermath of a school shooting. “Four Funerals” is well-written and an interesting take on a sensitive topic, but it was a jarring and inappropriate tonal shift in this collection. 3/5 because it was well-written, but really, it doesn't belong here.
“The Unknowable Pleasures” by Susie Yang may be my favorite in this collection. It’s a chillingly close exploration of parasocial relationships and intimacy. We watch as Sophie develops an obsession with a classmate and professor, but in such a limited perspective that we have to grapple with whether it’s delusion or reality. Either way, Sophie’s behavior becomes increasingly inappropriate and disturbing. If you’re familiar with fanfiction and shipping, this enters an entirely new dimension and if you read just one story in this collection, it’s this. The ending was incredibly frustrating but makes absolute sense. However, it can be argued that this is not quite dark academia. 5/5
“Weekend at Bertie’s” by M. L. Rio is another story in the collection that isn’t really dark academia. That said, I really liked it. The story follows two students who make questionable choices in the face of an ethical conundrum when they find their professor dead in her home. The dialogue is full of fun Poe references and it’s more an exploration of the two characters’ internal lives. Not a lot happened, but I was fascinated. 4/5
“The Professor of Ontography” by Helen Grant blends dark academia and horror. Phoebe and her boyfriend grow obsessed with the mysterious Department of Ontography that their old and very traditional university seems intent on hiding. It’s best to go in blind, because the reveal is bonkers, but so much fun. 3.5/5
“Phobos” by Tori Bovalino should be a dark academia standard. It’s an excellent use of the elements of the subgenre. A secret society, a group of wealthy and cultured students, a protagonist who is part of, yet different from, this group, a lurking darkness. There was no actual mystery, but I had no idea how this was going to end until it happened. This is the other story in the running for my favorite in the collection. 5/5 If this were a prequel like “1000 Ships”, I would actually read the preceding book.
“Playing” by Phoebe Wynne is more mystery thriller with dark academia elements than the reverse. It was well-written, with a fun plot and a unique and interesting main character, but I wish they’d ended the book with a different story. It hinged too much on a twist ending, but it was kind of predictable. 3.5/5 It just felt like a weak ending for the collection, and I was glad it was short.
Averaging the scores I rated each story gives me 3.75 stars, with a median of 3.5. Did this anthology fulfill its premise of collecting dark academia stories? Of the 12 included, there are only five that I can say are undoubtedly dark academia. That said, it’s uniquely challenging to assemble an anthology for an informal subgenre that exists almost entirely online. It did get me out of my reading slump. For that, I’m rounding up my rating to 4 stars.
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