Kristen’s Take: Arcana Academy by Elise Kova
I wanted to start this review by saying Arcana Academy was a unique twist on the formulaic Romantasy plotline, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that it followed that exact formula beat by beat. Was Clara the proverbial “Chosen One”? Yes (well, one of 20). Was Kaelis a shadow daddy? Also, yes. (But hey, he was 24 years old, not 500, so take what you can get). Does the fate of the world rest on the shoulders of this barely-older-than-a-teenager girl? Um, also yes. Did the sworn enemies become friends and maybe lovers? Hell yes they did. Did I still love this story despite it all? Absolutely.
The magic system based on the Arcane Arts (Tarot) was a fun change, although I can’t have been the only one wishing for a cheat sheet explaining each card’s power to have on hand. (There is one in the back of the book, but this Kindle reader was not aware). Watching Clara push the limits of her own magic while also trying to pretend to be your normal first-year student with normal first-year limitations made for a fun challenge.
I loved Kaelis but I desperately wanted to know more about him. I’m sure we’re set to learn more in the second book, Prince of Swords (out in July 2026!), but I really wanted a more complete picture of the man. He was positioned as this big evil baddie, but without a deeper explanation or understanding of just how he wronged Clara and her family, it was hard to really buy into that narrative. I really would have liked to see him be more of a twisted evil dude before his redemption arc (I’m talking Rhysand-In-Hewn-City vibes please!) - and we’re not going to focus on just what that says about * me *, okay?
The stand-out character was Kaelis’s cat, Priss, who obviously liked Clara more than her own owner but also served to make Kaelis even more endearing (this might be a controversial opinion, but you can always trust a cat person).
Which leads us to * drumroll * the spice. Not a whole lot in this book, and Elise Kova made us wait a while to get there, but it was worth the wait. Again, we don’t need to focus on how this reflects on me, but uh… let’s just say I like Kaelis’s style. In typical tropey fashion, though, Kaelis and Clara refused to communicate and be emotionally available, thus dragging this relationship turmoil out through to the next book. I mean, I can’t say I expected anything less, but I’m a sucker for a HEA so I’ll keep my fingers crossed.
I’ll wrap this up by saying that I found the ending to be very entertaining and not predictable (let me reiterate that I have mom-brain and probably missed every ounce of foreshadowing, but that just makes it more fun, right?)
Things I’m excited to dive into deeper with the next book: Clara’s friendship with Alor (is she really going to help Clara take down her own mother??), Kaelis’s mother and true lineage, and some more complex world building that better explains the history or the Oricalis Kingdom (exactly how did King Naethor really fuck everybody over?).
Spice: 2 / 5
Vibes: 4.5 / 5