Summer, we hardly knew ye. We’ve made it to fall, which means schools are back in session. You couldn’t pay me enough to return to my school days, but I do love a great book set in a school. So here are five Book Riot favorite sci-fi and fantasy books set at school for you to add to your TBR. It’s better than homework!
Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho
When the stores of magic in England begin drying up, the Sorcerer Royal of the disgraced Royal Society of Unnatural Philosophers must figure out a way to get it back. His journey leads him to Fairyland and Prunella Gentlewoman, a woman with magical talents who might be able to save magic, but will have to fight the magical world’s prejudices to do it.
Vita Nostra by Marina & Sergey Dyachenko
While I love this book about an unusual academy, I wouldn’t want to go here! Sasha Samokhina thinks her future might be bright when she’s chosen to attend the Institute of Special Technologies. But the school is frightening, the work is almost impossible to do, and when students fail, their families are punished. Can Sasha manage to get past it all in order to be granted her wildest dreams?
Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey
This is a fantasy mystery, two great tastes that taste great together! Instead of a good twin/evil twin story, this is a magical twin/ordinary twin mystery. Ivy Gamble is an investigator, and when there’s a murder at the Osthorne Academy of Young Mages, she’s on the case. But complicating things is the fact that one of the school’s teachers is her estranged magical sister, Tabitha.
Arcana Academy by Elise Kova
After being caught and imprisoned for thieving and illegally using magic, Clara Graysword thinks her life will be spent in a cell. Instead, she’s approached by the head of Arcana Academy, who has a mission for her. In exchange for her freedom, he wants her to steal a tarot card from the king. And in order to pull off this job, Clara must first enroll in the academy, full of magic, danger, and prying eyes.
The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter
The Omahi people have been fighting a war for over two centuries. Tau has never known peace, conscripted into the war at a young age. The best he can hope for is to be injured and released early, but then everyone he loves is murdered. So Tau dedicates himself to becoming a deadly soldier, rising through the ranks of a military academy, in order to carry out revenge on those who did his family harm. Oh, and bonus, there are dragons!
Also check out The Best and Worst Magical Schools in Literature and these Bewitching Books about Magic Schools.
Okay, star bits, now take the knowledge you have learned here today and use it for good, not evil. If you want to know more about books, I talk about books pretty much nonstop (when I’m not reading them), and you can hear me say lots of adjectives about them on the Book Riot podcast All the Books! and on Instagram and Bluesky.