Tarot, Trials, and a Touch of Magic: A Review of Arcana Academy by Elise Kova (Science Fiction and Fantasy Fridays)
Jamie @ Books and Ladders
22 July
1 Comments
Science Fiction and Fantasy Fridays introduces readers who are unfamiliar with the Adult SF/F genre to books, authors, and discussions all about the vast expanse of the world of Adult SF/F!
ARCANA ACADEMY
Author: Elise Kova.jpg)
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Series: The Arcana Academy #1
Source: eARC via publisher
Publisher: Del Rey
Publication Date: July 22, 2025
Summary:
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?
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Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this the book from publisher and chose to review it. This in no way impacts my opinion. Thank you to Del Rey for the opportunity to review!
Content Warning: imprisonment, death of a parent, death of a friend, violence, blood, grief, sexual content, starvation, torture, manipulation
Having been fan of Elise Kova's previous works, I went into “Arcana Academy” expecting it to be the top read of the year for me. I was severely disappointed. On top of this taking me three (3) months to finish, I found myself not thinking too many positive thoughts while reading. It had a brooding prince and a fantastical, magical setting, reducing this to an adult rebranding of Kova's debut “Air Awakens.”
The good of this novel boils down to an interesting magic system I haven't seen used in this way before. A complex and intricate magic that provides a fresh take on magical schools, advanced magic, and using it for political gains. I truly enjoyed how the magic worked and wished I could have seen even more, especially from the perspective of second and third year students.
That’s where it ends, though, as “Arcana Academy” has too many interconnected plot points that are provided too quickly, leaving none of them developed enough to satisfy the reader. I can count at least three (3) major plot points that are supposed to be relevant but all end up feeling like loose threads that will never get detangled before the end of the series. They were too much for the start of a series that you aren’t invested in to begin with, as now you have to keep track of major areas of character, plot, and magical development without the build up of those elements. I wasn’t invested enough for this information to feel wanted when we were given it. If Kova had stuck to one of the plot points or even started to trickle in some of the other plot points rather than completely trying to spell it out quickly, it would’ve made for a stronger story development.
By far, the strongest plot point was learning about the Majors. I think it was really intriguing had a lot of of mystery around it and kept the story fresh in a way that using tarot magic would not have otherwise. At the same time, though, we learned a lot about it without having to guess or put pieces together. Often, it felt like we were told everything about a plot point, leading to a lack of true “surprise” when other plot points were revealed.
I think my main issue with all of the plot points is so much was laid out for us without any air of mystery, intrigue, or trying to learn more on our own by piecing together clues. While there’s definitely still some questions in the air and we don’t quite have all the information for, we still know a lot. To me, this doesn’t make sense because until our main character, Clara, started at the Academy, she didn’t know about any of the Majors or politics at all. What should have been an interesting exploration into why Clara’s magic is different than others was told to us at the beginning of the novel - no mystery, intrigue, or guessing for the reader.
With this in mind, a lot of the premise of the novel felt off, especially around Clara‘s “backstory” and why her and the Prince would be engaged. There definitely wasn’t enough build up for how that would happen from when he “rescued her” to her entering the academy and I would’ve liked a little bit more backstory. Not only would that have helped secure the premise for their engagement, but it also would’ve helped their relationship in romance as well.
Too much of the plot was held together with “just trust me, bro” for a lot of the character’s arca and it didn’t really make sense in the context of political intrigue. I think there could’ve been a lot more done to make a convincing argument by both the Prince and Clara as to who she was and why she was there so that there was more emphasis on learning about her magic and keeping her safe than trying to lie about who she was.
Speaking of Clara, she was one of the best parts of the novel. Her character and development was easily what kept me invested in the novel moving forward. She was quickwitted, open to learning, and I enjoyed being in her mindset throughout the novel. I am interested to see her character development, moving forward and seeing how she learns to trust herself and others around her, especially and how she learns to trust her own intuition and feelings. I think there’s a lot to be said about how she was obviously very talented and magic and inclined to magic, but still wasn’t the “best“ meaning she had work to do and wasn’t immediately “amazing.” I also liked that she recognized where others had talent that she didn’t because it made it a much more believable character.
Prince Kaelis was… Fine. He was your typical brooding, first born, unhappy son that you see in a lot of of these romantasy novels, but especially also in Kova‘s novels. Truthfully, I feel like you could plug and play a lot of Kova’s main male characters between her novels and end up with the same story. I didn’t think that Kaelis was all that special in that regard. I am interested to know more about his motivations; however, as a love interest he’s just all right.
Some of the other characters are interesting, especially Clara‘s friends at the Academy, and some of the people from the star crossed club. However, because there were so many plot points and side characters, we never really got to know anybody beyond superficial elements of what they could do for Clara, or how they moved the plot along. I would like to see more of the side characters fleshed out in the next novels, and be more than just reduced to their plot point.
The romance was slow burn and that’s something that Kova does extremely well. You could really feel the tension between Clara and Prince Kaelis leading up to their coming together. I think the intensity between “enemies” to “not quite lovers” was done over a long enough period of time that I believed it. But because some of that was time jumps, we didn’t really get to see as much of that budding romance element that I would’ve liked. I’m intrigued to see where their relationship goes next and think that if it’s anything like Kova’s other novels, we’re in for a treat.
The twist and turns in the novel were not “surprising” in terms of placement or how they move the plot along, but they were still extremely well executed. I think Kova has a really strong grasp on writing well executed fantasy novels, and I am glad to see that she’s doing more adult fantasy as I think that’s really her strong point.
I will most likely pick up the rest of this series, but I’m not rushing to do so. Too many different things were crammed into this first novel that none of them quite stuck the landing for me or kept me intrigued enough to rush for a sequel. I still recommend reading this, though. I think the magic is interesting, the main character is well developed, and there’s enough compelling components to the plot to keep me wanting to read the whole story.
If you've been enjoying romantasy novels, “Arcana Academy” is the book for you!
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