At first, I thought this book was borrowing too much from one of my favorite books, "The Magicians," by Lev Grossman. As i continued to read I realized that the plot was fresh. Soon I was quickly turning the pages as momentum built around the final conclusion. A very satisfying read.

Reading AN ACADEMY FOR LIARS felt like navigating a dense fog or wading through waist-deep water—challenging but immersive, a testament to Alexis Henderson’s atmospheric writing style. The book starts slowly, and for the first quarter, I found myself struggling to stay engaged. However, around the 25% mark, the pacing picks up and the story becomes more compelling.

Lennon, the protagonist, is a well-developed character. Though her flaws make her feel real, I needed a stronger reason to root for her. Henderson creates a world full of flawed characters, and while this makes for a realistic narrative, it also left me searching for someone to truly invest in.

By the end, though the story and premise remained intriguing, I felt there was a lack of consequence for the characters' actions. Several plot points felt unresolved or left gaping holes, which made the conclusion less satisfying. While Henderson’s writing kept me engaged, these loose ends detracted from the overall impact of the story. That said, THE YEAR OF THE WITCHING remains a spooky season favorite, and I can't wait to read what Henderson writes next!

An Academy For Liars was supposed to be the dark academia story I’ve been waiting for. One of the most prevalent criticisms of the dark academia trend is its lack of diversity, so try to imagine my excitement at hearing about Alexis Henderson’s foray into this subgenre. Despite the fact that as I clicked on the email from the author, I hoped we were finally, finally getting the next installment of the Bethel series that started with 2020’s The Year of the Witching, I still felt no small amount of anticipation for Henderson’s take on dark academia. I think I set my expectations a bit too high, and that put a bit of a damper on my experience when reading this book. I thought the idea of a magic school focused on the honing a talent for persuasion was fresh and interesting. The premise held so much potential, but it all ultimately fell short for me. The thing is, I enjoyed it, hence the four star rating. But as soon as it was over, I forgot about it. This review is so late because I literally forgot to write one. What I do remember is this: I didn’t believe the relationship between Lennon and Dante and so parts of the plot felt forced. I didn’t believe the way Lennon’s peers acted at the end, and I didn’t buy the one instance of time travel? Everything else is vague in my mind, but I can at the very least say it was fun at the time.

Enjoyed the concepts of this magic system and the overall atmosphere, but the execution fell significantly short. Henderson writes compelling morally gray characters, though, and I did fly through this! And I really loved the twists and turns, as well as what she has to say about academia and race… but Lennon just lacked something for me and I felt her characterization inconsistent and too plagued by victimization.

Her romance with Dante felt too much a part of her usual pattern, with little self analysis. I also still don’t fully comprehend who Dante is… or what?? Like I don’t think it’s ever addressed despite multiple people being like “she doesn’t know???” Blah blah blah

This story is not like other dark academia stories, instead of fantastical magic you meet regular human beings with terrifying powers. When Lennon's life implodes she is contacted by a mysterious school saying she has a chance to get in. The only stipulation is she must have the power of persuasion to control other's minds and the matter around her. The training for this power comes at a large cost and is taxing on Lennon's mind and body. With the help of her advisor Dante, she may be able to make something of herself, and save the school while she is at it. However, some dark and disturbing truths will change the trajectory of her future. I like that the characters in this story are flawed, they make mistakes and have some deep seated issues. It also has a dark twisting end that you would never expect.

Thank you Berkley and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

I love dark academia and I loved Henderson’s House of Hunger, so I was quite eager to read this. And I’m very pleased that I did, in fact, love it. I mean, I don’t know if I’d call it dark academia by way of The Secret History or Babel, because it’s more like if Vita Nostra was a Southern gothic—it’s a little weird and has horror elements (I wouldn’t really call it horror, though) and I really liked the atmosphere and the way Henderson treated genre like a playground.

I was drawn in immediately with the weird stuff happening in the mirrors, and while this is surprisingly fast paced, I think it made it easy for me to keep reading to see what was going to happen next. Admittedly, it was a little chaotic at times and there are probably some scenes Henderson could’ve lingered on, but I found I didn’t really mind because I was enthralled with what was happening. Having read some of Henderson’s previous works, I do think this has the same strengths and weaknesses that her other books have. The ending comes fast and feels a little abrupt and the side characters sometimes feel like broad strokes and gestures rather than fully fleshed out characters, but I love how messy her protagonists are and there’s something about the atmosphere and writing that makes all of the little quibbles I have melt away. There’s still some lingering questions I have, though the story itself feels complete.

I’m not sure just how much I bought into the romance between Lennon and Dante, but I ultimately found I didn’t care much. I really enjoyed their interactions and I’m not someone who reads for romance to begin with, so I thought it was a fun little side plot while Lennon had to understand things about elevators and why she was chosen to attend Drayton. I don’t really think this one is for people who want a lot of scenes in classrooms or even that much studying, but I felt invested in the plot and seeing how Lennon might grow and change, for better or for worse. Even when the side characters felt a tad underdeveloped, I thought it worked for the story. I really liked that Henderson mostly wrote a fantasy novel but incorporated elements from other genres in there, like horror and science fiction. Despite the flaws it has, I still had a blast and got really into the story, and so I can wholeheartedly say I loved it.

I DNF"d this one. It wasn't my personal cup of tea - the dark academia is sooo dark. I think a lot of readers will dive into this one, but I just couldn't get into it.

(I give no star ratings on Goodreads to books I don't finish)

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Lennon Carter’s life is falling apart.

Then she gets a mysterious phone call inviting her to take the entrance exam for Drayton College, a school of magic hidden in a secret pocket of Savannah. Lennon has been chosen because—like everyone else at the school—she has the innate gift of persuasion, the ability to wield her will like a weapon, using it to control others and, in rare cases, matter itself.

After passing the test, Lennon begins to learn how to master her devastating and unsettling power. But despite persuasion’s heavy toll on her body and mind, she is wholly captivated by her studies, by Drayton’s lush, moss-draped campus, and by her brilliant classmates. But even more captivating is her charismatic adviser, Dante, who both intimidates and enthralls her.

As Lennon continues in her studies, her control grows, and she starts to uncover more about the secret world she has entered into, including the disquieting history of Drayton College. She is increasingly disturbed by what she learns, for it seems that the ultimate test is to embrace absolute power without succumbing to corruption...and it’s a test she’s terrified she’s going to fail.

The description sound amazing. I went into this book excited to see where this will go, but I couldn't finish it. The protagonist wasn't someone I enjoyed reading about and the direction it was going with the dark academic fantasy theme was very obvious and when I flipped to the last few chapters I was vindicated that I was correct. It just wasn't for me which made me sad because I usually like dark academic fantasies. The side characters didn't leave much of an impression on me either.

For me, dark academia books and fall/spooky season just go so perfectly together so I couldn’t resist requesting An Academy for Liars.

When we first meet Lennon Carter, her life is falling apart. She has experienced trauma, withdrawn from school, and has just caught her fiancé cheating. Devastated, she contemplates ending her life, but while sitting in an empty parking lot, she hears a payphone ringing and answers it. Somehow, it’s for her. It’s a representative from Drayton College summoning her to their campus in Savannah, GA to come #for an interview and to take an entrance exam. Deciding she has nothing else to lose at this point, Lennon heads to Dayton and all it has to offer.

I was fascinated by the premise of this one because it turns out that Drayton is a magical school that recruits people who have a natural talent for persuasion. Once at Drayton, they are taught how to take this power of persuasion to a whole new level, including mind control. There’s also a resident bad boy, a tattooed professor named Dante, who becomes Lennon’s advisor and someone she becomes very attracted to.

This isn’t a romance though, and aside from it being dark academia, I’d tend to classify this book as Gothic, thriller/horror. There are constant elements of danger throughout, both as students are learning their craft, and as we realize the school itself has a disturbing history and that Dante has a tragic and violent past that is tied to it. I found all of these darker elements thrilling and they made the book hard to put down.

Some events in the book were a little confusing, like why Lennon could randomly summon magical elevators, but the rest of the story was interesting enough to keep me reading in spite of my confusion.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ace for providing me with a review copy.

This is one of the best dark academia releases I've read in the last few years, and I don't say that lightly. Every plot point in this was fraught with betrayal and vengeance in the pursuit of knowledge. I'm not a big fantasy person but the magic system in this was brilliant without being too convoluted. And the characters? Perfect - all incredibly morally grey (some more on the side of being morally void) and complex. I now want every book I read to have a tattooed, clove cigarette-smoking, academic love interest.

Patiently waiting for book two!

I decided to DNF this book, as I think it’s just a bit too dark for me. But I think the writing is very good, and the right person will definitely enjoy this one. I may decide to give it another try someday.

The first 20% had me hooked, the middle had me questioning if I was vibing with the story but I definitely was trying to process what I was feeling reading this. The last 30% was !!!! this book went so many different directions that ultimately came together at the end. If you like a dark academia with misfits, fantasy, violence, and power…An Academy of Liars is really atmospheric.

The institution is the VILLAIN and the book was extremely ambitious. With that, I don’t think it’s everyone’s cup of tea for dark academia. I did leave wanting to read even more dark academia. Loved the gothic writing and I’d read more from Alexis Henderson!

I am utterly OBSESSED with this book! I am a huge fan of dark academia and the subsidiary “school for the gifted” trope within the genre but An Academy for Liars took these preconceived premises and warped them anew.

As Lennon’s life is falling apart, she receives a mysterious phone call inviting her to take an entrance exam for Drayton College. The school trains those gifted in the arts of magical persuasion and Lennon has been deemed one of the chosen few to study and hone these powers. Lennon’s acceptance to Drayton comes with shocking discoveries and as the school year progresses, and her relationship with her advisor Dante becomes more muddled, Lennon will learn the cost of her gifts and just how many secrets Drayton’s hallowed halls are built on.

There wasn’t a second of this book that I wasn’t fully locked in. For a novel well over 400 pages, I felt like it flew by. Alexis Henderson stuns with her mastery of atmosphere. Drayton itself is an entity of its own and Henderson’s stunning, oftentimes jarring, prose hammers this idea into readers continuously. Through Lennon’s naivety, we stumble alongside her as she tries to make her way in this shrewd and violent new reality.

Plainly put, An Academy for Liars is a commentary on violence, power, and morality. Henderson uses Lennon as a device to lay out the perverse and uncomfortable notions of the human condition. These assertions were intellectual without feeling pretentious and I credit that to the relatability in which I found Lennon. She was a character I strongly rooted for even as she was forced to make harrowing choices I myself could not fathom. Her empathy and strength endeared me to her and I was in constant awe of her hunger to survive.

There are touches of fantasy, sci fi, and horror elements to this novel. I will warn squeamish audiences that there is quite a bit of gore and body horror that all come at the cost of the characters’ ferocious powers. This book is definitely digestible for those new to dark academia while also providing a fresh take to seasoned supporters of the genre. I will absolutely be thinking about this constantly in the weeks to come and can see this being one of my favorite reads of the year!

Thank you Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

An Academy for Liars was just the right book for fall. The dark academia & fantasy-horror had me glued to the page and transported into the atmospheric world of Draven. From about the halfway mark all the way to the last sentence, I couldn’t put it down. This is a book I can see myself rereading again and again, looking for different clues and foreshadowing.
The characters were one of the strongest aspects of this book. All of the characters were morally gray and had such a compelling element to them that I wanted to know more. And the different relationship dynamics between characters & the way they changed throughout the story made them all feel very real and authentic. Dante in particular was such a complex character that had me constantly swapping my feelings about him.
The magic system, while quite mysterious and complex, felt very well thought out and explained. The plot wasn’t simplistic but never felt overly confusing. Henderson knows how to set up a plot twist well. I also really liked that Henderson addresses the aspect of believability within the plot. The school of Draven exists on the premise that they have their hand in practically every aspect of the outside world, but remains unknown to most and I felt that the explanations made sense.
I absolutely loved An Academy for Liars. It was the perfect mix of eerie atmosphere, cut-throat academia, sexual tension and heart-pounding, mysterious plot.

REVIEW: An Academy for Liars

I decided to take a break from romance and go in a different direction. An Academy for Liars is a dark academic fantasy thriller with some horror. As a warning, this book does get pretty dark, violent, and intense.

Alexis Henderson does a great job of world-building. Although the story takes place in Savannah, Georgia, the School of Drayton and its students and faculty have a believable and exciting culture. I read other dark academic books before, but this one feels unique based on Henderson’s writing and everyone working on the art of persuasion.

An Academy of Liars storyline has many ebbs and flows regarding pacing. Some moments were slower, but when it picked up, there were some fast-paced, action-packed parts that you had to keep reading. Many twists and turns made it hard to predict what would happen. There was a decent amount of characters in the cast, and some were stronger than others. There were some characters I just couldn’t connect with.

A few things I wasn’t a fan of were that some parts of the book seemed to stretch longer than they should. An Academy for Liars was already a longer book, and I think some areas could have been shortened. I also thought the climax and solution were not what I hoped for. It needed a little more to it.

Overall, I enjoyed An Academy for Liars. The action-packed moments drew me in and made me want to keep reading.

Thank you, Netgalley and Berkley Publishing Group | Ace, for the free advanced copy for my honest review!

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This book has excellent vibes. The brain melting fuzziness reminds me of Vita Nostra in the best way. And elevator magic?move aside, Willie Wonka and the Great Glass Elevator! Lennon and Gregory are here to replace you.

I don't even know where to begin. This just didn't work for me at all, which guts me to say because I've loved all of Henderson's other books and this one sounded so cool. I couldn't wait to read it, but then everything about it just kinda fell flat for me. Despite a strong intro, I immediately fell off a little when things started happening (no spoilers!) and our mc just goes along with every weird twist as if nothing abnormal is happening... like what do you mean you get invited to a mysterious school you've never heard of and just decide to go along with it?? what do you mean you find out you have supernatural abilities and aren't surprised or suspicious in any way?? what do you mean????

And then it was all downhill from there. The stakes never felt that high for me as a reader because of how dispassionately the mc reacted to everything. If she's barely phased, why should I be? I had similar feelings about the various relationships I was supposed to care about. None of the secondary characters felt real or three dimensional. They all read as props who were only put into place to further the mc's story. There's a wide cast of family members and friends and school teachers, but they all fade into the background and only seem to matter when they have to step in to hold up a plot point. This goes for the romance as well. I wanted to care about that most of all, but the lack of chemistry was almost painful. Even the moments of vulnerability and raw humanity felt muted and ill-fitting.

A huge miss for me, but hopefully a win for other readers. I'll still be eager to check out whatever Henderson publishes next.

Thanks to Berkley for an ARC in exchange for review.

A true dark academia book! I found this book to be so dark and spooky, with real emotional depth. The academy setting was very satisfying and the magic of "will" and "persuasion" was both mysterious and well-described. Really big fan of this book and would love to read a Book II in this series someday!

I love dark academia and Alexis Henderson's newest, AN ACADEMY FOR LIARS was so well done. Lennon is such an interesting main character as she heads off to school at Drayton College- a magical and secret institution in Savannah. She was such a flawed character and you couldn't help but root for her growth as she tries to master her power. I really liked the uneasy feeling Henderson's writing gave me as the history of the college was slowly revealed. The only reason this wasn't five stars for me was I felt like it lagged a bit in the middle, but overall I really enjoyed this one.

Please tell me there is going to be a sequel to this book! I got so immersed in the world of Drayton and all the magic, only to reach the end wanting more. I love dark academia, and this book tackled it in an intriguing way. I enjoyed watching the main character grow from pitiful to strong, even if I didn't understand much of the "magic" behind her persuasion abilities. This book was pretty gory, especially by the end where all the characters were bleeding out of every possible place on their bodies, but I appreciated the morality of the main character. I have a million more questions about Dante and the moths, so it feels like there must be a sequel coming, but since this book was just published last month, it will probably be a while before we hear anything about that. Overall, this was a really interesting and engaging dark fantasy novel that I think many people are going to love.