The worst assassin in the world attends the kingdoms boarding school for mages with an unbelievably slack security system and its very own Gossip Girl.

The story starts off with our FMC, Kiara, on a mission to eliminate the Crown Prince, who resides in a school of mages. Somehow Kiara is able to just slip into this highly exclusive school of some of the most powerful magic users in the entire kingdom and lands in their version of a Hogwarts sorting ceremony. They mistake her for a student (how??) and she is revealed to also be a mage. She then just starts taking classes and only after a few days does the Headmaster ask her, ‘how did you get into this school?!’ 🤨


It started off pretty strong and I was entertained; it’s an easy book to read. This book is by no means a literary masterpiece and so I tried to just enjoy what it could offer me. However, as the story progressed there were various elements and plot holes that made me roll my eyes. The dialogue became pretty cheesy towards the end, with lines such as “Let’s show him what we’re made of!” said in earnest, during an intense fight sequence.

Unfortunately, this book isn’t for me. The first red flag for me was at the end of the first chapter where, I shit you not, the MMC says “There you are. I’ve been waiting for you.” SOUND FAMILIAR??? Almost too uncanny. And you’d never guess what - he is also a shadow-daddy.

My main genres are thriller and horror, so I like to switch it up with some fantasy here and there, and this absolutely hit the spot. If Harry Potter and The Magicians had a darker, more morally gray cousin, this would be it. It was action packed and well paced, with some romance thrown into the mix; the storyline kept me hooked the entire way through.

My only real complaint is that I wanted more. I know there's a second book in the series, and I’m not sure how much it follows the original characters. Either way, I’ll be picking it up.

I DNF’d this book at around 20% as it wasn’t working for me. It felt like it was trying too hard to be Harry Potter. It didn’t interest me enough to keep reading.

The Magic system in this book was really fascinating, especially the grimoires and the way they become more powerful and carried the more they are used. The nods to Greek mythology are fun to spot, and the overarching themes of trust, sacrifice and love make my heart sing. Especially because both main characters start out semi-unlikable and hellbent on achieving their own goals DESPITE the other, their own personal journeys through those themes feel really poignant and lovely. I think there’s a lot we as a society can learn from Kiara and Lucian, about really listening to each other and trying to see from the other perspective - and then joining forces instead of fighting to the death. I’m interested to find out what happens next!

Very cool magic system, and I was really intrigued by the idea but something just fell flat. I didn't feel connected to the main characters and was expecting more of the academia side of dark academia. I'll still be watching out for book 2 to find out what happens next!! 3.5 stars rounded down

Firstly, the cover on this is absolutely beautiful and I am absolutely obsessed with it !

The story was a whole vibe from start to finish and I loved it ! .

I would recommend this book to everyone and anyone who loves to read !!

Take Harry Potter, mix it with Greek mythology, add some elements of Zodiac Academy but make it for teens and you obtain this book. I like the concept of this, but the execution fell a little short for me. There were a lot of details that quite didn't add up for me, and it made me sad because I really wanted to love this book.

This book is marketed as dark fantasy, but it is not really dark. Considering the FMC is an assassin and the MMC is a prince with shadow magic, I was expecting more violence or trauma than this. It was more gothic than it was dark, in my opinion. I would say, the main element is the love story. It is an enemy-to-lovers, fated mates love story where he falls first. It was cute.

Other than that, the magic system was interesting but I wish it was detailed a little more. I had questions sometimes when they were using magic that were not answer in this book. Maybe they will be answered in book 2 or 3.

I think a 13-15 y/o that just started to read fantasy might enjoy it, but as an adult who read a lot of fantasy it did not resonate with me, unfortunately. I would recommend it to teens, especially if they want a book set in a magical school with secret societies and elements of the Greek mythology.

This book was absolutely amazing I devoured It 🩷

I got a delayed ARC but It was worth It

It was an Easy read, I loved the World building, the characters, the way the relationship between the protagonists develops, the plot 🤌🏼🤌🏼

I think it's a book for young people and adults at the same time who like fantasy itself with a bit of romance.

“Academy of Villains” by Ever King is an action-packed fantasy with a tyrannical king and an academy of mages who can’t be trusted. In this enemies-to-lovers story, a prince and an assassin join together and use their schooling at the academy to try and break a curse that threatens the kingdom and its people or to risk perishing like those before them who attempted to end the curse.

Events in the story happen quickly, making this a fast and easy read. When a lot is happening, it doesn’t take long to become intrigued by the characters and plot and to invest time in figuring out what will happen next. Readers who enjoy Greek mythology will enjoy references to objects, gods and the like from the popular myths. However, if a reader isn’t familiar with these references, it won’t hinder their understanding. The author does an amazing job of briefly explaining the significance so the reader can keep up with what’s happening.

Even the academy is quite an intriguing setting. Some aspects are reminiscent of Harry Potter as there is a sorting ceremony and a class on absurd creatures where some students end up dead or missing. There’s also a gothic feel to the academy with its architecture which makes it feel cool and distant but homely at the same time. Each student having a grimoire of their own is a fascinating concept because only the mage the book belongs to can see the spells it contains. This makes the magic aspect more intense because other students can’t guess or predict which spells will be used against them, making the use of their own magic in defence tougher.

As for the enemies-to-lovers aspect, it’s mostly one-sided as the other feels a pull right from the beginning. Still, it takes a while for the characters to warm up to one another and earn their trust, creating a nice slow-burn romance with lots of tense moments. There’s one moment in the book where I feel the character caved too easily when I would’ve liked a bit more resistance or something to explain that character’s change in emotion. I still enjoyed the romance aspect and loved to see the two characters bantering and trying to one-up one another.

While the plot is strong and the characters are interesting enough to follow along, there are places where the story is undeveloped. I would’ve liked to see more world-building regarding those who aren’t mages. The way they live (quite poorly) is hidden from mages and their quality of life is due to the King, but it’s never explained how the King benefits from it. And Kiara is affected deeply by it, even fueled by it, but it’s not brought up often enough in the story to understand why. It’s connected to her background as an assassin, but even then, only snippets of that past are revealed so it’s hard to form a connection with her. Even the prince’s background isn’t reflected on much, so his relationship with the King isn’t clear and his opinion about someday ruling is rarely touched on despite it being a big responsibility that would place a lot of pressure on him. I would’ve liked to learn more about the secondary characters too. They’re so interesting but hardly anything is revealed about them.

There are other places where the book feels underdeveloped or questions are left unanswered and it makes the book feel less tangible and real because of that. Yet, it’s an enjoyable read and other aspects made it worth continuing. Some readers are okay to overlook places that need to be fleshed out a bit more and still get into the story itself, but other readers who are unable to suspend their belief may find this a tougher read to get through.

Overall, the story has a lot of potential, and the author has an amazing idea worth pursuing. It will be interesting to see what happens in the sequel!

Thank you to NetGalley and Ever King for providing me with an arc and giving me the opportunity to share my honest opinion in this review. “Academy of Villains” by Ever King is out now and available to purchase and read.

This book gave me such Harry Potter vibes but with more ruthlessness! What interested me in reading the arc for this was the description and thought it was right up my alley.
There were some pacing problems throughout but it was an enjoyable read and I’m looking forward to the next!

⭐⭐⭐⭐.5

FINALLY!!! This is exactly the kind of novel I've been wanting to read and let me tell you. EVER KING DELIEVERD, assassins, magic, romance & cursed kingdoms likeee what more do you need?!?!

✨Ok let's talk about; female assassin has one goal in mind: kill the prince, and break the curse, but that doesn't go as planned. When she soon discovers the very thing, she despises him for is also within her as well, now she must go undercover at the academy and retrieve the mission from within but that’s not going to be so easy, when you have the prince and the entire academy watching your every move. Oh, and let’s not forget the bantering and chemistry along the way. She says she despises him but can’t help being attracted to him...hmmm wonder why?

✨ What to expect: Enemies to lovers, Villan gets the girl, Greek mythology retelling, secret societies, “I came to kill you but fell in love” & epic fight scenes. Spice level: intense making out, closed-door

✨Only problem: I didn’t like how fast she became so OP, I wanted more development, but other than that I LOVED the characters both MMC & FMC are such bosses and their CHEMISTRY OH MY GOSH you must read if you enjoy; magic academia, forbidden love & incredible story building

✨As always thank you to Ever King and Netgalley for this ARC stay blessed everyone 😊🙏

This book was so fun! I flew through it in a couple of days because of how entertaining it is. I love the enemies-to-lovers trope and this author did it so well. I genuinely felt the connection between them. This combined with a dark academia makes it an intriguing read and I am definitely excited for the next book.

My only complaint is that I found the story a bit predictable in a way and knew where it was going to lead. I also found that the pacing was slow at times.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an E-ARC of this book.

I absolutely adored The start to this series. For a book about villains, the characters sure did win me over.

our main character starts off with a mission to assassinate the prince but somehow ends up enrolling in a magical academy and finds out that she has magic. A super rare one at that too.

Fast forward to our main character and her target, the prince, have to team up to and The curse that is plaguing the kingdom.

Needless to say, I will be eating up the rest of this series please and thank you. I have no idea what is going to happen next, but I cannot wait to find out.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this for a review.

Unfortunately, I couldn't connect with this story or the writing. I had a hard time getting invested in the characters and their relationships.

I also feel like this book is better suited for a younger audience, which makes sense given its YA classification. The story has some interesting parts, but not enough (for me) to keep on reading.

"Academy of Villains" scratches that dark academia itch in all the right ways, though it definitely leans more academia than dark. Following Kiara, an assassin who discovers she has the very magic she despises, this book delivers a fun twist on the magical school trope with some seriously swoony enemies-to-lovers action. The magic system is genuinely unique - I'm particularly obsessed with how the grimoires work and the whole starmage versus shadowmage dynamic. Plus, any book that manages to make me actually care about side characters deserves extra points.

That said, while the pacing keeps you turning pages, it sometimes feels like it's rushing through moments that deserve more time to breathe (like, hello, I wanted more of those trials!). And though some readers might find the plot twists predictable, I was having too much fun with Kiara and Lucian's banter to really mind. If you're in the mood for a fantasy that blends Greek mythology with Slytherin energy and a dash of romance, you'll definitely want to pick this one up.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ever King for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

“Academy of Villains” by Ever King, published in late 2024, is a dark academia fantasy romance that intertwines Greek mythology with a modern magical academy setting. The narrative centers on Kiara, a formidable assassin from the Nameless, who infiltrates the Academy of Magic with a mission to eliminate Prince Lucian and break a lingering curse on the kingdom. Unexpectedly, Kiara discovers her own latent magical abilities, identifying as a Starmage—a lineage believed to be extinct. This revelation complicates her mission and entangles her fate with that of Lucian, a Shadowmage and the very target she was sent to eliminate.

The novel draws inspiration from the Greek mythological figures Nyx and Erebus, infusing their story into the characters’ development and the overarching plot. The academy setting is richly depicted, featuring secret societies, perilous trials, and a sentient environment that adds depth to the world-building. The magic system, centered around grimoires and elemental powers, is both innovative and integral to the plot’s progression.

Thank you Net Galley for the ARC opportunity for this book in exchange for an honest review.

I gave this book. 3.5 ⭐

I think it was a good premise, face paced with the added romance with inspired by mythology.

I do love a fast paced book and when the action moved quickly. At times I felt a tad too quickly meaning I couldn't engage as much as I would have liked with the characters but an enjoyable book overall!

Would definitely read another book by Ever King!

Thank you to NetGalley and Ever King for providing me with an advanced reader copy of Academy of Villains in exchange for an honest review!

I made it through 87% of this book but ultimately did not finish. The opening was engaging and set up a promising dark academia fantasy with a unique twist. Kiara’s infiltration of the academy and her discovery of hidden magic was compelling, and the initial world-building drew me in. However, as the story progressed, it felt like it lost momentum. The romance between Kiara and Prince Lucian, which should have been central near the end, didn’t fully capture my interest.

The writing had moments of brilliance but was occasionally choppy, which disrupted the flow. While the description hinted at a rich blend of academia, assassins, and Greek mythology, the execution felt scattered. The Greek mythology elements were minimal—leaving the title and premise somewhat misleading. The story had potential but needed more cohesion to tie its many intriguing ideas together.

Overall, Academy of Villains is an enjoyable read with a strong start but falls short in delivering a fully developed narrative. Fans of dark academia and morally gray characters may still find it worth exploring!

This was an incredible read! It was really really fast paced, and I loved the slow burn element that was present even though the plot was fast and easy to keep up with! I loved how it was almost love at first sight 😏 for him! I love the academia vibes, and thought the author wrote this really well!

This is a book i definitely will be reading again soon, so I can really absorb it all!

*Academy of Villains* by Ever King is a super gripping read! It takes you to a mysterious academy full of dark secrets and characters who are a little morally questionable, which makes everything feel intense and exciting. The romance adds a nice twist, and the characters are all so interesting—you're constantly rooting for them (even when they’re a bit bad). It’s one of those books that keeps you hooked with its mix of suspense and drama. If you like stories with a darker edge and complicated characters, this one’s definitely worth picking up!