Wealth. Power. Murder. Magic. Alex Stern is back and the Ivy League is going straight to hell in this sequel to Ninth House, the smash bestseller by Leigh Bardugo. Thick with history and packed with Bardugo’s signature twists, Hell Bent brings to life an intricate world full of magic, violence, and all too real monsters. Before we get started, let’s talk about what dark academia is exactly. As a subculture, it often focuses on higher education, classical studies, Gothic art and architecture, and related topics. It has been criticized for being quite Eurocentric and lacking diversity, so dark academia manga and manhwa aren’t necessarily going to check every box of the sub-genre’s common tropes. At the same time, if we think of the concept a bit more broadly, it can certainly be very inclusive and varied. For the purposes of this list, I have taken the idea of dark academia to its most basic and fundamental pieces: an academic setting paired with dark or suspenseful themes. Let’s dive in! Once you’ve satisfied your dark academia craving, make sure to check out even more excellent manga to read with our recommendations for best manga, as well as our entire manga archive!
