by I. V. Marie
Part of The Souls of Blackwood Academy
First published 2025
Wren Loughty has spent years preparing for the Decennial at Blackwood Academy, the mysterious boarding school where she and other students shepherd lost souls at the edge of the afterlife. This decade's competition offers the only way out: nominees who survive the trials can either join the school's magical elite or cross over to the Other Side. Wren faces fierce competition from her academic rival Augustine Hughes, while rule-breaking Irene Manette Bamford will destroy anyone in her path, including her best friend Masika Sallow. Olivier Dupont had given up on winning until he met newcomer Emilio Córdova. Now he'll fight for the nomination to prevent Emilio from leaving him behind. When the Decennial transforms from celebration into deadly competition, all six nominees discover that four trials await them, with untold dangers and only one possible victor. Their struggle for freedom will test every alliance and reveal that some consequences are worse than remaining trapped forever.
Genres: fantasy, supernatural, young-adult, dark-fantasy, mystery-thriller, dark-academia
Vibes: atmospheric, dark, emotionally-intense, high-stakes, mysterious, suspenseful
Tropes: betrayal-and-loyalty, forbidden-romance, found-family, high-stakes-competition, rivals-to-allies
Setting: Blackwood Academy, the Other Side
512 pages · Hardcover · Delacorte Press
Content warnings: death, violence