Arcana Academy an enthralling, addictive, unputdownable fantasy romance

Thanks NetGalley for the ARC! I have so many thoughts on this book, so the review will probably a long one. Clara wields and inks Tarot cards like it is her second nature. Unfortunately, the distribution and unauthorised use of these magical objcets is highly illegal, earning her a place in the high-security prison Halazar with a one way ticket. Fortunately for her, after a year spent in the dark depths of a prison designet for everyone the crown never wants to resurface, she gets the chance to escape these hell like pits oncer and for all. Still, freedom seems out of reach for her, seeing that Kaelis, headmaster of the Arcana academy, second prince, rumored void-born and the person Clara blames for everything that has gone wrong in her life, is the one who frees her of Halazar. As expected, Clara soon finds herself entangled in a new tangle of intrigues, plans and schemes by the secretive prince. Okay, first of all: this is a Romantasy. I like romantasy in theory, but in practise, I often find them lacking in depth and very tropey, which I am a sucker for in some cases but overall annoys me more than it intruiges me. This story falls victim to what I really dislike about a lot of romantasy books: the dynamic between Kaelis and Clara, especially in the beginning, is just something I've read countless times already and is therefore very predictable. I like Kaelis' archetype, but I just strongly dislike it when a book reminds me so much of other similar stories while reading that I barely can concentrate on whats before me now. On the topic of reminding me of other books, this one is not very subtle about its inspirations in my opinion. The beginning reminds me of throne of glass, the sorting system feels like Harry Potter on crack mixed with what I think is fourth wing (we have 4 houses in the academy, with emphasis on their common rooms etc - don't get me wrong, the one who shall not be named did not invent academy housing, but it comes to mind. Mixed with the "most of you will not make it and probably die", which I associate with Fourth wing). Tarot magic in books became very popular with the shepherd king series (which I have not read), but again, this series is by far not the only one utilising this concept (the arcana chronicles starting with poison princess is a great example for that, btw!). Without trying to spoil anything, later parts reminded me of aspects of the will of the many and Paladins Hope. I have no idea if there was any inspiration drawn from any of those books, but seeing elements of some of the most popular fantasy books right now in this one was not something I loved. By now, you might be thinking this does not read like a 4 star review, but hold on tight, because the magic system is absolutely stunning. I think tarot magic is one of the magic systems with the most potential, seeing as the Arcana cards already have so much lore to pull from. Furthermore, as I absolutely loved the Arcana Chronicles by Kresley Cole, I will eat up any exploration of the beautiful characterisation of the Arcana cards. Overall, the magic system to me is a 5/5 and I would gladly devour a lot more of it. The thing nerfing and also kinda carrying this book for me were the characters. Clara and Kaelis seemed fleshed out enough, and many side characters did get a lot of depth as well. However, some of Claras plans and decisions made so little sense to me that i had to rant not to one, but two poor people who had absolutely no connection to this book whatsoever (and I plan on finding more). Again, without trying to spoil Clara seems short sighted, egoistic and sometimes lacks the ability to ask the questions I NEED HER TO ASK, it is not that hard. Some part of this can be described as character flaws, but others cannot be described by words I deem accapteable for this platform. This brings me directly to the plot, which was pretty awesome overall but some things even my dumbass cat could have figured out before Clara did. There certainly are plot twists, some that I haven't seen coming in this exact form, but there also is a lot of foreshadowing Clara has the uncanny ability to ignore. The Romance, to me, was kinda annoying in the beginning, seeing as they had other things to worry about. Idk about you but I have the feeling that even if my arch nemesis was hot, I'd be able to ignore this, but whatever. Fortunately, any significant developments in that regard take their time and do not feel overly rushed. I think the buildup of tension was very well managed. I saw some comments criticising the slowburn element, but in what world should enemies to lovers be anything but? I guess this one comes down to your expectations. The writing style was great. Fairly easy to read quickly, imo not overly descriptive whilst still building a new world around the reader. You can tell this author has a bit of experience in writing. I saw some people not loving the pacing aka some time skips, but to me, they made sense - however, they make you miss out on a lot of the academy day-to-day, so it feels way less like a dark academia book than an enemies to lovers kingdom scheming kinda plot. Overall, I have a lot of feelings for this one, not all of them good. Still, I find myselfe wanting to read part 2 right now, so I think it was a great read

I really enjoyed Arcana Academy by Elise Kova - the world with the tarot cards for me is quite a new and interesting idea. Overall it was a bit predictable at some points and the main characters are a bit trope-y, yet it is an enjoyable read and somehow kept me going. Some plot lines start strong, then move to the back, only to kind of return later or fizzle out a bit, maybe they will be of more importance in the second book. Recommened read: Entertaining, great world building, not that deep.