Arcana Academy – Past Midnight Book Reviews & More

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Spice Rating: 🌶️🌶️

Title: Prince of Swords by. Elise Kova (Arcana Academy, #2))

Author: Elise Kova

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 560

Publication Date: 7/21/26

Publisher: Del Rey

Categories: Fantasy, Romance, Tarot Magic, Series

Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

Thank you to Del Rey for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Welcome back to Arcana Academy. Tarot magic, forbidden desire, battle, and betrayal collide for the power to change the world in the thrilling second book of this New York Times bestselling fantasy romance series.

I am terrified. Yet my heart skips a beat. This man might be a monster, but he is my monster.

Clara Graysword is Oricalis’s most wanted. Hunted and cornered, not even her mastery of tarot can save her this time . . . until the mysterious Worldkeepers appear. This secretive order may hold the key to changing Clara’s fate. If she dares to trust them.

But the most dangerous alliance of all is one she’s already deeply ensnared Prince Kaelis.

Kaelis, second-born prince of Oricalis and headmaster of Arcana Academy, is the one man she can’t escape—maybe she doesn’t want to escape. Ruthless, dangerous, and bound to Clara by destiny and desire, Kaelis tests her heart as much as her loyalty. Together, they grow closer to the most powerful secrets of the tarot . . . and to the truths they both hide that could destroy the passion that they no longer deny.

Hidden in plain sight within Arcana Academy, Clara walks the dagger’s edge. Revelations about Oricalis threaten everything she thought she knew, and every choice she makes is the difference between salvation and ruin.

To change the world, Clara must risk everything—her power, her beliefs, and her heart.

Content Warning: violence, death

World Building: Back in the world of Arcana Academy, Clara is being hunted. We’re taken back to the prison and back to the academy, but this time Clara is trying to not get caught and she is willing to do anything to accomplish her goals of inking the World card and helping her sister Arina. Also instead of learning the tarot card magic, we see it being used more in fighting scenes and even some spicy scenes.

Characters: Clara is going through some tough things in this sequel – mostly, she’s trying to stop being super stubborn about accepting help. I do sympathize with her and understand why she didn’t trust anyone though – every someone helped her they ended up losing their lives. She goes through lots of loss in this book, and mistrust, but she does start to accept more help at the end. Kaelis is even more mysterious and dangerous in this book – there was this never ending nagging feeling inside me that I couldn’t trust him. It made me nervous for the whole plans of remaking the world! The secondary characters are great and add so much to the story but this book is a heartbreaker when it comes to some characters like Arina, Clara’s sister and others. My heart was broken more than once!

Romance: The romance is a roller coaster of emotions! There is mistrust and secrets between Clara and Kaelis, but they are forever drawn to one another. We learn more as to why that is, but oh my…the confessions between them about their feelings was making me squeal! There is spice, there is angst and so much yearning, and then there is the ending of this book which I will not spoil but made me need book three, ASAP.

Story: The story picks up right away from book one, I will say I felt like the pacing was a little up and down. It starts off with action, but when things settle and Clara has to learn who to avoid getting plus trying to figure out how to draw the World card – things do slow down. I still felt like it was a quick read despite the middle slow down and then the last half of the book? Amazing – I felt like I was racing to the end with a few plot twists revealing themselves and leaving me shocked.

Vibes: tarot magic, yearning, secrets

Final Thoughts:

What a sequel and though the middle does feel like it slows down a little, this story finishes off with a cliffhanger that has me needing to read book three asap. I love the twists and turns. There is growth in Clara – she goes through so much and though at times I didn’t agree with some of her choices, her intentions are good, and there is so much riding on her from every angle. The romance had me in my feelings – Kaelis was really something in this book, he reveals more of himself than I expected by the end of this book and it makes me so curious to see what will happen at the end of this series. I felt like this story was an emotional rollercoaster and I can’t wait to continue the series.

Read if you like:

tarot magic
secrets
found family
romance – yearning, angst

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Other Books I’ve Read From This Author:

Dragon Cursed by. Elise Kova | Book Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Arcana Academy by. Elise Kova | ARC Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A Duel with the Vampire Lord by. Elise Kova | Book Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

A Dance with the Fae Prince (Married to Magic #2) by. Elise Kova| Book Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

A Deal with the Elf King | Book Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Spice Rating: 🌶️🌶️

Title: Arcana Academy (Arcana Academy, #1)

Author: Elise Kova

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 576

Publication Date: 7/22/25

Publisher: Del Rey

Categories: Adult, Romance, Fantasy, Political Intrigue, Dark Academia, Magic

Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

Thank you to Del Rey for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

A woman who wields magical tarot cards lands herself in a false engagement with the headmaster of a mysterious academy in this first installment of an enthralling romantasy series from the bestselling author of A Deal with the Elf King.

Clara Graysword has survived the underworld of Eclipse City through thievery, luck, and a whole lot of illegal magic. After a job gone awry, Clara is sentenced to a lifetime in prison for inking tarot cards-a rare power reserved for practitioners at the elite Arcana Academy.

Just when it seems her luck has run dry, the academy’s enigmatic headmaster, Prince Kaelis, offers her an escape-for a price. Kaelis believes that Clara is the perfect tool to help him steal a tarot card from the king and use it to re-create an all-powerful card long lost to time.

In order to conceal her identity and keep her close, Kaelis brings Clara to Arcana Academy, introducing her as the newest first-year student and his bride-to-be.

Thrust into a world of arcane magic and royal intrigue, where one misstep will send her back to prison or worse, Clara finds that the prince she swore to hate may not be what he seems. But can she risk giving him power over the world-and her heart? Or will she take it for herself?

Content Warning: violence, death, grief

+ I haven’t read an Elise Kova book in awhile, but I had to read this one because of it’s premise. Tarot card forgery, magic, and an arcana academy sounded very intriguing!

+ In this world of Arcana, a deck of cards is all you need to fight and defend yourself and Clara is talented in making tarot forgeries which is illegal. And it ends her up on the most notorious prison, Halazar. Clara has a second chance now, posing as the second prince’s fiance and attending Arcana Academy. While she’s there working with him to execute his plans of changing the world, she’s also trying to find her sister Arina, who was at the academy and has disappeared. I thought the setting of Arcana Academy was lush, dark, mystery and even opulent for a school. Clara makes some new friends and enemies.

+ I found the magic of the tarot card deck really fascinating! Also throughout the story, Prince Kaelis has a plan to steal some Major Arcana cards from his father, the king, so at some parts of the story it felt like a heist, which I thought was fun and engaging. I also liked the politics. There is still so much secrecy about some of the characters in this book that I hope will be revealed in book two. Also there is a found family trope.

+ The romance was full of tension but I didn’t feel it was a main focus of the book for awhile. Prince Kaelis has an agenda and though Clara is helping him to keep herself from going back to prison, she doesn’t fully trust him either but is definitely attracted to him. He is the misunderstood, brooding prince with a bad reputation, but he is also headmaster at Arcana Academy. The attraction grows between them – reluctantly, since they are enemies, but by the end they do become lovers. There is some spice, where clearly they choose to keep this relationship casual and physical but I think that works out fine since Clara has a lot going on.

~ The story is under 600 pages, but I did read it in two days. The pacing is slow but not in a way that I got too bored. I was steadily curious throughout. I think there was so much information about how the tarot magic worked that sometimes it tended to get info-dumpy and I still was confused about some things because I felt like I needed actual visuals of these cards. But I was also equally fascinated and wanted to learn more!

~ The romance though fun at moments, wasn’t a lot. I wish Kaelis and Clara had more interactions. Clara is really focused on her studies, finding her sisters, and trying to forge cards for Kaelis.

~ There is so many more secrets to be revealed and there is a cliffhanger ending. So now I will be eagerly waiting impatiently for book two!

Final Thoughts:

I thought this was a really good start to a new series and I found the magic system fascinating even though sometimes confusing. I enjoyed the enemies to lover romance, the politics and the found family and I’m always a sucker for a dark academia book. The cliffhanger ending makes me eager for book two!