Last year I reviewed In These Hallowed Halls, an anthology that delved into the world of Dark Academia. (“Think Harry Potter, but for grown-ups”, I was told by one fan.) As one of the themes that are very popular at the moment, I was not surprised to see it do very well. I said in my review that “If you are a fan already, I think you’ll love it, or if you’re looking for somewhere to start, to try the subgenre, I can think of nowhere better at the moment.”
With this in mind then, we now have a second anthology. This time around we have 12 stories continuing to deal with things dark, nasty and creepy in the halls, bedrooms, canteens and libraries of academia – just in time for a new term. (Anybody would think these things were planned, wouldn’t they?)
I always think that if a story collection is to succeed, then the first story is paramount, setting the scene for what is to follow. With this in mind, then Tallow’s Cove by Erica Waters is a good start. I felt like this coastal college with a deserted church was real; it gave me a touch of the M R James.
For contrast, Utilities by Genevieve Cogman is a science-fictional tale where students live and study in a virtual college. Nicely done on the whole, although I found that the ending was a little weak.
Destroying Angel by Jamison Shea involves a magic book, doppelgangers and a lone outsider expelled from university. A revenge tale, which was quite icky in places (although not the ickiest in the collection – more later.) and as a result has trigger warnings at the beginning of the story. Also has sex scenes.
Within The Loch by Elspeth Wilson is a story of a school in decline and its odd relationship with its nearby loch – or rather what is in the loch. A nice folk-horror story, with an element of nostalgic “Goodbye Mr. Chips” embedded within it.
Advanced Dissection by Taylor Grothe, as the title suggests, involves a degree of body horror and is the ickiest story in the collection in my opinion. Involves werewolves and body dissection and therefore understandably also has trigger warnings from the start.
God, Needy, Enough With The Screaming by Olivie Blake. Olivie is a big name in the genre at present, and I suspect her name on the cover will sell many copies of this anthology, although I was a little disappointed by this one. Seraphina Fenwick is in a mental institution, for reasons that become apparent as the story progresses. A touch of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest here, as Seraphina interacts with her surrounding fellow patients and the reason for her incarceration is revealed. It’s an odd tale, deliberately unsettling, but not one that I thought was entirely successful.
Poisoned Pawn by De Elizabeth is about championship chess and the tumultuous relationship between two ex-lovers. I really liked this one – it involves the desire to succeed, whatever the cost. If you liked Walter Tevis’s The Queen’s Gambit, I think you’ll like this one.
Open Book by Kit Mayquist is a story that tells us of an archivist and his relationship with a student who is obsessed with a particular book. Solid – I felt that I should have liked this one more than I did.
A Short List of Impossible Things by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé is the story that I liked least in the anthology. Isadora Lex writes letters to Artemis, telling him of her thesis research. Perhaps it was meant to be, but I found Isadora really, really annoying, as in whiny and shallow. Where some may see the character as whimsical, I found her irritating. The twist in the tale to conclude things was a major “Huh?” moment for me. I guess every collection should have at least one story a reader dislikes, and this was the weakest story for me by far.
The Harrowing of Lucas Mortimer by M. K. Lobb involves young Lucas, a student affected by the appearance of a strange woman. With references to Dante’s Inferno and Milton’s Paradise Lost, this one deals with redemption, horror and the consequences of events in Lucas’s past.
The Coventry School for the Arts (how many of these stories set in America have British names?) by Ariel Djanikian tells of a young girl forced to live with her emotionally distant father at an Art School, where he teaches as an artist. One of those stories where things are not what they seem to be, a reminder that sins of the past will need paying for in the end.
Lastly, The Magpies by Kate Alice Marshall is a story where two girls open a portal to another world with grave consequences. Touching on Lovecraftian cosmic horror, I found that this story rounded the collection off nicely.
All in all, These Dreaming Spires shows you that the sub-genre still has ideas to give. Folk horror, cosmic horror, body horror, stories set in the past, present and future, and showcasing a pleasing number of new-to-me authors, the collection is engaging, varied and diverse enough to cover a range of stories that should again satisfy any fan of the genre, evoking images of academia and student life that will resonate with dark academia fans (dark academics?)
If I had any niggles, I will say that I didn’t think that this book was quite as strong nor as varied as the first. I can’t think of any stories I disliked in These Hallowed Halls, whereas this time around.. well, you can’t win every one. (Having said that, I rather expect story collections from different authors to be a mixed bag.)
As a general rule of thumb, if there are more hits than misses, then I count that as a win. And in this regard, These Dreaming Spires is most definitely a win. Based on this anthology, there’s more stories to be told in the future.
© 2025 Mark Yon
Hardback | Titan Books
THESE DREAMING SPIRES Edited by Marie O’Regan and Paul Kane
September 2025 | 368 pages
ISBN: 978 183 5410 196
