Writer/director Christopher Nolan once said about his film “Tenet” that it is “not all comprehensible” and is an experience to be had, not a puzzle to be unpacked. I feel similarly about “An Arcane Inheritance,” a dark academia fantasy by Kamilah Cole, who has previously published young adult fantasy novels and a short story in a romance/fantasy anthology.
“An Arcane Inheritance” is set on the newest (fictional) Ivy League campus, Warren University. Ellory Morgan, a person of color and scholarship student in a sea of legacy students and trust fund Chads, starts experiencing odd phenomena: flashes of confusion, familiar spots on campus suddenly become disorienting and a strange tattoo appears on her body. Ellory’s search for answers leads her to academic rival and handsome classmate, Hudson Graves, whose family the campus library is named after.
Together, Ellory and Hudson search for answers surrounding a secret society at Warren, as well as the increasingly obvious signs of magic on campus and the disappearances of eight other students of color in the university’s short history. This leads them down dangerous paths, turning over stones better left unturned.
It was a jump to believe there was magic, or at least that it had any real implications or purpose in the book’s world. A character could suck the life from a patch of grass and also seance with the dead, but this wasn’t consistent and these powers did not seem mutually inclusive or intentional.
It also was not clear what the magic was for or what it powered; apparently Ellory’s wild magic can launch spells big and small, but we never get to see the effect of these spells. I would have liked these strings to tie up in a more satisfying manner, explaining the reason why magic exists in the “Arcane” world.
“An Arcane Inheritance” is being marketed as an adult novel, but it reads pretty young. It reminds me of “Legendborn” and “Where Sleeping Girls Lie,” which are popular young adult campus mysteries, with “Legendborn” also heavy on the magic. We get a whiff of a love triangle with Ellory at the vertex, similar to both aforementioned novels, and mysteries surrounding magic or missing persons spearhead the puzzles in the pair of young adult books.
Although it’s compared to Leigh Bardugo’s “Ninth House” by the publisher, “Arcane" differs from it, thematically; “Ninth House” explores quite dark themes, including sexual assault, murder and drug abuse. While “An Arcane Inheritance” explores murder, missing persons and various forms of elitism, it is done in a much lighter way than an adult novel typically is, especially in its closed-door sexual content.
Despite the gaps in the narrative and the fact that I forgot about it as soon as I finished, I had a lot of fun reading “An Arcane Inheritance.” It has everything you could want in a dark academia book: spooky vibes, magic, a touch of romance. This novel may be lacking technically, but it makes up for it in fun banter, an intriguing mystery and eerie atmosphere.
![The Rootsí drummer Ahmir ìQuestloveî Thompson on the Main Stage Sunday evening at Soundset 2016. ] JEFF WHEELER ï jeff.wheeler@startribune.com The ninth annual Soundset hip-hop festival took place in its new location at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds Sunday, May 29, 2016 in Falcon Heights.](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/P24MEN2MOJ7YT7LSJWOAPAKQ6A.jpg?&w=252&ar=3:2&fit=crop)