Magic Academy Books for Adults: Five Series Worth Enrolling In

There's something about a school full of magic that never gets old. The hidden hallways. The rivalries. The teacher who clearly knows more than they're saying. The feeling that you are exactly where you shouldn't be, and that it might be exactly where you belong.

The good news is that magic academy stories aren't just for kids anymore. Here are five series that bring all of that to grown-up readers, with higher stakes, sharper banter, and romance that doesn't fade to black before it gets interesting.

What makes a good magic academy book for adults?

• The school is dangerous. Homework is the least of anyone's problems.
• The heroine doesn't quite fit. She's new, underestimated, or hiding something, and the school notices.
• The walls keep secrets. Old curses, hidden histories, and a purpose nobody explained at orientation.
• Romance with real tension. Rivals, mysterious strangers, and feelings that complicate everything.
• Friends who become family. Because nobody survives a school like this alone.

Five series to try

1. Elementals Academy by Michelle Madow

The first book is The Discovery of Magic. Summer Donovan is a college student working to pay for her private school. When she uses magic to defend herself against a bullying sorority president, she learns she's a witch, and she's invited to Elementals Academy, a school for witches descended from the Greek gods. Her magic doesn't work the way it should there, and the mysterious Zane Caldwell makes everything harder.

2. The Windhaven Witches (mine)

I'll be upfront: this one is mine, so I'm biased. But I wrote it for readers who want a gothic school with real secrets in it.

Autumn Blackwood has never been the type to ask for trouble. Then she's accepted to Windhaven Academy under mysterious circumstances, and trouble starts answering anyway. The school is gothic and full of gargoyles, the Blackwood family manor is full of ghosts, and the family name carries a legacy nobody ever explained to her. She's done waiting for answers, so she starts digging into her family's past, the academy's darker purpose, and a curse that has haunted the Blackwood family for generations.

Expect a love story that hits fast and runs deep, friends who become family, and humor to cut the dread. It's YA+ paranormal fantasy romance, so there's stronger language and some mature situations.

• Book 1: Secret Legacy
• Book 2: Soul Legacy
• Book 3: Haunted Legacy
• Book 4: Cursed Legacy
• Bonus story: Sin Eater, a short story told from the Angel of Death's point of view, free as an ebook

Want all four at once? Grab the Windhaven Witches Omnibus, or browse the whole Windhaven Witches collection.

3. The Coven: Academy Magic by Chandelle LaVaun

This is a five-book series that starts with The Hidden Witch, and all five books are out, so you can binge the whole thing without waiting. It's billed as an epic romance set in a magical academy, with a sharp-witted heroine and a swoon-worthy hero.

4. The Scholomance by Naomi Novik

The first book is A Deadly Education. The Scholomance is a magical school built outside normal reality, and it has no teachers at all. Monsters that feed on magic hunt the students, and about half of them don't live to graduate. Galadriel "El" Higgins is a junior who has to survive while keeping her own destructive power under control. It's darker, wittier, and not remotely cozy. The trilogy continues with The Last Graduate and The Golden Enclaves.

5. The Magicians by Lev Grossman

Quentin Coldwater is a bored genius who gets pulled into a world of magic that turns out to be darker and more decadent than the fantasy he grew up on. If you want a magic school story for people who already know life isn't tidy, start here.

Where to start

• Want a romance-forward academy? Elementals Academy or The Coven: Academy Magic.
• Want a gothic school with ghosts and family secrets? The Windhaven Witches.
• Want high danger and sharp humor? The Scholomance.
• Want a darker, more grown-up take? The Magicians.

If you're coming from the Harry Potter side of things, I've also put together a list of books like Harry Potter for adults.

Not sure which of my books to start with? The reading order page will point you to a Book 1 in a few clicks.