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Book: “An Arcane Study of Stars” by Sydney J. Shields
Publishing Info: Orbit, April 2026
Where Did I Get this Book: ARC from the publisher!
Where Can You Get this Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | IndieBound
Book Description: When Claudia Jolicoeur is rejected from Cygnus University, a devilish stranger named Dorian appears in her nightmares and offers her a bargain: he will get her into Cygnus if she learns how to free him from a prison of stars. He takes a bite of her soul to seal the deal, and Claudia wakes to a letter from the High Sage of Cygnus stating she will take the place of Odette Dufort, a Rhetoric student who passed away.
Her arrival raises suspicions, rumors that she had a hand in Odette’s death spread like wildfire, and Cassius MacLeod, the High Sage’s apprentice and Claudia’s fellow Rhetoric student, seems hellbent on humiliating her. Determined to clear her name, she searches for any evidence that could prove her innocence. When someone—or something—starts slipping her pieces of Odette’s diary, Claudia uncovers a horrifying truth: over the last century, celestial witches at Cygnus have been murdered. Odette was one of them, and Claudia could be next. For her own protection, Claudia needs to free Dorian—and fast.
By night, she studies the stars, slowly unraveling the mystery of Dorian’s prison. By day, she and Cassius wage rhetorical war as debate partners in class. What begins as a fierce rivalry devolves into something deeper, darker, and dangerously sensual. As Claudia inches closer to the truth, she must decide: would trusting Cassius be the last mistake she ever makes?
Review: Well, here we go again. Every once in a while I seem to hit a reading slump where I pick up one book after another and keep bouncing off of them. I should have perhaps been a bit more wary of this one, as I didn’t love the author’s first book, “The Honey Witch.” But I keep looking for a book to scratch that dark academia itch, so here we are.
Let’s start with some positives, though. The book starts off with an incredibly strong opening chapter, setting the stage of a trapped god who is awoken by a woman’s scream. And as the story continued, I kept wanting to get back to this energy! Not only did the writing of this opening chapter feel superior to much of what was on offer in the rest of the book (I’m not sure if this was due to a tone change, veering away from the more serious “high fantasy” tone used in this prologue or what), but the world-building and history explored in this subplot were by far the most interesting parts of the book. It was only here that the story came near to anything resembling the “dark” portion of “dark academia,” and it was also the only portion of the book that felt like it had any true stakes involved.
That said, even here, I felt like most of the twists and turns were projected so far in advance that the impact was completely lost when these reveals actually landed. We get to the end, and there’s supposed to be this major twist, and I just found myself raising my eyebrows at it all. Wasn’t this obvious from practically the start? Beyond that, there were some late-game twists in the romance that I really hated. I’m not going on another rant about this; I can’t. But I’m so sick of these romance twists.
But unfortunately, the romance and the characters were the biggest letdown. We had another example of “enemies to lovers” turning into “instalove” almost immediately. There wasn’t enough time to build up any sort of real antagonism between these two. And, likewise, there wasn’t enough time for me to buy into the extreme levels of devotion being proclaimed on the page shortly after this shift in their relationship occurs.
Beyond that, the romance took a distinct turn into the BDSM realm that I wasn’t expecting at all. I usually look for the label “dark romance” when making my selections, as I know that BDSM love stories aren’t for me. But, again, this one didn’t give any hints that this was the sort of spice content that would be on offer. I don’t think it was particularly extreme by any means, but again, this is a romance topic that is never going to work for me, and I wish I could more easily discover it going in so that it wouldn’t hit as a surprise halfway through a book I’m now committed to reading/reviewing.
Overall, this book might work better for dark romance readers. I think many of the tropes that the romance plotlines follow will work much better for these readers. I also know that I was an outlier in my opinions of “The Honey Witch,” so there are definitely fans of this author who will enjoy this. Indeed, based on the strength of the captured god subplot, even I could find the appeal in parts of what this author has to offer. Unfortunately, the romance was really not for me.
Rating 7: While I liked some aspects of the fantasy world and there is potential in the overall world-building, I didn’t enjoy the love story at all.
Reader’s Advisory:
“An Arcane Study of Stars” can be found on these Goodreads lists: 2026 Fantasy Romance/Romantasy books to look forward to and 2026 Fantasy (All sub genres w. romance).
The Library Ladies 