The Inkborne Society | An Arcane Inheritance

An Arcane Inheritance

Kamilah Cole

A modern-day dark academia fantasy with a twist, perfect for fans of Babel and A Deadly Education.

Warren University has stood amongst the ivy elite for centuries, built on the bones—and forbidden magic—of its most prized BIPOC students…hiding the rot of a secret society that will do anything to keep their own powers burning bright. No matter who they must sacrifice along the way.

Ellory Morgan is determined to prove that she belongs at Warren University, an ivy league school whose history is deeply linked to occult rumors and dark secrets. But as she settles into her Freshman year, something about the ornate buildings and shadowy paths feels strangely…familiar. And, with every passing day, that sense of déjà vu grows increasingly sinister.

Despite all logic, despite all reason, despite all the rules of reality, Ellory knows one thing to be true: she has been here before. And if she can't convince brooding legacy student Hudson Graves to help her remember a past that seems determined to slip through her fingers as if by some insidious magic…this time, she may lose herself for good.

“Draws readers into its spell before asking readers to consider who pays the true price of power—and what it means to refuse to let the powerful win.” — Laura R. Samotin, author of The Sins on Their Bones

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Posts about this book from across Bindery

Ronnica Reads
Ronnica Fatt
• Jun 5

I’m excited to discuss a new book with you all: An Arcane Inheritance by Kamilah Cole. This book is in one of my all-time favorite sub-genres: dark academia. I’m a big nerd and I love to read out of school (especially in my own free time when I have no such deadlines or stress on myself).

Here is my schedule for discussion:

So, now on to my thoughts on the first section.
I’m so glad that the section (that I had sectioned out on length) ends with the scene in the bookstore, because that scene is the one I best remember from my first read back in January. While we get a hint of the unknown creepiness that lurks in the tattoo in the mirror scene, it was when the backwards E pops back up that I knew we were in for a fun secret.

As this is my 2nd read, I am definitely reading with new eyes (but no spoilers from me for later sections!). On my first read, I remember having some issues with this section that do get cleared up satisfactorily later. So if you’re on the fence, I’d recommend keep going.

A couple of themes that stood out to me:

Classism/privilege
While both classism and racism are prominent in this book, I do think it’s helpful to address them separately. The classism discussion specifically seems to be around privilege: and how when we have privilege, we are often ignorant to the advantage we have.
Ellory sees this a lot in her classmates who assume she has the same background as them, and when they discover otherwise, see the difference as a burden (scholarship students? ewww).

Racism/tokenism
It is not shocking to any of us that Ellory would encounter racism at such an institution. But there were two specific instances that occur in this first section of the book that I think highlight a nuanced approach and can be particularly enlightening, especially to us white folk.
First, Ellory is absolutely tokenized at the institution. She is also seen first as Black and put into a box with racist assumptions. They ask if her parents died of gun violence. They ask her about BLM as if it’s her movement (while also making clear that they’re supportive only for appearance’s sake).

I also think we see the all-too common assumption at the dinner party that an accusation of racism is worse than racism. Why do we white people focus on defending ourselves against the accusations instead of considering our words and actions? I surmise it’s because we can only be accused of racism and not harmed by it, that we focus on the former.

Curious your thoughts on any of this, or anything else that stood out!