The Last Graduate

How it reads

The Last Graduate is fantasy (dark academia, specifically), and its dominant mood is dark. It goes to difficult places and doesn't look away. It moves fast: plot-driven and hard to put down, the kind of book that carries you along even when you're tired.

It's set in an invented world, in the present day, told in the first person by several narrators. Its central concerns are identity, coming of age and power and politics. In weight it sits in the middle: substantial without being heavy going.

It's a later book in a series — you'll usually want to start earlier. It ends on a cliffhanger, so have the next book ready. At 388 pages it's an ordinary novel's length. It's well known, the kind of book most keen readers have heard of.