Enrol in a dark academia fantasy, in which a student necromancer teams up with her rival for gladiator games against eldritch monsters, for fans of Wednesday and A Deadly Education. Only the most talented necromancers and gladiators attend the elite academy of St Penderghast's. While necromancers study for the military, learning sorcery that twists corpses into monsters of war, gladiators slay undead horrors and thrill crowds in arenas — a professional sport called The Hallowed Game.

Halen Kilchoir would kill (and resurrect) anything to study necromancy at St Penderghast's, but thanks to a bit of self-sabotage, a team-up with her most hated rival — a gladiator — is the only way she can trial for admission. Either they both earn their place at the prestigious school, or neither of them do. Alastair, the handsome but infuriating exiled scion of the great Faulton dynasty, has nothing but contempt for necromancy, and Hal is more interested in making monsters than fighting them… even if she is decent with a sword.

Yet if they can find a way to stop bickering and work together in the arena, they just might triumph in this cut-throat competition. As Hal and Alastair fight grim abominations and ghastly peers side by side, Hal faces the horrors of eldritch magic, the perils of fame, and the truly revolting prospect of a romance with her nemesis.