The Boyfriend Academy, south Wales novelist J S Strange’s debut venture into dark academia, is built around what it means to teach men how to become ‘perfect’. While it draws on familiar genre elements – elite institutions, strict rules, and a sense of underlying unease – it uses them to explore something slightly more unsettling.
The novel centres on an exclusive academy dedicated to shaping its students into ideal versions of themselves. Through a structured system of lessons and expectations, the academy promises to refine behaviour, appearance, and emotional responses into something controlled and desirable. But as the story unfolds, it becomes clear that this pursuit of perfection comes with its own complications.
Like any good dark academia setting, the academy is both alluring and restrictive. Its order and discipline are appealing at first, but there are hints that something isn’t quite right beneath the surface. The emphasis on control and optimisation begins to feel less reassuring and more uncomfortable, raising questions about what is gained or lost in the process.
Alongside this, the novel introduces quieter themes around identity and self-understanding. There is a sense of pressure to conform to a particular ideal, and the tension between authenticity and performance becomes increasingly noticeable.
While The Boyfriend Academy plays with the familiar aesthetics of dark academia, it stands out for the way it builds unease through its central concept. It offers a compelling premise and a steady sense that something is just slightly off, making it an engaging and thought-provoking read.
