Ann Liang’s My Only Villain Turns an Elite Law School Into Hell

Ann Liang’s My Only Villain will take academic competition into supernatural territory. The forthcoming novel opens a dark academia romantasy duology set in hell masquerading as an elite law school, with demonic figures resembling professors.

According to Publishers Weekly’s October 30 deal report, Mira acquired the project in a two-book deal. The first installment is planned for winter 2028, followed by its sequel in winter 2029.

What Is My Only Villain About?

The announcement promises college-aged competitors, ethically compromised characters, forbidden attraction, and a lovers-to-enemies relationship. A full synopsis and protagonist names are absent from the report.

That combination suggests a story where emotional vulnerability could be as dangerous as ambition. The lovers-to-enemies direction is especially intriguing: a romance unraveling raises different questions about trust than one gradually taking shape.

That is an interpretation of the pitch, rather than a description of scenes from the unpublished novel.

Why the Law School Setting Stands Out

The legal setting is the detail that makes this announcement catch my attention. A school devoted to interpreting rules offers fertile ground for fantasy about power and responsibility. Who benefits from a rule? Who gets to interpret it? What happens when an institution’s authority exceeds its moral credibility?

Those are possibilities the setting invites, not confirmed plot points. There is no basis yet for promising magical courtroom battles, binding soul contracts, or a particular system of supernatural law.

For dark academia to work, the institution needs to matter beyond its architecture. A law school offers a compelling opportunity to put its students’ reasoning, and their excuses for bad decisions, under pressure.

A Familiar Interest in Academic Pressure

Liang has explored elite education before. On her official page for If You Could See the Sun, scholarship student Alice Sun attends a wealthy Beijing boarding school and begins selling secrets after developing invisibility powers. Her increasingly dangerous work forces a choice about what she is willing to sacrifice to remain there.

That earlier premise makes academic status a useful point of comparison. Readers interested in how Liang combines ambition with speculative fiction have a book to explore while waiting.

Want to start there? Explore If You Could See the Sun on Amazon.

Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

When Will My Only Villain Be Released?

Winter 2028 is the announced publication window, rather than an exact release date. The deal report also leaves the sequel’s title unspecified.

For now, the strongest reason to watch this project is its central question: what might an education in justice look like inside an institution built around damnation?

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