The Teras Trials (The Teras Threat, #1) by Lucien Burr

Teras ravage England. Only London is safe. In an England where monsters have spilled into the world out of myth, only London is magically protected from the monstrous threat. The University runs the city, allowing family of graduate Hunters, Healers, Scholars, and Artificers to live behind the wards. Cassius Jones is nineteen and ready for the University. But when a bad year for the teras threat is projected, the University opens its admissions to anyone in England, behind the wards or otherwise, and suddenly the Jones' place in London is no longer secure. Cassius must contend with every other student vying for a place, and the darkest secrets of his society, whilst also balancing a tenuous interest in another boy.

Burr's debut is the first book in a dark fantasy series that challenges the nature of academia and the integrity of morality.