These Shattered Spires (The Wyrdos Trilogy #1)

Rival teen witches unite to circumvent their doom in this heartrending trilogy opener from Salter (Where the Woods End). Wresting magic from an element is injurious, excruciating work, so arcanists, those able to use this power, enslave magically gifted children, dubbed familiars, to perform the extractions. Fortunate familiars live into their 30s, but when someone inside the dome-encased Fourspires Castle commits regicide, bone witch Taro, botanic witch Nixie, stone witch Alis, and blood witch Elliot—each an 18-year-old familiar to the head arcanists of the four disciplines—fear their days are numbered. Royal tradition dictates that the head arcanists vie for the throne via mortal combat, after which all the losing arcanist’s familiars must die. According to a Fourspires ghost, though, survival lies outside the dome. To break the centuries-old curse anchoring this dome, Taro, Nixie, Alis, and Elliot must join forces, but a failed attempt could end in apocalypse. Salter deftly balances the intersectionally diverse characters’ grim existence with gleefully gruesome worldbuilding, snarky banter, and fraught queer romance. Candid close-third-person narration alternates between the quartet’s perspectives, revealing the pain and yearning that underlie the protagonists’ outsize personalities while fostering tension and drive. Ages 14–up. Agent: Stevie Finegan, Zeno Literary. (Mar.)