These Shattered Spires Cassidy Ellis Salter 9781526682970

In a rotten and bloody world, four magical rivals are forced to work together to avoid certain death in a deadly competition. A queer, gothic fantasy YA, perfect for fans of The Atlas Six and Gideon the Ninth.

Entombed beneath a tooth-filled sky, the world rots.

Those yet to succumb to the curse of decay inhabit Fourspires Castle, home to arcanists from across the four magical disciplines - blood, bone, stone and botany.

The castle is thrown into chaos when the ruler of Fourspires is assassinated. To crown a new ruler, the arcanists and their human familiars are forced to kill or be killed in the Slaughter, a bloody fight for succession at the top of the Fifth Tower. Familiars, both servants and sources of power to arcanists, are forbidden from even speaking. For them, the Slaughter means certain death.

When Nixie, a botanical familiar, learns that her fate can be avoided and the rotting curse of Fourspires lifted, she'll stop at nothing to save herself. But she must work with familiars from across the rival disciplines - not easy when one of them is her bone witch ex-girlfriend, Taro - find four magical curse keys and climb the deadly Fifth Tower. With just 48 hours until the Slaughter begins, Nixie and Taro must forge an unlikely alliance with rival familiars Alis and Elliot. Together, the four Wyrdos must battle re-animated skeletons, poisonous and possessed plants, un-dead nuns and the deadliest enemies of all; each other.

These Shattered Spires is the first instalment of the sensational and gloriously gothic Wyrdos Trilogy.