These Shattered Spires
In this YA high fantasy, four magical rivals must work together to survive a deadly competition. Perfect for fans of Leigh Bardugo and Gideon the Ninth.

Entombed beneath a tooth-filled sky, the world rots. Those who haven't yet decayed inhabit Fourspires Castle, home to arcanists from the four disciplines—blood, bone, stone and botany.

But when the king of Fourspires is assassinated, the castle is thrown into chaos. To crown a new ruler, the arcanists and their familiars must kill or be killed in a bloody fight to the top of the Fifth Tower. For the familiars, who are the arcanists' servants and sources of power, this will mean certain death.

Nixie, a botanical familiar, discovers that this fate can be avoided if she and familiars from each discipline find four cursed keys and take them to the Fifth Tower themselves. It's a dangerous and deeply illegal quest, and none of them has reason to trust one another. But with just forty-eight hours until the competition begins, four tenuous allies must decide if they can bear to work together long enough to save themselves.

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These Shattered Spires
In this YA high fantasy, four magical rivals must work together to survive a deadly competition. Perfect for fans of Leigh Bardugo and Gideon the Ninth.

Entombed beneath a tooth-filled sky, the world rots. Those who haven't yet decayed inhabit Fourspires Castle, home to arcanists from the four disciplines—blood, bone, stone and botany.

But when the king of Fourspires is assassinated, the castle is thrown into chaos. To crown a new ruler, the arcanists and their familiars must kill or be killed in a bloody fight to the top of the Fifth Tower. For the familiars, who are the arcanists' servants and sources of power, this will mean certain death.

Nixie, a botanical familiar, discovers that this fate can be avoided if she and familiars from each discipline find four cursed keys and take them to the Fifth Tower themselves. It's a dangerous and deeply illegal quest, and none of them has reason to trust one another. But with just forty-eight hours until the competition begins, four tenuous allies must decide if they can bear to work together long enough to save themselves.

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These Shattered Spires

These Shattered Spires

by Cassidy Ellis Salter
These Shattered Spires

These Shattered Spires

by Cassidy Ellis Salter

Hardcover

$20.99 
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Overview

In this YA high fantasy, four magical rivals must work together to survive a deadly competition. Perfect for fans of Leigh Bardugo and Gideon the Ninth.

Entombed beneath a tooth-filled sky, the world rots. Those who haven't yet decayed inhabit Fourspires Castle, home to arcanists from the four disciplines—blood, bone, stone and botany.

But when the king of Fourspires is assassinated, the castle is thrown into chaos. To crown a new ruler, the arcanists and their familiars must kill or be killed in a bloody fight to the top of the Fifth Tower. For the familiars, who are the arcanists' servants and sources of power, this will mean certain death.

Nixie, a botanical familiar, discovers that this fate can be avoided if she and familiars from each discipline find four cursed keys and take them to the Fifth Tower themselves. It's a dangerous and deeply illegal quest, and none of them has reason to trust one another. But with just forty-eight hours until the competition begins, four tenuous allies must decide if they can bear to work together long enough to save themselves.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781547618637
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
Publication date: 03/10/2026
Pages: 464
Product dimensions: 5.51(w) x 8.25(h) x 1.00(d)
Age Range: 14 Years

About the Author

Cassidy Ellis Salter is a fantasy author who lives in London with a pile of bones and historical oddities they've rescued from the Thames. They have previously published two middle grade novels, The Bone Snatcher and Where the Woods End.
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