Broken Tower

The heir to an arcane bloodline must outwit their ambitious rival to stop a ruthless magical adversary in a YA fantasy debut perfect for fans of “A Lesson in Vengeance” and “Hell Followed With Us”. Rat Evans, nonbinary heir to one of the oldest magical bloodlines in New York, doesn't cast spells anymore. For as long as Rat can remember, they've been surrounded by doorways no one else sees and corridors that aren't on any map. Then one day, they opened a passage and found a broken tower in a field of weeds, and something followed them back. When Rat is accepted into Bellamy Arts, all they want is a place to hide and to make sure they never open another passageway again. But when the only other person who knows what really happened last year-Harker Blakely, the dangerously gifted trans boy who used to be Rat's closest friend, turns up on campus, Rat begins to realize that Bellamy Arts might not be as safe as they'd thought. And the tower might not be through with them yet. Soon, Rat finds themself caught in a web of secrets and long-buried magic, with their friend-turned-enemy at their throat. But the closer they come to uncovering the truth about the tower, the further they're drawn toward the unsettling powers that threaten to swallow them whole.

A powerful spellcaster must find an ancient archive and escape a dangerous bargain to save their friend-and themself-in the second book in The Broken Tower saga, which New York Times bestselling author Andrew Joseph White called "a twisting, creeping mystery full of tenuous friendships, difficult choices, and beautiful magic." Rat Evans knows that they shouldn't have made a deal with Isola, a shadowy raven knight older than the stars and more powerful than the strongest arcanists. They know Isola can't be trusted, know that promising to go with her once all of this is over was a mistake. But they'd needed to make sure their friends were safe-that Harker was safe, even though they're still not sure if he's a friend or a rival or something more complicated. And even if Isola's been keeping him locked away at the tower for almost two months. Now, Rat needs to search Bellamy Arts for answers on how to get Isola's heart out of the Ingrid Collection. But even with the help of Will, Jinx, and Agatha, the doors to the collection might be the one puzzle Rat can't solve, and Evening is fast on their heels. The more Rat tries to use their powers to unravel the secrets of Isola's heart and the Collection, the more they realize how intertwined they may be in all of this-and that their role in Isola's game might be an even more dangerous one than they'd imagined. Will Rat find a way to escape their deal and save the boy they care about most? And what are they willing to risk in order to make sure that the tower and Isola are razed to the ground, for good this time? Enthralling and filled with twists, the second book in the Broken Tower Saga combines the dark academia aesthetic of A Lesson in Vengeance with the queer rage of Hell Followed with Us and will have readers tearing through the pages to see how this duology ends. Lee Paige O'Brien (he/they) is an author and literary agent from New York, where he writes queer fantasy books about strange magic and monsters of all kinds.