Review of These Shattered Spires by Cassidy Ellis Salter.
Title: These Shattered Spires.
Author: Cassidy Ellis Salter.
Genre: Fantasy, YA, Young Adult, Lesbian, LGBT, Queer, Gothic, Dark Fantasy.
Year Published: 2026.
My Rating: 2/5
Blurb:
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.
Review
These Shattered Spires should have been perfect for me. I was drawn in by the problematic sapphic lovers (where one is a necromancer!) and their cohorts fighting against the system in a visceral gothic setting but felt let down by a considerable amount of the diegesis.
I thoroughly enjoyed the brutal setting and fell in love with the world-building. The cast of characters live beneath a sky comprised of a toothy maw, cut off from the rest of the world. Underneath this fearsome firmament, five spires stand tall. Four represent each element of magic: botany, bone, blood and stone. Each of the four main spires are led by a head arcanist and their familiar, sapping the latter of their energy and life each time magic is wrested from them. Together, they must carry out a ritual each morning to restore equilibrium in their world, as it is in a state of perpetual rot.
The last element, however, represents death. The events at the start of the novel trigger a fierce fight to the death, aptly named the Slaughter, so that an arcanist may be exalted in order to take the mantle of the Thaumaturge.
I really enjoyed the concept of the Thaumaturge, though we didn't see much of him. He was paragon and epitome of arcanists; the most ancient and powerful among them. To demonstrate his power, he controlled colossal and monstrous, undead nuns to carry out his will and enforce the rules of the Spires. The nuns were probably my favourite part of the book. Arching over the others, they hunted perceived trouble-makers and endeavoured to consume them. They were so unnerving, encapsulating the nature of life in the Spires: oppressive, daunting and unrelenting.
I also enjoyed the other creatures, such as Mr Fingers (a floating set of digits) and the starvelings, aimless demonic creatures seeking to destroy everything in their sights. The world-building was vivid and powerful, feeling claustrophobic and unnerving which made those parts a thrill to read. This was bolstered by incredible illustrations that popped up frequently in the book. However, I could not appreciate them to my full potential due to formatting issues. Bear in mind, however, that I read an ARC and the finished product will most likely differ.
However, despite the perfect set-up, I felt truly let down by a substantial portion of the diegesis. I found the over-arching plot lacklustre, abrupt and jarring. The symbols of each spire/discipline were named 'mascots', which felt disjointed to the overall grimdark feel of the setting. It made me think of jovial characters in costumes, not the symbol of dark magic.
Furthermore, I feel like the author decided to focus on character arcs, which is absolutely fine, but neglected the Thaumaturge plot, which is what I was so invested in. One of the big reveals/twists at the end was so overtly predictable, I don't know how the characters hadn't discussed its possibility beforehand. Conversely, yet similarly, the other reveal felt contrived and unexpected(in a bad way); the reasons for this character's decisions felt non-sensical and unconducive to her goals.
Furthermore, significant threats such as Geraldin and the other arcanists were swiftly and suddenly vanquished after such a tense build-up. The abrupt and, frankly, boring way these threats were extinguished felt disappointing and made me question why the familiars hadn't risen up against their arcanists before, as they outnumber and outskill them by huge margins. In addition, the final confrontation of the novel was over in a couple of chapters and felt so disappointing.
It's such a shame that the incredible world-building felt wasted to me, only a few of the characters and their stories felt immersive whereas the rest of the cast felt lacklustre at best.
The main character, Taro seems like she drew inspiration from a fellow necromancer Gideon Nav from the Locked Tomb Series. Where I loved Gideon and found her endearing and engaging, Taro felt exasperating. Her introductory chapter at the start of the book felt clunky and cliche and didn't really fit with later chapters. I thought she was going to be dark and sardonic while keeping her snarky - and unfunny - comments to herself. However, in the middle of the book I felt Taro was getting a bit more likeable, but that was short-lived and, once again, my hopes were dashed. I also felt like her full name - Tarenteeno - was supposed to be funny but it didn't feel like that at all, it just felt strange and out of place. She was an awful character to read and had no redeeming qualities in any way. Now, I am able to love awful women like Avrana Kern in Adrian Tchaikovsky's Children of Time series and Harrowhark in The Locked Tomb series. However, Taro felt like a chore to read. I appreciate how difficult and alien it would be to be amiable in such a tense brutal setting.
Nixie, Taro's girlfriend but also not-girlfriend (it's hard to explain without spoiling) was also awful in a less overt manner. She felt like such a nothing-burger of a character, yet two of the characters were in love with her, despite her vapid personality and previous transphobia. Furthermore, she is somehow overly trusting, despite being betrayed in a ruthless and life-altering way, whilst her motivations within the plot are contrived and absurd.
However, I enjoyed Elliot and Alix's backstory, personality and their dynamics with each other. I found myself rooting for them and their friendship over the other characters as they were the only ones who went through some character growth. Whereas Taro felt like she went through character regression instead and Nixie remained the same insipid person. Her one good point, however, is that she finally accepted Alix's gender, (after much prodding and confrontation) which I found a profound and quite poignant.
I struggled with this book immensely. I fell in love with the setting and two of the characters, but the story felt jarring, contrived and erratic. I think that perhaps it would be better suited for an adult novel rather than YA, capable of a little more nuance and real grimdark aspects.