Armor for Liars

Two starred reviews!

A brilliant girl risking it all to infiltrate a secret society of enchanters gets unexpected help from one of their victims—now a vengeful spirit—in this “cunning, high-stakes” (Publishers Weekly) historical dark academia novel by New York Times bestselling author S. E. Grove.

In a world where magic is drawn from the realm of the dead, enchanters—always men—go to great lengths to steal it. Voyaging to the spirit realm, an enchanter will claim a dead woman’s spirit as his own and make her a servant, a tool for his own magical ends. Enchanters maintain great secrecy around their practices, so only a wealthy elite have access to this power: members of a secret society shrouded within Commonwealth University, the nation’s premiere institution for the study of enchantment.

When Sam—the son of islander immigrants of modest means—dared to use magic to blend into the blueblood world of Commonwealth, it cost him his life. Now a spirit, he’s determined to avenge his murder and uncover the secrets of the Cisneros Society from beyond the grave.

When Sam encounters Clementine Quinn, a young woman disguised as a male student at Commonwealth, he quickly sees that Clem is putting herself in grave danger at the school. But as he tries to warn her of the peril, it becomes clear that his past and her fate are inextricably entwined. To avenge his murder and prevent hers, they’ll need to help one another and thereby prove, ultimately, that friendship and love can transcend everything, even death.

S.E. Grove is the author of The Waning Age and the New York Times bestselling The Glass Sentence, the first book in the Mapmakers series. Under the name Sylvia Sellers-García, she also writes about the history of Latin America; she teaches at Boston College and focuses on colonial Guatemala. She loves reading maps, spending time in archives, and finding forgotten things in pockets. Sylvia lives in Massachusetts with her family.