Into the Crooked Place

Creije is a city of magic where the streets belong to the deadly and the dreamers. Four criminals live by their wits there, and each wants something different from it.

Tavia busks and sells dark-magic goods, and she is ready to leave Creije and put her crimes behind her. Wesley, the nearest thing the city has to a gangster, grew up hungry on its streets and means to make the whole realm kneel to him.

Karam guards the city's worst criminals by day and fights in the rings by night, building a fearsome reputation. Saxony, a resistance fighter, hides from the people who destroyed her family and is set on revenge.

Their plans hold until Tavia delivers a vial of dark magic to someone she cares about. She did not know she owned such a weapon, and the delivery sparks the biggest conflict the city has seen in decades.

The four outsiders now have to work together to save their home and the wider world. Enemies press in from every side, so none of them can trust anyone, least of all one another. This gritty YA fantasy opens a two-book series by Alexandra Christo, who also wrote To Kill a Kingdom.