Historian and bestselling author of The Mapmakers Trilogy, S.E. Grove, uncovers the strongholds and corruptions of power within a mystifying dark academia world in her latest novel, Armor for Liars.
In 1880s Salem, Massachusetts, Commonwealth University’s academic society longs for power to control both the living and the spirits beyond. Female “thew” spirits are captured from the spirit realm to be tied to an enchanter, a profession only for men who use both thews and enchanted armor to preserve and manipulate their own power.
Clementine “Clem” Quinn, who has disguised herself as a male student to study as an enchanter, catches the eye of Sam, a spirit and previous student with his own hidden past that led to his untimely death. Both Clem and Sam have suffered individually from the classist, manipulative and even murderous intent of the society. Despite their ghostly-human differences, they work together to dismantle the hierarchy, aiming to control their fate and avenge those they love.
Grove’s alternating structure of Sam’s narration and Clem’s letters enhances the foggy atmosphere that is as ominous as the spirits around them. While primarily a historical fantasy shrouded in layers of mystery, Armor for Liars keeps an unflinching focus on class, power and access to education and demonstrates how armor both protects the powerful and empowers the marginalized to fight back. As Grove writes, “When the law is wrong, disobedience is just.”
Armor for Liars starts as a ghostly slow-burn mystery that ignites into a flame of adventure, unsatisfied until each piece of armor is shed to reveal the truth of the Commonwealth’s sinister history.