The Tournament
Margaret K. McElderry Books · Hardcover · June 17, 2025
Three girls with entangled pasts compete for glory in their elite all-girls private school’s annual tournament, putting their survival skills and their relationships to the test, in this young adult thriller that’s “Shakespearean…stunning…dark academia at its finest” (Publishers Weekly, starred review).
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- Who it’s for
- A cutthroat school tournament turns survival skills and tangled relationships into the same kind of test.
- Genres
- Thrillers & Suspense, Boarding School YA, YA LGBTQ+
- Published
- Margaret K. McElderry Books, June 17, 2025
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Three girls with entangled pasts compete for glory in their elite all-girls private school’s annual tournament, putting their survival skills and their relationships to the test, in this young adult thriller that’s “Shakespearean…stunning…dark academia at its finest” (Publishers Weekly, starred review). Gardner isn’t like other boarding schools.
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They take in those who’ve been rejected everywhere else, they offer a survival skills class that has students killing and gutting animals, and then there’s the Tournament. A competition available only to seven elite seniors, the Tournament is revered by the entire student body. They’d do almost anything—including completing a series of grueling physical challenges—to win the champion’s cup. And this year, three seniors make the Tournament more cutthroat than ever. Max, the ruthless scholarship student who can’t afford any distractions, not even her ex best friend Nora’s stupid confession of love at the end of last year that ruined everything between them. Nora, who always put herself on the sidelines so Max could have everything she wanted, but might just be ready for center stage now that Max has brutally excised herself from Nora’s life. And Teddy, the transfer who’s on her last chance and will chase any high that can pull her back from the gaping, dark void inside herself that’s always threatening to pull her in. If one of them wants to win, then they can’t let anything—or anybody—get in their way.
Rivalry Under Pressure
A cutthroat school tournament turns survival skills and tangled relationships into the same kind of test.
Come here for
- Rivalry and survival challenges in an elite girls’ school
- Friendships tangled with ambition, heartbreak, and high stakes
Expect
- Dark, edgy YA thriller tension
- Physical competition where personal history complicates every move
Where it sits
| YA LGBTQ+ | 70% |
|---|---|
| Boarding School YA | 62% |
| Thrillers & Suspense | 56% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- YA LGBTQ+
- Boarding School YA
- Thrillers & Suspense
- Authors
- Rebecca Barrow
- Publisher
- Margaret K. McElderry Books
- Published
- June 17, 2025
- Format
- Hardcover
- Reading lane
- YA LGBTQ+