Middlegame

"There is a version of Middlegame that is just the story of two childhood friends (and separated twins), Roger and Dodger, navigating youth and young adulthood, high school and college, as preternatural geniuses with a hinky psychic connection. There is another version that is about James Reed, the powerful alchemist who created them and set them on a collision course meant to change the world. And Seanan McGuire manages to fit both these stories into one skin, jumping back and forth from conspiracy to friendship and back again in a way that beautifully ratchets up the tension on both sides until, finally, everyone comes together in a bloody conclusion that both offers answers and leaves bodies on the floor."