For centuries, the Ashborn have died in the Wastelands. star constellation tattoos etched into their skin at birth, taught to suffer in silence and pray to the goddess Azra that their souls find favor in the afterlife, while the glittering empire of glass and steel, Aurelia, blooms ruthless and beautiful on the mountainsides. Sixteen year old Kael knows the tattooed stars are not a blessing, only an imperial brand meant to keep his people enslaved, but when a slow, deadly sickness takes hold in the Wastes, he sees a chance to break the cycle. He and his closest friend Lyra, set out to uncover the truth hidden by the empire's impenetrable border wall and gamble everything on a desperate bid to escape the Wastelands But what Kael finds beneath the city's foundations is far more valuable than the long sought promise of the good life he has always dreamed of. The fabled homeland said to be swallowed by the empire's rise to power, and far more dangerous encounters that pushes them far beyound the border into the far east of the Jade dominion and the wild shores of the qemri isles. To survive inside the lion's den, Kael will have to learn to navigate the twisting streets of the Under-City and decipher the lies carved into his own bones before the empire can destroy everything he holds dear.

When Jordan swaps out the East Coast for the bright California campus of UCLA, he's finally living his dream. But he's leaving behind his high school sweetheart, who is headed to Princeton-a quick train ride away from the New York life they both once dreamed of sharing. Jordan and his girlfriend have been separated by three thousand miles and three time zones, and their promises to make it work are beginning to feel like lies. As the two try to grow accustomed to their new life, Jordan meets Audrey--a fellow UCLA student, and begins to realize what he's really given up What was once an overwhelming feeling Jordan had no problem brushing aside, is now a feeling he can no longer ignore. Torn between the life he once had, but now has grown apart of, Jordan must face the difficult reality of making a stand