Description

The Secret History
meets
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
in #1 bestselling author Ava Reid’s brand new, epic, dystopian YA novel.

There is no application process for Valeran Academy, but it boasts the brightest – and precociously criminal – students in the nation.

A disgraced politician from a powerful American dynasty.

A coldly brilliant strategist who will sacrifice anything to win.

A former pageant queen with a talent that could change the world.

A prodigious female soldier with an enigmatic past – and a dangerous secret.

With eerie war simulations, cutthroat competitions and foreboding new technology, Valeran trains its students to be elite assets in a Cold War that has dragged on for nearly a century. But as a sinister conspiracy takes shape and these four are drawn together for a mysterious mission, their loyalties are tested, their convictions shaken and they all begin to wonder: are they ushering in a new era of freedom, or tyranny?

Publisher Review

Praise for Ava Reid’s novels: A Study in Drowning: A love letter to stories – and to everyone silenced or forgotten in their retelling. Allison Saft A wonderfully written, tense and moving novel that offers its audience an endlessly readable mix of historical fiction, gothic mystery and fantasy romance that will draw you in again and again. CultureFly As merciless as a rising tide and as beguiling as a fairy’s bargain. Melissa Albert A masterclass in pacing, characterisation and tension, with a beautiful meditation on stories and who gets to have an authorial voice. The Nerd Daily Praise for A Theory of Dreaming: Rarely before has a sequel ever felt so entirely necessary … A true dark academia fairy tale, combining magic, mystery and mythology with literature, politics and intertextuality to craft a haunting story of authorship, identity and love. CultureFly A deftly woven mystery, brimming with lyrical writing and compelling characters who will steal your heart. – Rebecca Ross, bestselling author of Divine Rivals We’ve been counting down the days ever since until we can find ourselves reunited with Effy and Preston Cosmopolitan