The Reader Series

In the thrilling conclusion of New York Times bestselling The Reader trilogy, the war that was prophesied has begun and Sefia is determined to survive it.

“A fast-paced adventure with fully developed characters that explores memory and the power of the written word.”—School Library Journal, starred review

“Thoroughly immersive, thoroughly satisfying.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

As the Book had always prophesied, the Red War has finally commenced and is hurtling toward a quick and bloody end. Unless Sefia can find some way to stop Archer from being drawn into the war, some way to stop him from leading an army and dying, Archer’s days are numbered. But escaping the Guard and the Book’s prophecy is no easy task. After all, what is written always comes to pass.

As Sefia and Archer watch Kelanna succumb to the Guard’s will, they will have to choose between their love and joining a war that will tear them apart.

The sequel to the critically-acclaimed New York Times bestselling fantasy The Reader, “highly recommended for fans of Cornelia Funke’s Inkheart and female-powered adventures.”—School Library Journal

Having barely escaped the clutches of the Guard, Sefia and Archer are back on the run, slipping into the safety of the forest to tend to their wounds and plan their next move. Haunted by painful memories, Archer struggles to overcome the trauma of his past with the impressors, whose cruelty plagues him whenever he closes his eyes. But when Sefia and Archer happen upon a crew of impressors in the wilderness, Archer finally finds a way to combat his nightmares: by hunting impressors and freeing the boys they hold captive.

With Sefia’s help, Archer travels across the kingdom of Deliene rescuing boys while she continues to investigate the mysterious Book and the secrets it contains. But the more battles they fight, the more fights Archer craves, until his thirst for violence threatens to transform him from the gentle boy Sefia knows to a grim warrior with a cruel destiny. As Sefia begins to unravel the threads that connect Archer’s fate to her parents’ betrayal of the Guard so long ago, she and Archer must figure out a way to subvert the Guard’s plans before they are ensnared in a war that will pit kingdom against kingdom, leaving their future and the safety of the entire world hanging in the balance.

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • In a world where reading is a lost art, a young girl undertakes a perilous quest in order to rescue the one person she has left.

“I was spellbound from the first page. This is a book you will not soon forget.”—Renée Ahdieh, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Wrath and the Dawn

“Highly recommended for fans of Inkheart and female-powered adventures.”—School Library Journal, starred review

Once there was, and one day there will be. This is the beginning of every story.

Sefia lives her life on the run. After her father is viciously murdered, she flees to the forest with her aunt Nin, the only person left she can trust. They survive in the wilderness together, hunting and stealing what they need, forever looking over their shoulders for new threats. But when Nin is kidnapped, Sefia is suddenly on her own, with no way to know who’s taken Nin or where she is. Her only clue is a strange rectangular object that once belonged to her father, something she comes to realize is a book.

Though reading is unheard of in Sefia’s world, she slowly learns, unearthing the book’s closely guarded secrets, which may be the key to Nin’s disappearance and discovering what really happened the day her father was killed. With no time to lose, and with the unexpected help of swashbuckling pirates and an enigmatic stranger, Sefia sets out on a dangerous journey to rescue her aunt, using the book as her guide.

In the end, she discovers what the book had been trying to tell her all along: Nothing is as it seems, and the end of her story is only the beginning.