A Black City Novel Series

The pulse-pounding conclusion to the Black City trilogy, where a postapocalyptic world is torn apart by prejudice, power, and forbidden love.

“Compelling and fresh.”—VOYA

“Provides a balanced combination of romance, action, and fantasy.”—School Library Journal

Following the enthralling cliff-hanger ending of Phoenix, Natalie finds herself separated from Ash and unexpectedly reunited with her parents, including the father she thought was dead. After her escape from prison, Natalie’s mother joined the Sentry Rebellion and had Natalie brought to her in Gallium. Natalie’s relieved to know her parents are okay, despite her shock at learning her father is alive and well, but she can only think of Ash. She hasn’t heard a word of him since she and Elijah were brought to the underground headquarters of the Sentry Rebellion. But she knows he’s out there. And she vows not to stop searching for him, even if her parents won’t help.

Ash, meanwhile, finds himself back in Black City, which was abandoned after the fires he set ravaged the city weeks ago. Still on the run from the Sentry government and now aligned with Elijah’s brothers, it’s the perfect place to avoid detection. He worries for Natalie, but the beat of his heart tells him she’s still alive somewhere. He won’t stop searching until he finds her, even as the United Sentry States and the terrible reign of Purian Rose come crashing down around him.

In the second installment of the dystopian Black City trilogy, Ash Fisher’s blissful life is upended when a menacing figure delivers a life-altering ultimatum.

“Exciting and compelling plot . . . will have readers quickly turning pages. This reviewer will no doubt be back to see where the tale goes next.”—VOYA

Ash believes his troubles are far behind him. He and Natalie are engaged and life seems good. But his happiness is short-lived when he receives a threatening visit from Purian Rose, who gives Ash an ultimatum: vote in favor of Rose’s Law—a law that will send Darklings and other dissenters to a deadly concentration camp—or Natalie will be killed.

At first the decision is clear, but can Ash really risk the lives of millions of Darklings to save the one he loves?

A dark and tender post-apocalyptic love story set in the aftermath of a bloody war

In a city where humans and Darklings are now separated by a high wall and tensions between the two races still simmer after a terrible war, sixteen-year-olds Ash Fisher, a half-blood Darkling, and Natalie Buchanan, a human and the daughter of the Emissary, meet and do the unthinkable–they fall in love. Bonded by a mysterious connection that causes Ash’s long-dormant heart to beat, Ash and Natalie first deny and then struggle to fight their forbidden feelings for each other, knowing if they’re caught, they’ll be executed–but their feelings are too strong.

When Ash and Natalie then find themselves at the center of a deadly conspiracy that threatens to pull the humans and Darklings back into war, they must make hard choices that could result in both their deaths.