Showing results by author "K. A. Riley" in All Categories

Every year, 100 of the most dangerous convicted criminals from the impoverished Ward are given a chance to earn their freedom and to live a life of luxury in Nova Heights, the walled-in city of glass and steel estates built into the side of a mountain. All that’s standing between the Hopefuls and a full pardon are the Amnesty Games, a seven-day barrage of challenges, puzzles, mazes, traps, obstacles, contests, and competitions.

On her 17th birthday, Ashen Spencer is blindfolded and escorted to the massive, mysterious building known as the Arc to begin her year of training and testing in hopes that she can earn the Cure - a powerful drug given only to those deemed worthy to survive beyond their 18th birthday. Ashen has a chance to rise up from her former life of squalor and be granted a place in society, if the Panel - the mysterious group of powerful men and women in charge of the Arc - deems her year a success.

In a deal with her greatest enemy, Shara must move into the palace and pose as Prince Tallin's doting fiancée. Desperate to be reunited with the man she loves, she promises to put on an act that will convince the realm's Nobles that she is madly in love with the prince, and loyal to the Royals. She must also convince them that she's one of them, which means concealing her powers. But as she learns more about the wealthy citizens of Kravan, long-forgotten secrets come to light—and nothing is quite as it seems.

In the realm of Kravan, children of lower-class citizens are raised in a prison-like structure called "The Tower" from birth until adulthood. Known as the Tethered, they are held in thrall until their powers reveal themselves around the time of their nineteenth birthday. Every year, the Tethered who are tested and deemed harmless are chosen to leave the Tower and join the outside world as servants to live in the households of the ruling class. Those who are deemed threats are taken away—and no one knows what happens to them, though they suspect the worst.

In a secret facility called the Processor, Kress and her fellow Recruits are subjected to endless weapons training, violent puzzles, dangerous war games, deadly escape rooms, and impossible Virtual Reality simulations. In the end, they’ll get answers to questions they’ll wish they never asked.

Brought down by the trauma of recent events, Ashen Spencer resolves to step up the fight against her enemies in the Directorate. With the help of an unlikely friend, she infiltrates the Palace Grounds to steal a priceless object...only to find something even more valuable.

Separated from Thorne by the sadistic Royal Family, Shara makes her way through miles of dangerous, dark tunnels in search of him. Deep below the realm of Kravan, she forges a new friendship or two and encounters terrifying new enemies.

Leaving behind the people she loves most in the world, Ashen sets off into the wilderness in hopes of finding the elusive group of rebels know as the "Consortium". But, when she finds herself among strangers in the former ski town locals have named the "Bastille", secrets begin to reveal themselves, friendships prove as fragile as glass, and Ashen begins to understand just how powerful her enemy really is. When her brother, Kel, goes missing, Ashen is forced to return to the place she despises...where she's faced with a cruel and brutal choice that will break her heart.

In the year 2043, with the nation destroyed by war, 17-year-old Kress and her conspiracy of friends embark on a dangerous cross-country mission to locate and recruit other Emergents, the name given to teenagers who have begun to exhibit strange evolutionary abilities. Not all Emergents are ready to accept who and what they are, however, and some have even started using their abilities for selfish or evil ends. Now Kress has to figure out who is friend and who is foe as she risks everything to expose the government’s lies and take down the tyrannical President Krug once and for all.

After barely escaping with her life, Ashen finds her way home to the Arc thanks to the help of an old friend. After a long absence, Ash isn’t sure what she’s about to find. The Bishop’s deception and cruelty have turned her world upside down. As she fights an impossible uphill battle, she must confront betrayal, lies, and heartbreaking loss that will either lead to her vindication or her ultimate downfall....

Aided by the Insubordinates, Kress and her Conspiracy wage a daring counteroffensive against the Patriot Army in an effort to liberate the city of San Francisco. Outnumbered, facing impossible odds, and opposed by a powerful and ruthless enemy named General Ekker, Kress and her friends hope for help as they struggle to understand and control their emerging abilities.

Encouraged by happy reunions, shocked by terrifying discoveries, and with the lives of millions and the fate of the nation hanging in the balance, Kress and her conspiracy—along with their new legions of allies, the Survivalists and the Unkindness—prepare for their final, all-or-nothing war against Krug and the assembled might of his Patriot Army.

Having escaped from the Processor and with the truth behind the Eastern Order finally revealed, Kress and her fellow Seventeens go on the run. Guided by Render, they find themselves in the mountains, where they encounter a group of fellow teenagers who have escaped from another small town like the Valta. Finding a clue that there may be a resistance movement in San Francisco, the Seventeens complete a dangerous, enemy-filled journey west.

Captured by the group of rogue Emergents known as Hypnagogics, Kress and her Conspiracy search desperately for a way out of their confinement in a stadium-size prison-lab called the Mill. There, they find themselves subjected to a bombardment of psychological manipulations, physical challenges, and cruel techno-genetic experiments.

Taken captive by a Fae whose cruelty is legendary throughout the realms of Kalemnar, Lyrinn must find a way to escape and get back to the High Lord she loves. But when she finds herself a prisoner in a distant realm, she quickly discovers that not all is as it seems. Torn between two lands and two lives, she learns of the Elar—an Immortal imbued with lethal powers whose shadow casts an ominous threat on all the realms of the world.

A thousand years ago, the mortal realms of Kalemnar were separated from the land of the Fae by a dark, poisonous mist that takes lives with all the cruelty of the sharpest blade. Lyrinn Martel has been told all her life that the Fae deserted their lands long ago, leaving them to decay and ruin. Rumors still swirl to this day that the Immortals were malevolent creatures, bent on destroying the realms of humans, and that their departure was a welcome blessing.

After their costly victory over President Krug and the Patriot Army, 18-year-old Kress and her Conspiracy travel to a newly medieval London, England where they are forced to fight their way through two warring factions amid a decimated hellscape. Their struggle for survival takes them on an epic quest through what’s left of London as they race to track down a pair of mythical twins, who are rumored to have the unique ability to enter the world of dreams.

Along with Nico and their two fellow fugitives, Alora seeks refuge deep inside the devastated Ward. Pursued by the Finest and mistrusted by the Warders, she is forced to run for her life. Her search for safety and answers is complicated by the Prodigies, a rogue band of techno-genius mercenaries with the power and the desire to start a war.

After their overseas missions, Kress and her Conspiracy return home to a divided nation. The East and West Coasts have become fragile havens from a dystopian middle America, which remains mired in fear, poverty, and the most sadistic brands of vigilante violence. All Kress and her Conspiracy have to do is embark on a cross-country road-trip from Washington, D.C. to the Valta in Colorado, dodge the deadly Cult of the Devoted and the Army of the Unsettled - two groups battling for control over a land that might not be worth saving - and complete a perilous rescue mission along the way.

When Leta’s sister Lyrinn disappeared after the Blood Trials, there was only one thing for Leta to do: seek solace in the arms of Prince Corym, the most powerful mortal in Kalemnar. For months, she’s been living in the palace and reveling in a life of wealth and luxury. The prince wants to marry Leta. The king approves. On the surface, life is almost perfect. So why, all of a sudden, does Leta want more than anything to flee the palace?