Gabrielle Wnuk

What if a nurse-turned-soldier joined the oppressive regime instead of the rebellion?

Seventeen-year-old Thalia Tanner dreams of vengeance against the general who killed her father in an uprising two years ago. But as the primary source of income for her family, she can’t justify leaving her mother and two sisters behind for revenge until her youngest sister falls ill with a deadly plague. Thalia seizes the chance to earn the limited cure for her sister and avenge her father at the same time by enlisting in the Steel Gauntlet, four deadly challenges designed to prepare the cadets for the horrors that lie outside the walls, with the surviving cadets granted one request as a reward. She aims to complete the Gauntlet within the three-week time limit, earn the cure, then shoot the general at the graduation ceremony, even if it results in her own death.

Once the Gauntlet begins, Thalia is forced to complete the challenges in close proximity with the general’s son, Cedric Carrington, an annoyingly handsome rich boy obsessed with his own dreams of vengeance against Thalia’s older brother, a captain who escaped the ranks two years earlier. With each trying to hide their murderous plans, Thalia and Cedric develop feelings for each other that threaten their respective goals as they slash their way through the Gauntlet. But when her father’s insurgents track her down during the final challenge and urge her to abandon the Gauntlet, Thalia must finally face her responsibility as a rebel, but joining the rebellion and fulfilling her father’s dream of a just society would mean losing Cedric, her only shot at saving her sister’s life, and any chance at revenge.

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