AustLit

'A magnetic and addictive tale of star-crossed love, inexplicable magic and an impossible choice. Science and faith collide in this tale of magic, destiny and the changing truths found through love by the award-winning authors of the bestselling Starbound trilogy.

'Two worlds, two hearts and a choice that will shape their fate forever.

'Prince North's home is in the sky, in a gleaming city held aloft by intricate unknown technology. But North believes his sky island is sinking. Its engines are failing, and the key to saving his home is to venture to the place the engines were first created.

'Nimh is the living goddess of her people on the surface, responsible for providing answers, direction - hope. But in the midst of the surface's worst crisis yet, a mist that spreads madness and poison, doubts have arisen among the people about Nimh's divinity. She must find a way to manifest her power - before she is overthrown, and all is lost.

'North's and Nimh's lives are entwined - though their hearts can never be. Linked by a terrifying prophecy and caught between duty and fate, they must choose to either save their people, or succumb to the bond that is forbidden to them.' (Publication summary)

'We are the last of our kind. We will not fade into the dark. We will tell our story to the stars - we will be Undying.

'When Earth intercepts a message from a long-extinct alien race, it seems like the solution the planet has been waiting for. The Undying's advanced technology has the potential to undo massive environmental damage and turn lives around, and Gaia, the Undying's former home planet, is a treasure trove waiting to be uncovered.

'For Jules Addison and his fellow scholars, the discovery of an alien culture offers unprecedented opportunity for study... as long as scavengers like Amelia Radcliffe don't loot everything first.

'Despite their opposing reasons for smuggling themselves onto the alien planet's surface, they're both desperate to uncover the riches hidden in the Undying temples. Beset by rival scavenger gangs, Jules and Amelia form a fragile alliance... but both are keeping secrets that make trust nearly impossible. As they race to decode the ancient messages left by the alien race, Jules and Amelia must navigate the traps and trials within the Undying temple and stay one step ahead of the scavvers on their heels. They came to Gaia certain that they had far more to fear from their fellow humans than the ancient beings whose mysteries they're trying to unravel.

'But the more they learn about the Undying, the more Jules and Amelia start to feel like their presence in the temple is part of a grand design - one that could spell the end of the human race...'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Will the secrets of LaRoux Industries finally be exposed by Gideon Marchant, an eighteen-year-old computer hacker and an urban warrior, and fellow rebel and thief Sofia Quinn?

'A year ago, Flynn Cormac and Jubilee Chase made the now-infamous Avon Broadcast, calling on the galaxy to witness LaRoux Industries' corruption. A year before that, Tarver Merendsen and Lilac LaRoux were the only survivors of the Icarus shipwreck, forced to live a double life after their rescue.

'Now, at the centre of the galaxy on Corinth, all four are about to collide with two new players in the fight against LRI.

'Gideon Marchant is an underworld hacker known as the Knave of Hearts, ready to abseil his way past the best security measures on the planet to expose LRI's atrocities. Sofia Quinn, charming con artist, can work her way into any stronghold without missing a beat. When a foiled attempt to infiltrate LRI headquarters forces them into a fragile alliance, it's impossible to know who's playing whom - and whether they can ever learn to trust each other.

'With their lives, loves and loyalties at stake, only by joining forces with the Icarus survivors and Avon's protectors do they stand a chance of taking down the most powerful corporation in the galaxy - before LRI's secrets destroy them all.

'The New York Times bestselling Starbound trilogy comes to a close with this dazzling final instalment about the power of courage and hope in humanity's darkest hour.' (Publication summary)