“Gripping and addictive—Shepherd has delivered again! A captivating mix of intrigue, deft twists, and complex questions, this is a must-read.”—Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner, New York Times bestselling authors of These Broken Stars
The Maze Runner meets Scott Westerfeld in this new series Kirkus Reviews calls “swoon-worthy and thrilling” about teens held captive in a human zoo by an otherworldly race. From Megan Shepherd, the acclaimed author of the Madman’s Daughter trilogy.
When Cora Mason wakes in a desert, she doesn’t know where she is or who put her there. As she explores, she finds an impossible mix of environments—tundra next to desert, farm next to jungle, and a strangely empty town cobbled together from different cultures, all watched over by eerie black windows. And she isn’t alone.
Four other teenagers have also been taken: a beautiful model, a tattooed smuggler, a secretive genius, and an army brat who seems to know too much about Cora’s past. None of them have a clue as to what happened, and all of them have secrets. As the unlikely group struggles for leadership, they slowly start to trust each other. But when their mysterious jailer appears—a handsome young guard called Cassian—they realize that their captivity is more terrifying than they could ever imagine: their captors aren’t from Earth. And they have taken the five teenagers for an otherworldly zoo—where the exhibits are humans.
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“A blend of Twilight Zone episodes, William Sleator’s best novels, and Lord of the Flies. Exploring a variety of issues in the teens’ lives makes this book a good choice for reluctant readers and even those who are not sf fans. Shepherd has created an eerily unsettling yet believable world. The result, which is the first in a series, will make readers squirm, even as it causes them to reflect on what it means to be human.”
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Booklist