โWickedly clever, outrageously fun, and bursting with heart.โ โRebecca Mix, New York Times bestselling author of The Ones We Burn
A wily young thief must use her wits to survive futuristic, alternate history Beijing in this Les Misรฉrablesโinspired young adult cyberpunk โfast-paced heist [that] balances lofty ideals of change with snappy dialogue and pulse-pounding actionโ (Publishers Weekly).
When Zhong Ningโer takes the job, she expects a smash-and-grab burglary sheโs doing to make rent and help out a friend. What she doesnโt expect: a sad-eyed army boy who dreams of insurrection, a former rebel leader trapped inside a secret lab, a group of aspiring revolutionaries who are first collaborators, then compatriots, and then, perhaps, friends.
But this is Beijing, nearly a hundred and fifty years after General Yuan Shikai successfully declared himself emperor in 1915. His descendants rule the country from their seat in the imperial city, their gendarmerieโthe Beiyang Armyโrun the streets, aided by cyborgs and the Brocade Guard. Walls have risen, dividing the city into districts called Ringsโnominally only by geography, but in truth by class. Earthquakes devastate the northern farmlands, crops drown in the southern typhoons, and all over the country people are hooked on a drug they call Complacency.
As a Sixth Ring girl who watched previous uprisings crushed brutally by the court, Ningโer isnโt much of an optimist, and sheโs certainly no revolutionary. But that might not be up to herโas the stakes get higher, the time for passivity is quickly running out, and she must decide if she wants to sit idly in her cynicism, or embrace the breathless, terrible possibility of hope.