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Victoria Aveyard was born and raised in East Longmeadow, Massachusetts, a small town known only for the worst traffic rotary in the continental United States. She moved to Los Angeles to earn a BFA in screenwriting at the University of Southern California. She currently splits her time between the East and West coasts. As an author and screenwriter, she uses her career as an excuse to read too many books and watch too many movies.

In a world where people are separated due to the color of their blood. Those with silver blood are known for their supernatural ability, and those with red blood are simply normal. The silvers were wealthy and the reds are on the lower ranks. The world are in war with each other and those who doesn't have a job by the age of 18 are conscripted to war.

Mare Barrow and her family are Reds who lives in the Stilts, destined to serve the Silver Elite. She lives with her parents and younger sister, Gisa; her three older brothers, Bree, Tramy, and Shade, are currently serving in the front line of a war fought between a foreign entity and Barrow's homeland, Norta, currently ruled by King Tiberias Calore VI, a Silver with supernatural powers that allow him and the rest Silvers--who also have supernatural powers--to rule over the more numerous Reds. Mare steals what she can to help her family survive, but when her best friend Kilorn Warren is conscripted into the army, she gambled everything to win his freedom. she plans an escape and meets with a colleague who directs her to Farley, the leader of the Scarlet Guard, insurgents composed of Reds who want to bring equality between their people and the Silvers. Farley demands a sum of money in exchange for Kilorn's escape.

At night, Mare told Gisa about the plan of how she's going to free Kilorn from conscription. The next day Gisa brought Mare to work with her in an attempt to earn cash either by stealing from the silvers of work. An outbreak came from a rebel attack on the news, Mare and Gisa tried to get out of the city before the silvers turn on them. As they were running to the door Gisa desperately tried to steal from a Silver nearby but was caught. The Silvers break Gisa's hand as a punishment, leaving her unable to support the family.

When they got home, Mare felt guilty and couldn't face her family so she ran away. She came across a tavern, she spotted a man nearby, she made an attempt to pickpocket him but was caught doing so. Instead of hurting her, he asked her why she did it. After she told him a story of how her sister's hand was broken and now not able to support the family, he gave her a money, almost half of what she needed.

The next day, Mare is taken to the king's local residence and realizes that Cal is Tiberias Calore VI's son, Prince Tiberias Calore VII, who wants to protect her from conscription. During Queenstrial, a competition among the daughter of the High Houses to offer themselves to the princes, Mare's power was revealed as she did not die while being pushed by Evangeline Samos to sheild of electricity but instead she controlled it.