In a satisfying continuation of the trilogy that started with The Reader, Sefia and Archer begin a campaign to free those taken by impressors, forming a vigilante group of boys and young men (and one girl besides Sefia) who call themselves bloodletters. Sefia and Archer are also falling in love, but Archer doesn’t believe himself worthy of Sefia because of the terrible things he’s done in the past. The impressors forced Archer to kill in order to survive; now he wonders if he can be anything but a killer. Sefia doesn’t believe herself worthy of Archer when she learns the impressors exist because of her late parents. She also worries that in battling the impressors, Archer is becoming the very fighter the Guard is looking for to carry out its destiny as written in The Book. Meanwhile, Captain Cannek Reed looks beyond his own legacy to unite the pirates against powerful Serakeen, and Tanin, demoted within the Guard, looks to regain her status. Through it all The Book, which remains in Sefia’s possession, holds present, past, and future in its pages. As it reveals more to Sefia about all three, however, she learns perhaps the most astonishing thing of all: The Book can be untrustworthy. The world-building in this complex, imaginative, action- packed fantasy remains solid, and the characters remain singular, and so very human. (Age 13 and older)

The sequel to the critically-acclaimed New York Times bestselling fantasy The Reader, "highly recommended for fans of Cornelia Funke's Inkheart and female-powered adventures."-School Library Journal

Having barely escaped the clutches of the Guard, Sefia and Archer are back on the run, slipping into the safety of the forest to tend to their wounds and plan their next move. Haunted by painful memories, Archer struggles to overcome the trauma of his past with the impressors, whose cruelty plagues him whenever he closes his eyes. But when Sefia and Archer happen upon a crew of impressors in the wilderness, Archer finally finds a way to combat his nightmares- by hunting impressors and freeing the boys they hold captive.

With Sefia's help, Archer travels across the kingdom of Deliene rescuing boys while she continues to investigate the mysterious Book and the secrets it contains. But the more battles they fight, the more fights Archer craves, until his thirst for violence threatens to transform him from the gentle boy Sefia knows to a grim warrior with a cruel destiny. As Sefia begins to unravel the threads that connect Archer's fate to her parents' betrayal of the Guard so long ago, she and Archer must figure out a way to subvert the Guard's plans before they are ensnared in a war that will pit kingdom against kingdom, leaving their future and the safety of the entire world hanging in the balance.