City of Shattered Light

In this YA sci-fi, an heiress flees her controlling father to prevent her test-subject sister's mind from being reprogrammed - but must ally with a smuggler to outwit a monstrous AI, gravity-shifting gladiatorial pits, and bloodthirsty criminal matriarchs to save her sister and their city.

As darkness closes in on the city of shattered light, an heiress and an outlaw must decide whether to fend for themselves or fight for each other.

As heiress to a powerful tech empire, seventeen-year-old Asa Almeida strives to prove she's more than her manipulative father's shadow. But when he uploads her rebellious sister's mind to an experimental brain, Asa will do anything to save her sister from reprogramming - including fleeing her predetermined future with her sister's digitised mind in tow. With a bounty on her head and a rogue A.I. hunting her, Asa's getaway ship crash-lands in the worst possible place: the neon-drenched outlaw paradise, Requiem.

Gunslinging smuggler Riven Hawthorne is determined to claw her way up Requiem's underworld hierarchy. A runaway rich girl is exactly the bounty Riven needs - until a nasty computer virus spreads in Asa's wake, causing a citywide blackout and tech quarantine. To get the payout for Asa and save Requiem from the monster in its circuits, Riven must team up with her captive.

Riven breaks skulls the way Asa breaks circuits, but their opponent is unlike anything they've ever seen. The A.I. exploits the girls' darkest memories and deepest secrets, threatening to shatter the fragile alliance they're both depending on. As one of Requiem's 154-hour nights grows darker, the girls must decide whether to fend for themselves or fight for each other before Riven's city and Asa's sister are snuffed out forever.

About the Author

Claire Winn spends her time immersed in other worlds-through LARP, video games, books, nerd conventions, and her own stories. Since graduating from Northwestern University, she's worked as a legal writer and freelance editor. Aside from writing, she builds cosplay props and armor, tears up dance floors, and battles with boffer swords. City of Shattered Light is her first novel.