Into the Sunken City

Five hundred years after the Stitching, an event that gathered the clouds together, causing constant rainfall and the world’s drowning, 18-year-old Jin Haldar is just trying to keep her younger sister alive. With both parents dead, Jin scrabbles for a living running their inn while desperately searching for ways to pay off the Navy’s conscription taxes, lest she be forced to join and see her sister shipped off to an orphanage. When a drifter arrives at the inn with a plan to dive down and raid the drowned ruins of Las Vegas for a hidden cache of gold, Jin knows that signing on ensures an opportunity to pay off a lifetime of taxes, and carve out an existence beyond mere survival. But the pirates and other seafaring dangers that Jin must face to claim her bounty have nothing on Jin’s true fear: diving, the thing that killed her father. The cinematic story line, electric prose, and creative and lived-in worldbuilding make Thiru’s debut a thrilling adventure on the high seas, a striking portrayal of trauma and hope in dystopian times, and a thoroughly compelling read. Jin’s family ancestry traces back to the Himalayas. Ages 13–up. Agent: Claire Friedman, InkWell Management. (Jan.)