DEV1AT3
Jay Kristoff
HarperVoyager
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2019
Copyright © Neverafter PTY LTD 2019
Map art copyright © 2018 by Virginia Allyn
‘Deathwish’ written by Thomas Searle, Samuel Carter, Daniel Searle, Alex Dean © 2016, Music of The Mothership (BMI) Used By Permission. All Rights Reserved.
Cover design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2019
Cover illustration © Chris Malbon/Debut Art
Jay Kristoff asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.
Source ISBN: 9780008301415
Ebook Edition © August 2019 ISBN: 9780008301392
Version: 2019-09-13
Turn a blind eye,
Until the day we die.
Maybe we’ve passed the point of no return.
Maybe we just want to watch the world burn.
—Thomas Searle
Contents
Copyright
Epigraph
The Who, What and Why
Map
2.0: Reunion
Part 1: Mitosis and Meiosis
2.1: Splitsville
2.2: Jacked
2.3: Change
2.4: Proposition
2.5: Helotry
2.6: Disciples
2.7: Solomon
2.8: Paladin
2.9: Easy
2.10: Rumble
2.11: Family
Part 2: By Means of Natural Selection
2.12: Order
2.13: Fix
2.14: Purity
2.15: Superior
2.16: Falls
2.17: Legacy
2.18: Bending
2.19: Shock
2.20: Partners
2.21: Tagalong
2.22: Unbecoming
Part 3: Survival of the Fittest
2.23: Cake
2.24: Jugartown
2.25: Dustup
2.26: Fracas
2.27: Equalizer
2.28: Fear
2.29: Burn
2.30: Collision
2.31: Descent
2.32: Immolation
2.33: Coda
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Also by Jay Kristoff
About the Publisher
Eve—the thirteenth and final model in the Lifelike series. Raised to believe she was human, Eve spent the last two years on the island of Dregs in the care of Silas Carpenter. Under Silas’s tutelage, she became an expert mechanic, and piloted robot fighters in the gladiatorial spectacle known as WarDome.
In truth, Eve is an android replica created in the image of Ana Monrova, youngest daughter of Nicholas Monrova, director of the Gnosis Laboratories megacorporation. After Silas’s abduction, Eve traveled from Dregs to the mainland to rescue the man she believed was her grandfather, eventually leading to a deadly confrontation in Babel, former capital of the fallen GnosisLabs.
In the heart of Babel, Eve discovered that her entire life was a lie.
Lemon Fresh—Eve’s former best friend. Lemon was found outside a Los Diablos tavern, and named for the laundry detergent box she was dumped in.
She accompanied Eve on her adventures across the ruins of the Yousay, and was captured aboard a living construct known as a kraken, created by BioMaas Incorporated. Though she eventually escaped and accompanied Eve to Babel, the pair parted on uncertain terms when Eve’s origins came to light.
Lemon is a deviate, aka abnorm or trashbreed, possessed of the ability to overload electronics with the power of her mind.
Ezekiel—one of thirteen lifelikes created by Gnosis Laboratories. Like all members of the 100-Series, Ezekiel is far faster and stronger than a regular human, but like most of the 100-Series, his emotional maturity can border on childlike.
Ezekiel was the only lifelike who didn’t join the revolt that destroyed Nicholas Monrova and his empire. As punishment, his siblings bolted a metal coin slot into his chest, to remind him of his allegiance to his human masters.
Ezekiel