From Dan Wells, author of the New York Times bestselling Partials Sequence and the John Cleaver series, comes the second book in a dark, pulse-pounding sci-fi-noir series set in 2050 Los Angeles.

Overworld. It’s more than just the world’s most popular e-sport—for thousands of VR teams around the globe, Overworld is life. It means fame and fortune, or maybe it’s a ticket out of obscurity or poverty. If you have a connection to the internet and four friends you trust with your life, anything is possible.

Marisa Carneseca is on the hunt for a mysterious hacker named Grendel when she receives word that her amateur Overworld team has been invited to Forward Motion, one of the most exclusive tournaments of the year. For Marisa, this could mean anything—a chance to finally go pro and to help her family, stuck in an LA neighborhood on the wrong side of the growing divide between the rich and the poor. But Forward Motion turns out to be more than it seems—rife with corruption, infighting, and danger—and Marisa runs headlong into Alain Bensoussan, a beautiful, dangerous underground freedom fighter who reveals to her the darker side of the forces behind the tournament. It soon becomes clear that, in this game, winning might be the only way to get out alive.

• High-Stakes Esports: Marisa and her team, the Cherry Dogs, get a shot at the pros in the exclusive Forward Motion tournament. But in this game, the prize isn’t just fame—it’s survival.
• Dystopian Los Angeles: In the divided city of 2050 LA, Marisa’s family is on the brink. The tournament is her only chance to save them, but it will pull her deeper into a world of corporate greed and corruption.
• Corporate Espionage: While hunting the mysterious hacker Grendel to uncover secrets about her past, Marisa forms an uneasy alliance with the dangerous freedom fighter Alain Bensoussan to expose a conspiracy behind the tournament.
• Action-Packed Tech Noir: Experience a pulse-pounding thriller where virtual reality gaming and ciberata warfare collide. When the tournament is rigged, Marisa must trust an underground rebel to uncover the truth.