"I was a bead of blood, borne from tragedy, destined to change our dying world."

Hunger Games meets Divergent in the fresh tale mixed with Greek Mythology and Astrology!

 With the Asteroid, Pandora, on its path to destroy the Earth, the planet is in a total disarray. 

The Golds and the Silvers are safe but the Bronzes are definitely not. Maia Graystone daughter of a Gold and a Bronze had once been a Chosen-somone chosen to live on the Space Station with the Golds and ensure the survival of mankind. She was also matched to the Crown Prince himself. But that was before her father was accused of being a traitor, before her mother abandoned her and before she was left to rot in the Pit. But when the Fiennan rebels offer her the chance to participate in the Shadow Trials-a competition for the children of the fallen Gold families to get a chance to restore their name and earn a place on Hyperion, the Space station-Maia can't refuse especially when she has the chance to find her brother again and keep him safe. There's only one catch-Maia has to kill the emperor. But she soon finds out that nothing in Court is what it seems and her family secrets are not what she expected and she finds herself with more power and responsibility than she could ever have imagined.

In order to to hide her identity and fit in at court, she has to take the identity of Lady Everly March, a ruthless and skilled young woman who was much more brazen, deadly and cold than Maia. Through technology, they managed to give her the exact appearance of Lady March but what they didn't tell her was that Lady Everly March was dead and that along with her appearance, Maia also got some of Lady March's ruthlessness.

Maia/Everly was an amazing MC! Even before she transformed into Everly, Maia was extremely observant and smart. Through her transformation she keeps telling herself that she needs to become Everly because Maia was weak but it took time for her to realise that Maia was a survivor not weak. A lot of this book is focused on Maia/Everly struggling to figure out who she really is and who she wants to be. To win the competition she needs to be Everly but she cannot seem to get rid of her conscience and softness that comes with being Maia. Her character development was amazingly well written!

"'It's just some moments I'm Lady March. I'm strong and confident and really, really sure of myself. And then'-my hands twist at my dress-'I'm my old cowardly self again. Maia Graystone. Afraid of everything'.
'Your mind has to make a choice. Who do you want to be?'"

Riser who Maia likes to call "Pit Boy" since he was in the pit with her was so awesome! The only way to describe him is, Enigmatic. Before he transformed into Lord Thornbrook, he was wild, untamed and almost carnal in his behaviour and even after he still retained that air of danger and just plain rugged bad boy thing! Everly described him as Hades at some point and I totally agree he did have Hades' feels.

The romance was a slow burn. Maia really loathed Riser because he reminded her of the girl she was in the Pits and it took a while before she started to feel more for him and to trust him. 

I didn't really mind that a lot of things in this book I saw in Goblet of Fire, Maze Runner, Hunger Games and Divergent because the book is so fast paced and intriguing, you can't seem to put it down.

I really really loved everything in this book! The plot was genius and unique, fast paced and addicting!

"I am caught in an impossible situation between a madwoman, a deranged puppeteer, and a psychopatic freak turned dashing partner."

I can't give it a full 5 stars because I was a little confused with all the new terms like Uploads and Sleepers etc. The world building was a little hard to get into at the beginning but towards the end everything became a little clearer so I was satisfied. That's my only issue with this book!

I'm not usually a sci-fi fan but this was awesome! Highly recommended! Can't wait to read the next one because that cliffhanger was HORRIBLE.