The Revenant Games - by Margie Fuston

Book Synopsis

The Hunger Games meets All of Us Villains in this "urgent action-adventure" (Publishers Weekly) following a teen determined to win the competition held by warring vampire and witch kingdoms, only to develop complicated feelings for the vampire she's supposed to hand over.

Blood is survival for seventeen-year-old Bly, who lives in the poverty-stricken human villages caught between enemy vampire and witch kingdoms. Most of the time, vampires and witches live in uneasy truce, buying human blood for their food and spells. But for two weeks a year, the ceasefire dissolves, and they hold the Revenant Games.

Any human can play in the games for either the witches or the vampires. Alongside life-changing riches, the witches will raise one person from the dead for whoever captures the highest-ranking vampire. In turn, the vampires offer immortality to whoever captures the most powerful witch. For most humans, the games are a ticket out of poverty. For Bly, it's a chance to get back her dead sister, Elise, and save the life of her dying best friend, Emerson.

Together, she and Emerson forge a dangerous plan to play both sides and win both prizes: resurrection for Elise and immortality for Emerson. But when the vampire they capture stirs a passion in Bly that she hasn't felt in a long time, she'll have to make a choice: her sister or the boy who's shown her there's more to life than just survival.

Review Quotes

"Twisty reveals, sudden betrayals, and a hint of forbidden passion lead to a cliff-hanger ending that will hook readers for the sequel."--Booklist "3/1/24"

"Via inviting and introspective prose, Fuston fashions a ruthless world filled with desperation and gilded cages, where revolution simmers beneath the surface and chaos awaits around every corner."--Publishers Weekly "1/8/24"