THE DELTA CODEX

Raised as a vital but passive magical knowledge repository, a girl gets the chance to play a more active role in saving her city of Danak-Tol.

Codex Delta (who thinks she’s perhaps 11 or 12) lives secretly in the Vault with the other young codexes, where they’re required to hold echoes of the past in their minds. It distresses her to remember nothing of her life before being summoned to the Vault nearly six years ago. Lonely Delta wishes she were allowed to befriend the other codexes (or anyone at all), but she knows that one day her service will end and she’ll get to live with her parents in Danak-Tol. That’s what Chief Warden Veela promises every codex. One day, Delta breaks the rules by allowing herself to be seen by a city dweller—a young girl whom she saves from a horrifying bloodstorm. In the aftermath, everything changes. When Chief Warden Veela shockingly takes Delta out into the city to meet with the governor, the children of a government official tell Delta that her whole life’s been a lie. As she tries to make sense of this new knowledge, everything spins out of control, and she must flee to the wastelands, where she’s faced with the question of what to do next. This multiracial environmental allegory is fast paced, barely letting white-presenting Delta draw breath between crises. Readers will be drawn in by the warm, wholesome cast of characters.

A hopeful, exciting, and action-packed adventure.