ASHBORN

The Stone said he was nothing. The Stone lied.

In Veyra, every child is Weighed at seventeen. One hand on the Stone, and the world learns what you are worth: Ash, Iron, Silver, Gold, or Crown. It decides your work, your ration card, and which doors you may knock on.

The Stone has never been wrong. Everyone knows that.

Arin Vale has counted his breaths every night since he was six: in for four, hold four, out for eight. It was the last thing his father taught him. On Weighing Day, the Stone reads him as zero.

His best friend sold him out for a clinic bed. Now Arin is chained and sent down to the Deep Shift, where "worthless" Ash workers dig glowing hollowstone until the gloam kills them.

In the dark, he finds a door that opens only for him, and the truth behind it:

• Breath counted honestly is stored as power. Arin has saved almost four million breaths.
• The Crown's golden Ranks are bought, and the Stone is rigged.
• His father is alive, chained under the Stone, and has been drained for eleven years.

But nothing in this world is given. Every power-up must be earned through pain, one second of borrowed strength at a time, and every debt must be paid back with interest.

With his feverish little sister, a furious girl who has already buried her family, and a warden carrying a terrible secret, Arin must take down a system that has lied to a whole country for two hundred years. The real enemy is older, kinder, and far more dangerous than the Crown, and he is offering Arin the one thing he can't easily refuse.

ASHBORN is a complete progression fantasy with:

• A rigged system and a hidden strength
• A betrayal that cuts deeper than any blade
• Power-ups that are earned, never handed over
• A twist you'll want to reread the book to catch
• A cliffhanger ending that opens Book Two

If you loved the underdog grind of Solo Leveling, the betrayal and hidden-power hooks of Mistborn, and the rigged-system rebellion of Red Rising, start counting.

Scroll up and click "Buy now." In four. Hold four. Out eight.