"HOPE IS A RISK. FEAR IS A CHOICE.
As the lines between friends and foe blur, Victor-27 can either embrace the mask he’s created or lean into the darker side of his abilities to protect and recover loved ones. This takes him beyond the Outskirts and back into the depths of Rhosivi Mine as he vows to dissolve The Preemptive Initiative by any means necessary.
Victor-27 has always been dangerous. What will he become now that he knows what he’s capable of and what’s at stake?"
"Hope and fear are equally dangerous.Victor-27, the 17-year-old inmate sentenced to execution at Predvoi Prison, has escaped. With plummeting temperatures and guards on the prowl, his only chance of survival lies within Khizmit Enclave. Determined and desperate, he navigates the unforgiving streets and the elaborate lie he’s crafted to conceal his identity. He's dreamed of freedom his whole life, but Khizmit Enclave isn't the utopia he’s always imagined. He has nowhere to go and doesn’t know a soul on the outside.
Or does he?"
"Everyone you trust to watch your back will eventually stab it.
***
Twenty years ago, the frigid Khizmit Enclave had two problems: too much crime and not enough coal. Their solution was The Preemptive Initiative—kill all the criminals and incarcerate their children—the vanguard of future threats to their peace and prosperity.
Victor-27 doesn’t know what his parents did. All he cares about is that although he’s spent his whole life in prison cells and rat holes, he isn’t ready to stand before The Judgment Board in six months. There, they’ll decide if it’s worth the risk to let him keep living and working, or if his eighteenth birthday present will be capital punishment.
While the threat of his execution draws nearer, Victor discovers that he's capable of much more than the violent disposition associated with his prison tag.
Victor begins to suspect someone on the outside might be rooting for him, but hope and fear are equally dangerous as guards and inmates make and break alliances faster than the snow falls.
In prison, there are many rules, but first and foremost is this: Everyone you trust to watch your back will eventually stab it."