The Hunger Games meets Fourth Wing in this crackling debut epic fantasy about a dystopian world where birth order determines fate, and the young woman who must choose between her family and her country.The first children take up arms.The second children take up books.The third children are taken.Bryn Ruelle was never supposed to rank first. Yet there it was: her face, flashing across every scoreboard with 5:1 odds of winning. The top contender for the Long Night, the final test for the eldest daughters and sons of Durst. The Firstborn must prove they can take a life—or be exiled themselves. If they survive, they'll graduate into soldiers dedicated to defending their borders against their magic-wielding neighbors in Arcania. Bryn has never made a kill before tonight. But by dawn, someone will be dead by her hands.In case she doesn't make it, she should say her goodbyes. To Asa, her brilliant younger brother, studying anti-magics at Midborn University. To little Wren, her odd duckling of