Perfect Ruin

Product Description <br/>From the<br/>New York Times bestselling author of The Chemical Garden trilogy: On the floating city of Internment, you can be anything you dream. Unless you approach the edge.<br/>Children’s Literature says “shades of Aldous Huxley’s<br/>Brave New World and George Orwell’s<br/>1984 inspire DeStefano’s sci-fi/murder mystery page-turner.”<br/><br/>Morgan Stockhour knows getting too close to the edge of Internment, the floating city and her home, can lead to madness. Even though her older brother, Lex, was a Jumper, Morgan vows never to end up like him. There’s too much for her on Internment: her parents, best friend Pen, and her betrothed, Basil. Her life is ordinary and safe, even if she sometimes does wonder about the ground and why it’s forbidden.<br/><br/>Then a murder, the first in a generation, rocks the city. With whispers swirling and fear on the wind, Morgan can no longer stop herself from investigating, especially once she meets Judas. Betrothed to the victim, Judas is being blamed for the murder, but Morgan is convinced of his innocence. Secrets lay at the heart of Internment, but nothing can prepare Morgan for what she will find—or whom she will lose.<br/> Review <br/>* "DeStefano has created a perfect storm—intertwining plot, characters, and setting beautifully. From the first page, readers will be enticed by Morgan’s voice, precise in its descriptions yet filled with curiosity.... This is a page-turner, and waiting for the next book will be hard, hard, hard." (<br/>Booklist, starred review)<br/><br/><br/>* A "concoction of tension and love with a cliff-hanger ending." (<br/>School Library Journal, starred review)<br/><br/>"Definite excitment...." (<br/>The Bulletin)<br/> About the Author <br/>Lauren DeStefano is the author of The Internment Chronicles and the<br/>New York Times bestselling Chemical Garden trilogy, which includes<br/>Wither,<br/>Fever, and<br/>Sever. She earned her BA in English with a concentration in creative writing from Albertus Magnus College in Connecticut. Visit her at LaurenDeStefano.com.<br/> From School Library Journal <br/>Gr 7 Up—The citizens of Internment don't view their city as a prison, despite its name. Suspended in the clouds high above the ground, surrounded by a force field of wind, the people believe that they are especially beloved of the sky god. Occasionally, however, someone will attempt to breach the high fence that circles the island and jump over the edge-an act that is strictly forbidden. Morgan Stockhour, 16, has been shunned by most students at the Academy ever since her older brother attempted a jump. She tells no one, not even best friend, Pen, or her betrothed, Basil, about the dark thoughts she harbors. When a young woman is murdered and fear begins to taint the idyllic life of the floating metropolis, Morgan finds herself helping the accused murderer and questioning everything she knows about Internment. In the midst of these troubles, the romance between Morgan and Basil offers a sweet counterpart to the pall that hangs over the city. DeStefano draws out the story slowly, building the anxiety and confusion with revelations gradually coming to light. Her prose flits from straightforward to lyrical as the story seesaws between gloom and hope. Fans of speculative fiction will enjoy DeStefano's concoction of tension and love with a cliff-hanger ending.—Eric Norton, McMillan Memorial Library, Wisconsin Rapids<br/> From Booklist <br/>*Starred Review* Morgan Stockhour, along with her family and friends, lives in Internment, a city that floats in the sky. It’s surrounded by a train line; go beyond the trains and you come to the edge. Below is “the ground,” almost imperceptible to the Internment residents, who were banished from there generations ago, supposedly for their demands and curiosity. Morgan’s brother, Lex, is one of the currently curious, an edge “jumper,” who became blinded in the process—and put his family under the king’s suspicion. Morgan and Lex’s relationship has become strained, but she does have a