Rising Thunder: A Prequel to Scythe (First Blades)

Discover Thunderhead's originthe fragile moment before the world changes forever and the hidden forces that set the storm in motionin this long-awaited prequel to the New York Times bestselling and Printz Honorwinning Arc of a Scythe series by Neal Shusterman.And of course, as every school child knows, December 2042 marks the end of the Age of Mortality.What no one has ever fully understood is how the world reached that moment.As death begins to seem optional, humanity looks for ways to bend the rules of existence. Twi-life centers begin storing the nearly-deceased, while eco-nihilists destroy civilization's icons and threaten to end the human race entirely. Public opinion fractures. Systems strain. The world feelsunstable.Behind the scenes, two powerful and diametrically opposed artificial intelligences set out to optimize, stabilize, and protecteach with its own idea of what that means. But in a world already tipping toward transformation, the consequences could be catastrophic.Meanw