The Fallen Prince

Gr 9 Up—This is the second formerly defunct Strange Chemistry series to be republished and continued, this time by Sky Pony Press. The first volume, The Almost Girl, appeared back in 2013 and introduced readers to Riven, a 17-year-old girl who arrives on Earth from a parallel world that is dying from a war with androids. Riven is a Legion General, a high-ranking official in Prince Cale's army, and she was not too happy to be sent to Earth to find Cale's long-lost brother, Caden. Riven found herself in a totally different world that she was unprepared to navigate as she was forced to set aside her training as a soldier in order to blend in and act like an average human girl. The second book opens with Riven coming to terms with her true identity—she is such a good soldier because she is a human with cyborg DNA flowing through her veins. Thinking that her home of Neospes is in good hands now that the rightful ruler has been reinstated, she leaves to hunt down her father and make him pay for his crimes against her people. The heroine learns that not all is right in Neospes—that the army has been annihilated and no one is left to stand up against the new threat but Riven and her estranged father. However, her father demands her complete surrender to him in exchange for his help. Will she choose to save herself or give in to her father and save her people? Hand this lesser-known series to fans of "The Hunger Games" and "Divergent" who are still looking for new dystopian battles to get invested in.