Summary

Chapter 1 – Seventeen-year-old Mare Molly Barrow hates how crowded First Fridays are in the summer in her town of Stilts, Norta, but takes advantage of them to pickpocket. The buildings of Stilts are all built on stilts, for in the spring some of the ground is underwater. Mare’s three brothers, Shade, Bree, and Tramy, have gone off to war against the Lakelanders. Mare also has a younger sister, fourteen year-old Gisa. Mare has not heard from Bree and Tramy in over a year. Mare meets up with her friend, orphan Kilorn Warren. Kilorn’s father was killed in battle, and his mother abandoned him. Mare’s own father was seriously injured in the wars, but survived, losing a lung and a leg. Mare and Kilorn head to the arena.

There are two classes of people: Silvers, who are the elite, and Reds, who are...