Victoria Aveyard is closing her best-selling series with a bang.
Check out this exclusive preview.
The saga of Mare Barrow is soon to come to an end.
Credit: Stephanie Girard
Victoria Aveyards best-selling and beloved Red Queen series is set to conclude withWar Storm, the final book.
We find Mare left to at last embrace her fate and summon all her power.
But Maven, of course, has plans of his own.
HarperTeen
Its equal parts relief and dread, for many reasons,Aveyard told EWof finishing her series.
But then, of course, you fear letting down an audience that has trusted you for three books.
And theres the fear of the unknown as well.
Now, less than a month out of publication, Aveyard has exclusively shared an excerpt ofWar Stormwith EW.
War Stormpublishes May 15, and isavailable for pre-order.
Read on below to check out the excerpt.
The raider on it is small, with spindly limbs, armor, and goggles.
Above me, Evangeline slices her hands through the air.
The cycle shreds at her command, spokes and pipes peeling apart.
But she isnt the only magnetron here.
In the darkness, its hard to discern their shadows.
They dont even have the neat severity of training suits and uniforms.
These Silvers are different, their clothes a patchwork, their weapons and gear mismatched.
The cycles disappear into the smoky underbrush, their headlights bobbing and weaving out of sight.
I reach for the engines, trying to grab hold before they pass beyond my grasp.
But another rumble makes me pause, a pounding thrum lurching close.
I can feel it in my teeth.
Monsters burst from the ash, their shaggy heads massive, horns lowered, hooves stamping.
Dozens of them, snorting and braying in hulking ranks.
The monsters are too strong, too strange.
Their hides thick, muscles thicker, with bone like living armor.
I barely have the wherewithal to scream.
Our transport tips beneath us, knocked off the road by the monstrous charge.
We topple with it.
I hit the dirt hard and taste blood.
Someone holds me down, their hand on my neck.
Through my hair, I glimpse the transport as it sails over us.
Evangeline is silhouetted against the sight, arms outstretched, fists clenched.
I scramble up, using Tiberiass arm to leverage my weight and get back on my feet.
Some yards away, Farley fires her gun from a knee.
Her bullets have no effect on the beasts as they run, closing the distance quickly.
Gritting my teeth, I toss and spread, weaving purple-white lighting across their path.
The beasts rear in terror, still animals despite whoever is controlling them.
A few attempt to run through.
They scream in pain, collapsing in heaps of twitching hide and tossing horns.
My movements come without thought, every step and sweep of my arms immediate.
In my focus, I almost dont notice the creeping sensation, the heavy weight falling around my shoulders.
The press is gentle at first, easy to mistake for exhaustion.
But my lightning wanes, not as bright as before.
Not as easy to control.
It flickers, sparking weakly as I brush aside another raider.
He falls but gets back up quickly, a fist clenched in my direction.
The force of his ability sends me to my knees, and I lose all sensation of electricity.
Like a candle snuffed out, unable to spark and burn.
Silence, a voice in me screams.
A familiar pain and familiar fear level me again, bending me over.
My useless hands hit the dirt, brushing against cold earth.
I gasp weakly, barely able to move, let alone defend myself.
Fear sends me spiraling, my vision going black for a second.
Chaining me to a false king, dooming me to a life of slow, wasting death.
The Silver stalks toward me, his footsteps thunderous in my ears.
It flashes in the night, reflecting the flames with a red sheen.
I want to fight him.
I should reach for the gun at my hip, still holstered.
But my limbs wont move.
Even my heartbeat feels sluggish.
I cant even scream.
The combination of crushing silence and fear keeps me still.
All I can do is watch.
The blade edges my skin, almost burning me with its cold.
He leers down at me, his hair greasy beneath the scarf wrapped around his forehead.
I cant tell what color the fabric is, if it means anything.
A useless thing to wonder right now.
Excerpted from the bookWar Stormby Victoria Aveyard.
Copyright 2018 by Victoria Aveyard.
Reprinted with permission of HarperCollins Childrens Books.
