Eighteen-year-old LaReita Bassin's father believes that he is leading the Jorphites in a righteous rebellion against the tyrant King Kartzal. But as their march reaches its climax, LaReita discovers a devastating truth: the Jorphites are not revolutionaries, but unwitting sacrifices, fueling the very magic that sustains the king's rule. With time running out before twenty thousand of her people perish in a ritual at the Tree of Radiance, LaReita and her companions?Jurl, a girl discovering dangerous magic of her own; Wren, a love-struck orphan; Orzi, a so-called "Zorphan savage" seeking his homeland; and Jacks, the murdered lover she is determined to resurrect?must unravel the dark forces at play.

But as they fight to stop the sacrifice, an even more unsettling possibility emerges: What if their struggle isn't resistance at all, but an integral part of the spell itself? Is there truly such thing as free will? Or perhaps they are simply fulfilling a destiny written long before them?