Year One. Reaper Academy, #1

In a world where the boundary between life and death is managed from a royal ivory tower, every eighteen-year-old faces a choice that will either secure their family's future or erase their existence. For Tia, the daughter of a family struggling to make ends meet, the "fateful text" from the Reaper Academy represents the ultimate gamble. Accepting the invitation means three years of grueling trials where thousands of applicants compete for fewer than fifty positions.
Success brings a life of unimaginable luxury on the Ivory Island; failure often means a death that is never recorded on the "Endless Wall of Time"But Tia carries a secret that defies the known laws of magic. While the world's most powerful "bloodlined" families command the elements of fire, water, wind, and earth, Tia discovers an ancient, unheard-of ability: the power to bring stories to life simply by reading them aloud.
As she enters the Academy, Tia must navigate a landscape of cutthroat rivals, mysterious professors, and the lethal "Elixir of Life"-all while trying to master a power that could make her the Academy's greatest asset or its most dangerous target. In a place where "Death himself cannot protect you, " Tia must decide if she is playing the Academy's game or rewriting the rules entirely.