Alenna Shawcross and the others who escaped the wheel are working toward an all-out assault on the United Northern Alliance. The plan is to dismantle it from the inside--and Alenna is one of the few people who can access the organization's inner sanctum. But when she returns to the home she has nearly forgotten, she encounters old friends and is swept into a secret plan that puts everything she loves in danger.

Knowing what is at stake for her and her friends, Alenna ventures into the heart of the treacherous UNA. She's determined to bring them down, because freedom is the only choice. Or is it?

"Reminiscent of both The House of the Scorpion and The Hunger Games," says VOYA, who recommends The Defiant if you "enjoy dystopian tales with a touch of science."