While the citizens of Soot-City believe Cleo and Gwynnie to be dead, the sisters are planning the liberation of the city from the underground. Only when the constantly smoking industrial chimney is destroyed and the Industrials are disempowered, life can really change for the better in Soot-City. But Toska Liebkind won’t give up without fighting and the anger at the sweeps grows further among the citizens. Cleo worries about Leander, who is in great danger due to his membership of the guild. And he still doesn’t know that she survived… When the supply of coal comes to a halt and the events threaten to get out of control, Cleo and Gwynnie have to make a decision: Do they continue to operate in the shadows or do they reveal themselves as rebels – even if it could mean their death?
2038. Resa and Jonas are slowly falling in love, but a new surveillance law, Resa's dad's direct involvement, and the rising resistance is tainting their relationship ...2075. Every action is evaluated and rated and people's lives are determined by the status light of their wristbands. Ellie and her family barely holding on and her sister has a secret that will have heartbreaking consequences. Then a chance meeting with Sam might hold the solution to all her family's troubles: Ellie finds a code in his wristband that keeps all his levels at max. Now Ellie is on a mission to get as close to Sam as possible to steal the code tangling herself up more and more in a web of lies. And both the government and the resistance are closer on her heels than she'd ever imagined ...
Soot-City is threatened by a new danger: An unknown firebug sets seemingly random houses on fire. The sweeps do everything to protect the residents. Therefore, they need to take measures that fan the embers of rage among the citizens. Cleo and Leander experience at first hand how easily a single spark can ignite the tense situation. In their attempt to protect the population from the firebug, they inevitably get closer to each other. By now, Gwynnie is no longer the only one who is convinced that the city must finally be liberated from the soot and the power of the Industrials. It’s about life and death – especially for the people that Cleo loves…
In a city where coal is as valuable as gold and powers all aspects of life, Cleo dreams of becoming one of the prestigious sweeps. After all, she would finally be able to openly work as a mechanic as only sweeps are allowed to repair machines and put out fires. This dreams seems to be unattainable until Cleo breaks the law to stop a house from going up in flames and she’s given a devious choice: become a figurehead to quench unrest in the general population and successfully complete the sweeping apprenticeship or lose the home she and her sister share. A task that seems almost impossible with the other apprentices and sweeps looking down on and even sabotaging her, her sister giving her the cold shoulder, and her friends turning away from her in fear of the power she now holds. Slowly, however, Cleo realises that she’s finally in a position to actually make a change – which comes in handy when she begins to suspect that something is seriously wrong in the city and the system that powers it …