The Catalyst

In a thrilling debut by sixteen-year-old Helena Coggan, a girl with a terrible secret is tested to her limits as her fractured world teeters on the brink of war.

Eighteen years ago, a dimensional break ripped open the sky, drawing humans into an ancient conflict. Otherworldly souls rained down and fused with those of people, dividing the population into the green-eyed, magical Gifted and the dark-eyed, nonmagical Ashkind. A devastating war followed, and the Gifted have managed a fragile peace ever since, largely through a brutal law enforcement organization known as the Department. Fifteen-year-old Rose’s father, David, has a leading role in the Department. Rose and David are Gifted, but they are also something else — something terrible. Their lives depend on keeping it secret. But when a mysterious murder threatens to tear Rose’s world apart, forcing long-buried secrets into the open, her loyalties are put to the test. How much does Rose really know about her father’s past? How far is the Department willing to go to maintain order? And, when the time comes, who will Rose choose to protect?Coggan’s...debut has an intriguing premise and calls to mind contemporary paranormal series like Richelle Mead’s Vampire Academy,
—Publishers Weekly

Coggan writes adeptly for her age, 15, and explores dark themes (death, suicide, revolution) in mature prose...a well-executed debut. Sci-fi/fantasy fans have a new author to love for a long, long time. A strong addition to YA collections.
—School Library Journal

The descriptions of the monstrous hybrids that sometimes come out of the soul joining are the most gripping part of the novel...the pace is so zippy and the secrets so layered and tantalizingly revealed that readers may find themselves at the end before they know it and be willing to see what the next volume brings.
—Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

The action and quick pacing of this debut will draw some readers.
—Booklist OnlineHelena Coggan wrote the first draft of The Catalyst when she was thirteen, and it has already been published in the U.K. to great acclaim. She has wanted to write stories since she was six, and before that, she wanted to live in one. She lives with her family in London.