The Inverses

At full vitality, sixteen-year-old Ethan can barely stand. But the closer his life falls toward zero, the more powerful he becomes. When debt collectors try to take his fourteen-year-old sister as payment, something impossible awakens inside him. Five men hit the floor—and Ethan permanently loses part of himself. His strength has a horrifying rule: every use makes him more dangerous, but burns away life that no healer can restore. Now the Guild that killed his father wants to capture him, study him, and turn his dying body into a weapon. A calculating presence inside Ethan offers protection, power, and everything his struggling family needs—if he will surrender control. Meanwhile, the clues his father left behind suggest Ethan’s condition is not an accident, and the truth could threaten the entire system that decides whose life has value. Hunted and running out of time, Ethan must protect his sister, uncover his father’s secrets, and resist becoming the monster his enemies expect. But his greatest challenge is not becoming powerful enough to win. It is helping the people around him become strong enough to continue when he can no longer stand. In most progression stories, heroes grow stronger by gaining power. Ethan grows stronger by losing his life.

Less