Sixteen-year-old Alexia has a secret; she's a Varien-burdened with the gift of harnessing stars and shooting them through her skin. After watching her best friend Sarai get falsely accused of murder upon changing into a Varien, Alexia wants no one to know. She keeps her secret tight and close until an accident with her strange abilities critically injures her father-threatening the reveal of her identity. Alexia flees and goes on the run to avoid death row.
While in transit, she meets Greta, a quirky antique shop owner who promises her safety with other Variens in a realm called The Grove. Alexia is skeptical, but once she learns Sarai has been kidnapped from prison and taken to The Grove to be sacrificed by Revenirs, a secret society of Varien hitmen, she becomes intent on finding and saving her from another dire fate.
Greta introduces Alexia to The Grove and her new home at Malveaux Prep and Sanctuary Academy-a premier school for Varien teens to study and hone their knowledge and skills. There, Alexia rooms with a pyrokinetic hothead who can't stop kissing her boyfriend and takes tours with her assigned campus mentor-a wise-cracking morphing teleporter named Kyle.
With the help of her newfound friendships, Alexia delves deeper into The Grove's hidden history for clues on the present. All she wants is to find Sarai and save her. But the closer she gets to the Revenirs, the more danger she and her friends are in. Alexia must decide if friendship is worth the wrath of war, suffering, and, even worse, betrayal.
For fans of Legendborn and Gen V, The Gifted Society adds to the mosaic narrative discussion of who is allowed to harness power, adventure, and admiration. With its dark and light academia themes of fantasy and found family, The Gifted Society creates a world which provides a whimsical and sweet escape.