The Paradise Series

A thousand years from now, it's the end of the world, and Zaire may be the last city standing. The people whisper of Paradise: an urban legend that Paradise will appear on earth at the end of days, although nobody is sure exactly whether it's a city with plentiful resources, or a reset button for the world. Zaire is a sprawling place stratified by rings, where the outer city is destitute and the inner city is full of plush wealth. Philo, an orphan kidnapped and turned into a cagefighter when she was ten, makes a deal with the outer city police: if she joins them and does their dirty work for seven years, she and one family member can become citizens of the inner city. Philo embarks on a journey to find her missing brother, and in the course of her work discovers a conspiracy of epic proportions. Does Paradise even exist? Because if it does, she needs to get there before the nefarious gang of mad scientists - the Cult of Paradise.