This is actually the third YA author making their adult novel debut that I have read this year. If you think about it, it makes sense. They have all been writing for over a decade. They are growing with their readers, who at this point are adults themselves. I have read many of Lu’s books in the past, and they have all been very different but still grounded in reality. Red City is no different. It follows Sam and Ari, who meet in high school and find themselves on alternate sides of a turf war. Sam is an immigrant who came to Angel City with her single mother. They have struggled to make ends meet until Sam gets an offer to join the Grand Central syndicate. Sam is a resourceful girl who can remember everything she sees and reads, but her real ability is that she can move through the world almost invisibly. People don’t seem to notice her or forget her as soon as they turn around. Ari is also an immigrant who was brought to Angel City by the Lumines syndicate after being noticed. He is always noticed. It doesn’t matter what he is doing, people always watch him, notice him, want to be his friend or more. They bond over their own loneliness and the opposing ability, not knowing that each are alchemist. In this world, Alchemy is a real ability that people possess and is mostly run by the syndicates and organized crime. Diamond Taylor and her husband discover the Philosopher’s Stone and use it to create a new drug called sand. From this, Grand Central was born. Sand heightens a person’s best and worst qualities. It makes a beautiful actress more beautiful, but it also makes someone who is depressed more depressed. Sand is only made through alchemy, hence why organized crime pretty much only employs them. Years after Sam and Ari graduate and have gone their separate ways, they reunite only to find they are on opposing sides of the sand distribution fight. A true Romeo and Juliet story. They still have feelings for each other, so you can imagine how much they struggle with their new situation. As things start to unravel, they have to figure out who they are, but also how far they want to go. I truly love how morally ambiguous Sam is. She knows she has done some pretty terrible things, but she also can’t deny that she kind of likes it. The power she gets from her position is something that she has been looking for in her own life. How can she leave? Ari is more of a compromised hero. He didn’t choose to join the Lumines the way Sam chose to join the Grand Central. He was brought to the US for a new life and a better life for his family. It does make for an interesting dynamic because the roles are usually reversed. I didn’t know it was a series until after I started reading, and I am glad. There is so much to explore with these two characters, and if the first book is any indication, we are in for a ride.