This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome Marie Lu, author of RED CITY.

About RED CITY: Alchemy is the hidden art of transformation. An exclusive power wielded by crime syndicates that market it to the world’s elites in the form of sand, a drug that enhances those who take it into a more perfect version of themselves: more beautiful, more charismatic, simply more.

Among the gleaming skyscrapers and rolling foothills of Angel City, alchemy is controlled by two rival syndicates. For years, Grand Central and Lumines have been balanced on a razor’s edge between polite negotiation and outright violence. But when two childhood friends step into that delicate equation, the city—and the paths of their lives—will be irrevocably transformed.

The daughter of a poor single mother, Sam would do anything to claw her way into the ranks of Grand Central in search of a better life. Plucked away from his family as a boy to become a Lumines apprentice, Ari is one of the syndicates’ brightest rising stars. Once, they might have loved each other. But as the two alchemists face off across opposite sides of an ever-escalating conflict, ambition becomes power, loyalty becomes lies, and no transformation may be perfect enough for them both to survive the coming war.

About Marie Lu: Marie Lu is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than 15 novels, including Legend, The Young Elites, Warcross, Skyhunter, and Stars And Smoke. Her adult debut, Red City, releases on Oct. 14, 2025. She graduated from the University of Southern California and jumped into the video game industry, working for Disney Interactive Studios as an artist. Now a full-time writer, she spends her spare time reading, drawing, playing games, and getting stuck in traffic. She lives in Los Angeles with her family.

This week’s picks:

Links:

© 2025 Patrick Hester

The post Episode 687-With Marie Lu appeared first on The Functional Nerds.