The Chains of Malice: A near-future psychological thriller

Caught between a will-robbing disease and a ruthless scientist, a young asylum inmate bites off more than she can chew.Curiesay has been locked up at the Wilted Rose Asylum since she was a child, and she wants out. When she's offered her freedom in exchange for becoming a warrior for humanity, she can't help but say yes.The job isn't as simple as she had thought. Mankind's greatest foe, a will-robbing disease called the Blight, has awoken. Curiesay is forced to use an armored exoskeleton called an Arbiter which demands a painful bargain-sanity for strength.More threatening than the Blight is the relentlessly cheery and maniacal Doctor Chandrima Joshi, the world's leading authority on the Blight and Commander of the Pilot Regiment. Before Curiesay can even begin to challenge the Blight on the battlefield, she must survive Joshi's sinister machinations.Curiesay's survival doesn't seem to be at the top of Joshi's list of concerns as the young Pilot is pushed to her physical and mental limit, all to risk her life in what many consider to be a fruitless effort against the Blight.Freedom was the deal, but surviving with her sanity intact seems more dubious as the days go by.Fans of "Neon Genesis Evangelion", the "Broken Earth" trilogy by N.K. Jemisin and "The Prince of Nothing" series by R. Scott Bakker will enjoy the blending of metaphysical dilemmas, high-stakes action and character based plot.