Amanda McCrina's Traitor is a tightly woven YA thrill ride exploring political conflict, deep-seated prejudice, and the terror of living in a world where deception is a means of survival.Poland, 1944. After the Soviet liberation of Lwów from Germany, the city remains a battleground—its loyalties torn between Poland and Ukraine, its people killed by resistance fighters and insurgent armies. Tolya Korolenko is half-Ukrainian, half-Polish, and joined up with the Soviet Red Army just to keep himself alive and fed. When he not-quite-accidentally shoots his political officer in the street, he's rescued by a squad of insurgent Ukrainians. They might have saved him, but Tolya doesn't trust them. He especially doesn't trust Solovey, the squad's young war-scarred leader. He doesn't know that Solovey failed once before to save his own flesh and blood, and knows the cost of looking out for life over loyalty.Then a betrayal sends them...

Noble-born Tyren Risto, bound by tradition to serve in the Imperial Military, had resigned himself to accept whatever ceremonial office was awarded him within the capital city. But the impulsive act of defending a common foot soldier from injustice has earned him the enmity of the powerful Marro family. Tyren now finds himself relegated to the Outland, where he must confront a native rebellion headed by a ruthless new leader. Unprepared and rapidly outnumbered, he is now forced to weigh his commitment to duty with his growing doubts about the justice of his own cause. Tyren begins to wonder if he will ever return from this command alive . . . and if he was ever meant to.

Nineteen-year-old Torien Risto has seen dissidents dealt with before. He knows the young local girl who just knifed him will hang for assaulting an Imperial officer, unless he can stop it. Someone inside the provincial government is kidnapping Imperial citizens and selling them across the desert to the salt mines, silencing anyone who tries to intervene. The girl's brother is one of those who has been taken. Rejected by the corrupt courts, she's waging a personal war against the Empire. Determined to save her life, Torien sets out in search of answers on the Salt Road, the ancient trade route running deep into the heart of a desert—territory claimed by the hostile Mayaso tribe. Now, Torien is no longer sure where his own loyalty lies, or how far he will go to break the cycle of tyranny, political bullying, and social injustice in an empire that seals its borders in blood.