Lucidia Whitman has woken up screaming every night since her twin brother died. Her parents and counselor think it’s from the guilt of having been the one who accidentally killed him, but that’s only part of the truth. She knows her nightmares of him being tortured in the afterlife are more than that. They are visions. And Lucidia won’t rest until she knows he’s okay.

After her plan to “visit” the afterlife goes wrong (it’s complicated), Lucidia is told she has a 50/50 chance of eternal suffering to look forward to. Not liking her odds, she strikes a deal with the powerful and charming Voland: If she brings him the Book of Fates, he will use it to resurrect her and her brother. With two new friends by her side, Lucidia braves monster-guarded labyrinths, sets fire to the gothic weigh station of souls, and engages in a high-stakes board game against the Grim Reaper in her quest for a cosmic do-over.

It turns out, though, that the Book of Fates can also be used for sinister purposes. And as order in the afterlife begins to fall into chaos (not entirely her fault), Lucidia is faced with the choice of either fulfilling the deal to get her brother back and avoid going “downstream,” or saving her new friends and countless others from a terrible fate.