Runt joins a team from his school in icy Upper Worb, where they battles beasts and compete to find a rare mineral against a team from Dr. Pravus's school that includes Runt's former best friend, Syke.

During a once-in-a-generation competition to find the new empress, Mari, who hides a terrible secret, Taro, the prince who would denounce the imperial throne, and Akira, a half-human outcast, will decide the fate of Honoku. Each generation, a competition is held to find the next empress of Honoku. The rules are simple: survive the palace's enchanted seasonal rooms. Conquer Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall. Marry the prince. Only the yōkai, supernatural...

Paddington enters a painting contest after Mr. Gruber shows him how fun it can be.

"Exiled to live as a Low, sixteen-year-old Conrad refuses to become heir to his murderous uncle. But Meritocracy is a harsh and unforgiving rule on the floating island of Holmstead, and when his ailing mother is killed by monstrous gorgantauns, Conrad cuts a deal to save the only family he has left. To rescue his sister from his uncle's clutches, Conrad must enter the Selection of the Twelve Trades"--

"Avery is the black sheep of the wealthy VanDemere clan--the ostracized illegitimate daughter. So she's less than excited when her grandmother ropes her into a competition to determine the VanDemere most worthy of inheriting the family fortune, until a chance to gain information about her long-lost mother motivates Avery to try to win the game"--

Flint Minett has keratoconus, an eye disease, but desperately wants to win a comic book art contest so that he and his new friend McKell Panganiban will be better accepted at middle school.

Sheetal Mistry, a rising high school junior who is half-star, half-human, must win a competition in the starry court to save her human father.--

For years Tana has wanted a dog, and at last her parents have agreed. However, the dog they bring home from the shelter, Storm, is ugly. Tana loves Storm all the same, and even enters him into an ugly dog contest.

Cade is settling into a new boarding school, contemplating his future, when he finds himself transported to another realm. He soon discovers their new world is populated with lost remnants from the past: prehistoric creatures, ancient relics, and -- stranger still -- people. Overwhelmed by his new surroundings, Cade has little time to adjust, for soon he and his fellow classmates are forced to become contenders in a brutal game, controlled by mysterious...

In New York, Aisling Kopp believes the unthinkable: that Endgame can be stopped. Kingdom of Aksum, Ethiopia. Hilal ibn Isa al-Salt narrowly survived an attack that leaves him horribly disfigured--but he carries a secret that can help redeem humanity--and maybe even be used to help defeat the beings behind Endgame. London, England. Sarah Alopay has found the first key. Two keys--and nine Player--remain. The keys must be found, and only one Player can...