To keep the devil at bay, her beauty-obsessed kingdom sacrifices unattractive children to hell's entrance every season, prompting plain, poor, plus-sized, autistic Alesta to travel to the very depths of hell to avenge her best friend's death and stop the sacrifices forever

"Plain, poor, plus-size, and autistic, Alesta grew up trying to convince her beauty-obsessed kingdom that she's too useful to be sacrificed. Their god blessed their island Soladisa as a haven for his followers, but to keep the devil at bay, the church sends a child sacrifice to hell's entrance every season--often poor or plain girls just like Alesta. With a head full of ideas for inventions, Alesta knows her best shot at making it to adulthood is to design something impressive for the festival exhibition so she might win a spot in the university--acceptance could guarantee her safety. But Alesta's flying machine demonstration goes awry, a failure that will surely mean death. What happens is worse: her best friend and heir to the throne, Kyrian, takes the blame expecting leniency--but ends up sacrificed in her place"--