Hope Runners of Gridlock by Simon de la Rouviere

In the city of Gridlock, the cars don't move anymore. They've become homes, businesses, and the livelihood of many. Following a strange anomaly, the gridlock and the always-on-sale Public Car Markets were formalised as a compromise to fund Hope Runners: heroes sent into the anomaly to answer the questions about what happened to their world. Living in a converted bus in a corner of the gridlock, Flora Kaigo had given up hope. Her father, like the other Hope Runners that had won their championships, had bravely disappeared into the strange anomaly that encased the city of Gridlock, only to never return with the answers to their questions. What happened to their world? What happened to her father? When the first Hope Runner returns two decades after her father left, events are set into motion that not only gives Flora an unexpected opportunity to pursue the truth in her father’s footsteps, but also threatens to reveal the secrets that keep the delicate power balance and intricate car markets of the city of Gridlock alive. With Palma, her friend from the Penthouses in the sky, and Esper, her friend from the cars in the Trunks, they adventure through a story of hope, belonging, intrigue, cryptography, and radical markets.