A few years ago, gigantic circular portals opened up across the Earth and for the first few months they did nothing. Then suddenly they released hordes of monsters and millions died. Since that time we've learned that the portals lead to world fragments with a core that can be destroyed before the monsters reach critical mass and invade Earth. We've also learned that these fragments are rich in valuable minerals and plants, which is a huge help in fighting the monsters, but our best weapons are actually the few humans who have developed Talents. Talents are superpowers that can grow more powerful with use or even gain additional skills. Some can summon an invulnerable shield once a day, manipulate lightning, or move with amazing speed and make up strike teams to destroy the cores. Other Talents aren't combat related, but might be even more valuable, like Adaline's ability to evaluate the importance of what she sees, which allows teams to extract rare minerals and plants. For ten years she has risked her life in the Breaches, but today is her unlucky day. Alone and wounded, she still tries to help a dying humanoid who passes on an unusual inheritance.

There are two story lines here. One follows the stranded Adaline as she and a german shepherd stumble through an alien landscape in search of a way back to the Gate to Earth. Along the way she learns new things about her Talent, as well as about this strange Inheritance. Contrary to what the government has said, Earthlings aren't the only humanoids inside the Breach and she even meets a small fox-like humanoid that calls itself a lees, which will be familiar to those who've read the Innkeeper Chronicles suggesting the series might be connected. While Adaline is running for her life and making deals with aliens, the company contracted to handle this Breach is scrambling to get things under control before the government passes it to someone else. The survivors say they saw Adaline die (as an essential government employee her safety is their primary responsibility) but the owner of Cold Chaos suspects the cowards ran and left the others to die. Unfortunately, politics and rival corporations keep delaying their deployment of a new team into the Breach and time is running out for Adaline.

The Talents remind me of superpowers, but they develop greater power and new skills as someone works in the Breach, so there are LitRPG elements too. My main complaint is that there isn't more about the Talents and how they work. The only Talent we really learn about is Adaline's and her story mostly focuses on survival and what she gains from the "Inheritance". Overall, this isn't Ilona Andrews' best effort even knowing it was originally intended as a novella that kept growing. That said, the light LitRPG elements combined with the world-building means the series has potential.