"The planet Kerenza is attacked, and Kady and Ezra find themselves on a space fleet fleeing the enemy, while their ship's artificial intelligence system and a deadly plague may be the end of them all"--

Emmett accepts an interstellar space contract but learns en route that to win the promised fortune he and nine other recruits face a brutal competition, putting their very humanity at risk.

"All her life, Spensa has dreamed of becoming a pilot. Of proving she's a hero like her father. She made it to the sky, but the truths she learned about her father were crushing. The rumors of his cowardice are true--he deserted his flight during battle against the Krell. Worse, though, he turned against his team and attacked them. Spensa is sure there's more to the story. And she's sure that whatever happened to her father in his starship could happen...

Fighter pilot Spensa Nightshade has been embroiled in an alien empire's war and now, to figure out what she really is, she must leave her world behind to enter the Nowhere, a mysterious realm from which those who enter rarely ever return.

Surrounded by strangers all competing for one of the six slots to travel to Jupiter's moon, Europa, Naomi, an Iranian-American science genius, finds a friend in Leo, an Italian championship swimmer, as the training tests their limits.