Lakes of Mars: Volume 1

"Gritty, mysterious, and layered . . . An epic science fiction adventure, full of arresting action sequences and thoughtful meditations on aggression and leadership." --Foreword Reviews

"An emotionally charged Ender's Game." --For the Love of the Page

"Had one of the most suspenseful and well-written climaxes that I've read." --Rachel Barnard, author of Ataxia and the Ravine of Lost Dreams

Aaron Sheridan doesn’t want to live anymore. His family just died in a shuttle crash and he’d been the one flying it. The Transit Authority ruled it "instrumentation error," but it's cold comfort since he knows his mind was drifting. He knows a few millimeters wouldn't have made a difference. And unable to deal with the guilt, he signs up for the Fleet on an impulse, expecting a fatal deployment to the Rim War . . . but instead lands at the most prestigious command academy, Corinth Station.

The school's infamous for its ferocious, sink-or-swim instruction style, sporting some of the lowest grad rates in the Fleet, pushing students past their brinks. Psychologically breaking and rebuilding them. And initially, Aaron takes the brutality and the Machiavellian tactics of his peers in stride, but after he sticks up for his only friend he makes himself a target of the most feared cadet on the station, Caelus Erik, and the trials truly begin.

Unsure of whom to trust and worried that anything he does will make others targets as well, Aaron retreats deeper and deeper inside himself, unwilling to play a game he can't finish. However, when he discovers that officer training is not the station’s only purpose, it becomes increasingly clear that risking everything is the safest thing he can do.

Contains some graphic language and violence.