What would you consider freedom? For some, it's choosing their way to die. Murder of Crows is based in a not-so-far-flung universe where humanity did not reach the stars but instead found itself mired in corporate takeovers and local politics. In order to deal with overpopulation and pollution the governments of the world decided to tow asteroids from the Kuiper Belt into orbit around Earth, add atmospheres and transform them into miniature planets. While most of the asteroids were designed for colonization, Eris was destined for constant commercial warfare. Most people just call it "War World" after their favorite television show. The lower class thinks that War World is the best thing since the beginning of the universe. All of the soldiers are divided into teams and, in order to maintain rosters, each soldier is cloned prior to the games. When they die, their consciousness and memories are transferred into the new clones and the process begins all over again. What the rest of humanity doesn't realize is that each death and resurrection is incredibly painful and disorienting. In addition, due to the costs of resurrection after their deaths each one of these soldiers becomes a slave to this cruel system. Rarely do any of them make it off the asteroid. The novel tells the story of Ryan Jenkins and his teammates from the Crows, one of the best teams in the system. Drawing on themes of grief, freedom and coping with an uncaring world, the story centers on the trauma these men and women experience as they die for public entertainment. Murder of Crows is the first part of Kevin Kauffmann's Icarus Trilogy, telling a loose interpretation of the myth in a future dystopia. As of March 6th, 2013, in preparation for the upcoming anniversary edition, Murder of Crows has been updated to reflect the current writing style of the author. With the addition of 20,000 words, the help of a copyeditor, and taking into account the criticism from Amazon reviewers, Murder of Crows is a much more appropriate beginning to the Icarus Trilogy.