An epic, action-packed space opera about a young girl on a quest for revenge that explores identity, love, and the darkest corners of space.

LONGLISTED FOR THE 2026 YOUNG PEOPLE’S NATIONAL BOOK AWARD • AN EXCELLENCE IN CHILDREN’S AND YOUNG ADULT SCIENCE FICTION NOTABLE BOOK

“A sci-fi tour de force that keeps you in awe at its creativity.”—Xiran Jay Zhao, #1 New-York-Times-bestselling author of Iron Widow

Ishara Ming is the sole survivor of a spacefaring whaler destroyed by the Ballena, a legendary sentient spacecraft that haunts the darkness between stars. The fatal encounter left her with a metal-plated arm, a faulty memory chip, and a burning need for revenge.

To take on the Ballena, Ishara assembles a crew of capable misfits. Among them is Quinn—her trusted first mate, the girl with wildfire eyes, and the only person who always stands by her side, even when everyone else thinks Ishara is a delusional captain who hallucinated the Ballena.

That is, until Augustus, a ship mech armed with his own mysterious reasons for vengeance, convinces Ishara to let him join the crew. He brings the one thing Ishara’s never had before: a tracking method tailored for finding the Ballena. Pulled between Quinn’s and Augustus’s gravitational forces, the pressure to issue increasingly risky orders, and the feeling that her past is rapidly catching up with her future, Ishara has to decide what—or who—she is fighting for before she loses another ship.