From Brandon Sanderson, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Mistborn and Stormlight Archive series, comes the first book in an epic new science-fiction adventure series.

Defeated, crushed, and driven almost to extinction, the last remnants of the human species are struggling to survive. Forced to retreat to the planet Detritus, they are now surrounded by their enemies—the Krell, mysterious aliens who have spent centuries bombarding them from space.

Spensa's world has grown up among the wreckage of this endless war, surrounded by the debris of fallen starships and the bones of long-dead pilots. She has wanted to be a fighter pilot for as long as she can remember. Following in the footsteps of her father—a pilot who was killed years ago after he abandoned his fleet during a decisive battle—Spensa is determined to attend flight school and earn her wings.

But fate has other plans. After discovering an ancient, abandoned ship hidden in a cavern, Spensa may have found the key to humanity's survival—and the courage to leave her planet and fight for freedom. But the truth about her father's desertion, and the truth about the war itself, may be the last thing she wants to learn.