From Goodreads: After his mother’s death, sixteen year old Seth Bradley chooses to leave behind his friends, his school, and his entire life within the rusted, broken down space station Ticonderoga. With his sister Jenna in tow, he sets out to join a father he barely knows in the orbital city of Grass Valley, a monument to human achievement floating three hundred miles above the Earth.

He’s never seen the open sky before. Never seen a robot either, until he meets Anne, a strange, quiet shopgirl that no one ever seems too bothered to notice.

Ava Morales is a girl with a mysterious and violent past. The soldiers of the Democratic Republic of Mars sing praises to her name, but to her family she is a terrible secret.

She is considered a terrorist by the Allied Nations of Earth, but to others still, she’s nothing more than a troubled teenager, on her way to becoming a permanent resident of the Grass Valley prison system.

When Grass Valley is caught in the crossfire of an all-out war between Earth and Mars, Seth, Jenna, and Anne must work together to survive as they find themselves trapped in a world that is literally crumbling around them.

Meanwhile Ava unexpectedly finds herself alone and finally free in a chaotic, hostile city torn apart by conspiracy and fear. A city where, maybe, she has a chance to finally live in peace. A city in ruins, lost to the blackness of space.

A city with secrets all its own.

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This is a very interesting concept.  I enjoyed how Campbell set up his debut novel as it is fast paced and shrouded in mystery.  We meet Seth, Jenna, and Ava around the same time, but Ava has something to hide, something big.  The chapters alternate back and forth between the characters as they go their separate ways and the world around them begins to crumble as Grass Valley is attacked by Martians.  Campbell really sets up his novel well, explaining the different space stations and the people that live there; it’s ingenious really, and learning about the characters’ world was vastly interesting. 

While I did really enjoy the premise of the novel, I have to admit that I was a little disappointed that Ava eventually disappears from the story completely, leaving the reader in the dark much too soon.  I have many questions about her, her family background, and her history, yet those still remain unanswered.  Although I learned much about Seth, Jenna, and Anne, and I truly enjoyed their story, I am mystified by Ava’s disappearance and hope she makes a grand appearance in the second volume of this novel, especially as it ends in medias res.  Three stars. 

I received a copy of this novel from the author in exchange for an honest review.