Humanity's Wargames are about to begin.

The board is set. The pieces are ready. Billions of battles will soon take place. Spears, tanks and starships will clash across the vast Shellworld’s surface and inside its core.

Plucked from Earth, Jessica Stanner and her two companions are plunged into the arenas of the Shellworld. They must fight, both for their lives, and for Earth. The alien soldiers they command in the arenas are real. The soldiers’ deaths are real.

If Jessica has any hope of getting out alive and going home, she will need to win her war games – but of course the more she wins, the deadlier the games become.

Unfortunately for Jessica and her team, Earth’s Trustee (the one entity responsible for humanity’s progress) …may not have our best interests at heart.

Jessica knows that to lose is unthinkable, despite the actions of the Trustee. But to win… to win also means upsetting the ancient champions… with unknown consequences for us all.