Ten years following the disaster aboard the starship Upon Silver Tides, the fleet has changed, and not for the better. Mortality makes the greedy desperate. Wealth begins to pool as those hungry for opportunity exploit the vulnerable to climb a once-ossified social hierarchy, while those who fall away from the gold rush with nothing to show for it become vicious, always in search of another victim upon which to inflict their anger.

People who just want to live their lives are a perfect mark, in a world where anything but your soul can be stolen and sold back to you at a profit.
People like Annalise Fletcher, and her wife, a fabricant called Sarah.

But something is festering, as those with hungry eyes take freely from anyone weaker than themselves; something that will sweep the whole of the fleet away, and burn gilded castles to ash. The end of everything. Sarah and Annalise will be given the change they've been praying for, but they may not like the shape it takes.