Emrys Fiercewind's father always told him he would become a werewolf on the first blood moon after his Sixteenth birthday. When Emrys was a chubby kid and insecure pre-teen, he loved the story of one day magically transforming into something else; but everyone said his dad was just a crazy liar. That was two years ago, and Emrys hasn't heard from or seen his dad since. Now it's 3023 and tomorrow is his Eighteenth birthday and graduation from the Intergalactic Academy on Mars. He should be looking forward to a summer of fun on the outer rim before his fall internship begins on the Earth Sanctuary, but Emrys isn't having any fun. His best friend in the universe just died from an "unexplained" infection in her blood from the bite of an "unknown" animal; and although he doesn't know it yet, Emrys's entire existence is about to go through an infinitely greater change than simply becoming a werewolf. Emrys is about to discover what his father meant when he told him: 'In his experience, life isn't divided up into genres; it's a horrifying, romantic, tragic, comical, science-fiction cowboy detective novel with gratuitous sex and violence. You know, the kind that will get banned if you're lucky. That's how you know it's worth it.'