The first book is set on a huge space station/ship that is transporting people from our Earth (Sol-Earth) to a planet in a different solar system that has a similar ecosystem to our own (Centauri-Earth). I do agree with people that this particular premise has been done before but what makes it interesting is how time and lies have completely warped life and the true nature of the mission has been completely lost. No one on the ship has any clue of the secrets being held within their contained world except Elder, the boy who has been tapped since birth to become the next leader of the ship. 
 Through the eyes of Elder we begin to learn about life on a space ship. Eldest is introduced as a charming yet emotionally unavailable leader who quickly becomes known as a villain after the mysterious and premature reanimation of Amy, a young girl who was cryogenically frozen on the ship. Her presence in his controlled world threatens to expose secrets that have been been hidden from the masses of shipborns for over a hundred years. Eldest doesn't like anything to disrupt his comfort and he'd rather get rid of Amy than be forced to expose the truth. 
 The story switches from the point of view of Amy and Elder. Amy is dealing with the troubles of being woken up early. Before she will be able to see her parents again she will be older than them. Now she is forced to live on a ship with a fake sun and people who act more like brainwashed animals than real humans. From the moment that Amy wakes up again she realizes that someone is trying to murder everyone frozen in the Cryo-section and now she has to worry for the lives of her parents and try to find who on the ship wants to murder her. 
 Elder is torn between his duty to become the best leader he can be and his feelings for Amy, the only person on the ship close to his own age. Elder has been raised in this world where everything makes sense to him but the more he learns from Amy makes him question what is actually normal. He starts looking for answers to what's really happening on the ship but Eldest doesn't approve of his questions and the ship's only Doctor seems to have a few secrets of his own. The only person that seems to have any answers is Orion, a Recorder who know more about Sol-Earth's history than anyone on the ship (besides Amy of course). 
 Even though the ending of the book seems to confirm what we thought all along about Eldest and his dictator-like leadership the subsequent novels leave us wondering. I have to say that this is the first dystopia novel that I've ever read that's left me in a true quandary about who had it right. There are so many ways that you can argue for either side of the issue and at times I wonder if Elder and Amy made the right decision. I highly recommend this for anyone who is a fan of dystopia or sci-fi. This isn't your typical YA novel is so many ways and I enjoyed every twist that the author sent our way. I can promise that you won't guess the true nature of the secrets until the author wants you to.