Corvus - Buddy Beaudoin

Corvus follows Daryn Dall, a twenty-something Black gamer who's spent most of his life carrying the grief of losing both parents-and escaping into the digital worlds he loves. He's a nerd, a loner, and one of the best players on Earth at Quest 4 War, the planet's most competitive war-strategy shooter. Maybe too good. His skills have drawn attention far beyond anything human. When a secretive, grassroots intergalactic resistance identifies Daryn as a strategic prodigy, their sentient ship-CORVUS-abducts him and drafts him into a war he never asked for. Their enemy: The Mare, a terrifying alien species whose psychic abilities force entire populations to relive their worst traumas on an endless loop, driving civilizations to collapse. Their only goal is annihilation. Trapped light-years from home, Daryn must confront his own buried pain while learning to fight a threat capable of turning memories into weapons. As the galaxy's last line of defense, he'll have to decide whether he's willing to rise to the role others see in him-or watch humanity fall.