It is a fascinating and complex story that uses discussons about ethics as a lead in to each chapter. These discussions add depth and interest to an interesting tale about how and why the main protagonists, Trystin Desoll and Van Cassius Albert act the way they do.

It would be possible to miss out these talks but they add even more depth and interest to an already interesting tale. It is well worth reading and I recommend it to anybody.

As with the Parafaith War Modesitt writes with much more depth and power than his more familiar good to mediocre Recluse books.

A few small critisms - the space combat isnt as imaginative as it could be - basically the same tactics being used every time. The covert stuff is very similar to the Ecotech novels.

Apart from that though this book ranks up there with the Parafaith War as the authors best. The ending is left open for a sequel too - fingers crossed.

This book is intelligent Sci-Fi at it finest.

A sort of sequal (it is set in the same universe with one of the same characters, but a long time has passsed) to 'the Parafaith War'. Modesitt describes part of the life of Commander Van C Albert - an able commander of 'space warships' who always ends up with the rotten jobs, but who makes the rotten jobs work. It becomes apparant as the book continues that he has been subject to 'ethinic'/racial prejudice throughout his career.

The principal problem with this book, is that what plot there is, is crushingly boring (in my opinion, of course); there is very limited action, and virtually no 'detective story' (which sometimes turns up in Modesitt's work). The 'story' largely seems to wrap around prejudice and ethics. The main character is black when others in the Navy are not. He has two fathers and no mother, which is frowned upon in several of the societies that he works within, The aliens who are involved are ethicists whose main interest in humanity is viewing the ethical development of mankind. And every so often we have an excerpt from a 'book on ethics' to reveal to us (I presume) what the author thinks is ethically relvant to our understanding of the chapter.

To be honest I can't really see why the author wanted to write this book. It would be more ethically honest for the author to write a text on ethics, rather than a rather wooley Sci-Fi novel. Even if the author did have reasons for writing it, I can't honestly say that there are reasons why anyone else would want to read it!

Modesitt has written good Sci-Fi, Gravity Dreams was good and of course the whole ecolitian series was pretty fair. Actually in the ecolitian series the author has a much better balance between 'the message' that he is trying to convey and 'the story' that most of us probably buy the book to read.

The author has written a few Sci-Fi duds; adiamante, octagonal raven, (the parafaith war wasn't great) but this probably wrestles with octagonal raven for the worst book that he has written (in all genres).

The book wasn't the worst sci-fi I've ever read - but it would certainly find a place in the worst 10.

I usually gauge Modessit as being more or less a 'sure thing' for a good read (though more recently I have become less impressed) but this is one to avoid.

Having read the review on the back of the book first (a big mistake), I did think it was going to be decidedly formulaic naff sci fi. Luckily, whoever wrote the bumph hadn't read the book...

Tackling "ethics" could have bogged the book down in slow moving moralising, but Modesitt manages to inject enough life, action and interest into the plot that it drags you on at a good pace. Well thought out politics and people give this a lot more depth than just one book would indicate on the subject.

If you're after deep political discussions, good dialogue, finding innovative ways to blow ships up, a hint of a tint of romance, genetic manipulation, revenge and retribution, sensible religious discussion then buy it. Closest in style to Ian Banks' books than much else out there.