Hugo and Nebula award winner Anderson (Mother of Kings) incorporates two stories he wrote for the Asimov’s Universe series into this absorbing posthumous novel, a fast-paced space opera that never lets the reader forget that aliens are alien. At a time when nearly immortal humans have colonized the galaxy, various spacefaring species commingle freely and the residents of Earth have become as alien to other humans as trueETs , an astronomical event that may affect all existence is about to take place.
Unfortunately, only one set of aliens knows what that event is and their ruling dictatorship is hell-bent on keeping it that way.LissaWindholm , an Earth woman with a spirit of adventure men find attractive, is determined to uncover the mystery and share the knowledge with everyone.Lissa and her partner Karl, a tyrannosaurus-like scientist, make some startling archeological discoveries on the planetJonna about beings known as the Forerunners, but a psychologically scarred starship captain and an impressively ancient and profit-minded human rogue have other plans for the relics. Moving from one key sequence to another,Andersonomits much of the buildup and back story customary for such epic-scale SF, yet his protagonists and the worlds they explore always feel rich and real. FYI:Andersondied in 2001.
