When the Clan comes under attack, they withdraw to their world of origin, where they discover a strange balance of species, including their forebears.

This author does a great job at aliens, whether the Drapsk from the Trade Pact trilogy, or the Oud and Tikitik of the Stratification books. This book adds a new species, that of the Assemblers, who are actually very spooky. The threat as the Clan comes under siege was a real page-turner, and the damage the author was willing to make to characters and places that we knew as stable in the previous books was astounding. Their time on Cersi was a nice mix of mystery and just enough recognition from the previous books. A lot of mysteries remained at the end of the Stratification trilogy, and this book walked the fine line of giving us answers, maintaining the mysteries and adding new ones - frustratingly entertaining, with endless page turning. I really enjoyed it, even though I’m still not a great fan of Sira or Morgan. The setting and side characters made all the difference. Looking forward to see how this continues, and if we get more answers.

I read the two trilogies of this series in the wrong order, but I’m glad that I did. It introduced me to the Om’ray before seeing the Clan in action. If I’d started with A Thousand Words for Stranger, I’m not sure if I would have continued.

This book does a great job at merging the two trilogies together. The first half takes place in the Trade Pact space, while the second half takes place on Cerci among the Om’ray, and has interactions with Tikitik and Oud.

The book starts just like the other Trade Pact novels, with an odd scenario that brings a lot of the old characters together. In hindsight, it’s a sendoff, as all the important people show up to celebrate Ruti’s pregnancy, wondering what a baby shower is –are they really so out of touch with human customs? I guess so. Huido hosts the event, Morgan brings balloons, Barac is there to support his Chooser, and Rael (Sira’s sister). Even Bowman shows up with her two lieutenants. It’s a grand reunion.

Bowman, unfortunately, brings bad news. I don’t know why I never associated her with Marcus Bowman from Rift in the Sky. It turns out that due to Marcus’ involvement in bringing them to the Trade Pact, his family has taken on the role of protector/spy/councillor. This Bowman will likely be the last, as she has no offspring.

The Clan is under attack, by none other than Yihtor’s mother (Yihtor died in A Thousand Words for Stranger). She’s after revenge, and wants to become the only Clan left, creating her own council and way of life, most of which consists of taking humans as servants to provide for her. As Clan members also die when their mates die, she only has to go after half of them.

This is where the book turned into a real page-turner, as each Clan comes under attack, gathering together but being attacked again and again. The Assemblers were a new kind of alien, kind of a robot I guess, with each part able to act independently –and all parts are deadly. This author has a fantastic way of creating aliens, and these are no exception.

I was amazed at how the author was willing to destroy everything she’d created in the first books. There are no half-measures here. Rael is killed. The Silver Fox is destroyed. Sira’s parents are killed, and the entire Clan structure is unravelled. Sira retreats first to her father, to uncover more information about the attacks, but his house comes under attack as well. He teleports her to the safety of a bunker, where a young Clan Chooser catalogues ancient artefacts. She reveals that Sira is pregnant, but only in the way a Clan can be –the child has no soul, just an empty shell, and not at all like Ruti’s pregnancy.

Sira grabs an artefact and teleports the two of them to the Silver Fox. Knowing she has to go farther, she finds her mother, who is part of an eclectic group who eschews the M’hir and is obsessed with the ancient Mhiray homeworld. At this point in the story, the side characters are either dying or trying to keep others away. It’s unclear if Huido is killed or not.

They all converge on the planet where the Mhiray first appeared in Rift in the Sky. This is where the Silver Fox is destroyed. This is where the Assemblers nearly catch Sira, and Yihtor’s mother is nearly successful. But at the last minute, Sira finds the path through the M’hir that brings them to where Aryl left in that story, the Sona cloisters. Aryl actually helps with this, as she’s trapped in the artefact that Sira found in her father’s archive. The vessel is similar to what the Vyna used, avoiding death in their own way. Aryl found a different use for them.

As we return to Cerci, all sorts of strange things get to happen, reminiscent of all three books in the Stratification trilogy. The entire Clan loses their mind as a memory aid teaches them about their new goals in their sleep. Morgan and Aryl are able to snap Sira out of it after he is nearly killed by the Sona and her own Clan. There’s a funny scene where Sira recognises his power and proceeds to initiate sexual activity in the middle of the cloisters, with all the remaining Clan present.

As the Om’ray appear, they start to learn a little about Cerci. Things have gone from bad to worse since the Mhiray left. The Oud have tipped the balance, destroying the Agreement and forbidding Om’ray Chosen to move between Clans, resulting in a sharp population decline. The Tikitik arrive, and a Thought Traveler takes an interest in Morgan, which scares Aryl after her experience with one back in Reap the Wild Wind.

It turns out the Oud are now trying to escape Cerci, but there is a forcefield blocking them from going anywhere beyond their immediate range. We visit the Vyna, who refuse to cower before Sira’s power, but recognize how strong she is. Strangely, there is a Rugheran (from Ties of Power) among the waters of the Vyna, whose volcanic rock prevents the Oud from destroying it. The Oud seem to have discovered a stunning secret –that the Om’ray are descended from the Hoveney, meaning that Sira and her people also come from that mysterious race –a race Marcus Bowman was researching, and the Assemblers desperately want artefacts from their planets.

It looks like the Hoveny started an experiment on Cerci, and that will hopefully be revealed in the next books, because this one only opens up more mysteries! Some mysteries from the Stratification books are resolved, like the Vyna birth vessels (used to keep them alive at the expense of other lives), the reason for the Oud behavior (they’ve destroyed not only Omray settlements but Tikitik also in their search for a way out).

I liked the interaction with the Oud in its aircar, showing them where it’s sacrificed so many of its kind to bash into the forcefield. Sira and Morgan end up inadvertently make it explode before it nearly kills them.

As the Oud take control of or destroy as much as they can, trying to fulfill an ancient prophecy, Morgan recognizes that the Cloisters are actually spaceships. I had no idea they were so big; the previous series led me to believe they were a small room, but these seem to be huge. They use the Mhiray ability to teleport to gather all Om’ray except the Vyna, and bring them to Sona. Then they use Morgan’s demonstrated ability to move a ship with his mind to lift the Cloisters off the ground and out into space. Cerci’s moon seems to be the origin for much of the chaos, with the speaker medallions sending messages there, and the ancient mythology hinting at destruction coming from there.

I’m looking forward to continuing the series, and finding out some answers. Hopefully the author decides to give us some. For now, this was a great page-turning book, leading me to read more chapters than I should have at a time.