As my comments from Legion of the Damned stated, I looked through my boyfriend's books, found this book and squirreled it away to begin reading the moment I finished the previous book. Again, Mr. Dietz did not disappoint in creating a vision of the future detailed enough to understand, but not so detailed that you would have a tendency to get bogged down in it. By the time the first few chapters were past Mr. Dietz had shocked me several times, though perhaps regular science fiction readers might not have been so shocked, I found them to be good, or at least acceptable shocks. Acceptable because I knew the moment after my mind had gotten done with the, "no, you can't do that, that's not fair," that really there was no other way for the story to be continued if that character still lived, got away scot-free, or what have you. Mr. Dietz appreciates his characters, keeps you in touch with them, but doesn't have any compunction on cutting one out or down to size as the plot required. ( )