June09:
Characters: MUCH better than the original. I actually liked some of these guys.
Plot: Also much smoother. The twist at the end was un-needed, but I did like the climax part.
Style: Smoothed out too. The 1-bit characters weren't given names so you didn't get them confused. ( )

Sequel to [In Conquest Born]. A solid adventure, but not as focused as the first one. Much of the action takes place outside of the Holding and the Star Empire, and it seems like the other settings are less well-developed. ( )

Two major races with very different values and ideologies are at war and has been so for thousands of years. The one race has genetically modified itself, and breeded for psychic traits (Ateans), the other has killled all psychic at birth (Braxin). The psychic has now become outcast from both races, and lives hidden, only appearing to steal away children with psychic abilities. The secret police the Ateans are surveying the remaining half of a set of twins where the other one was stolen in this way, hoping she may lead them to the psychic 'rebels'. She becomes unstable due to an onslaught of psychic ability, and compulsively travels from palnet to planet to escape it. She finds her twin and the psychic community, and along the way they also pick up a Braxin outcast.
Set in the same world as In Conquest Born, this novel is not nearly as well rounded or complete a work. The story is told with multiple POV distributed among the three main protagonists and many minor characters, using devices as diaries, scientific notes and the like. The minor characters does not - as in ICB - seem interested or fleshed out. In fact it can be difficult to understand what these characters contribute, and why they are included. ( )