SOJALS rating:

Mediocre (2/5)

I first read this on the 20th August 2005.

Scattered across the galaxy are the relics of a lost but fantastically advanced civilisation. Humankind has been able to use some of these. The Angel Station gateways have allowed Humanity to spread far and wide across the galaxy, The biological knowledge lets us transmogrify ourselves, our bodies and even our genes.

On the distant planet of Kaspar, watched by human scientists and guarded by human militia, the sole extant alien civilisation found by man is developing, closely supervised by humanity but completely unaware that it is not alone.

But a wave of death triggered by ancient enemies of the Angels is sweeping across this wing of the galaxy. Shortly it will destroy all life on Kaspar.

We could rescue the aliens, after all they are perhaps our only companions in this galaxy. It would be a vast operation, and vastly expensive. But it would be the only moral action.

Of course, some people really don't want that. They don't give a damn about alien lives. They see quite an advantage in a sterilised world.

I have to admit that I love the book more for its title than its content. Yes, I enjoyed reading it. But what a title - it gives me such a feeling of scale, part of that may just be that I read this in big format paperback so much more impressive than the regular mass market edition. So much heavier, too, of course.

Perhaps I should review all my reviews and see If I review large formats differently - perhaps I tend say that they start well but finally disappoint. It would be an embarrassment to discover that was simply tiredness on my part.

It was an interesting book, just not as good as I hoped it would be when I picked it off the shelf in the shop.