SOJALS rating:

Very good (4/5)

I first read this in May 2001.

Third in the series started with "Firestar". If you got this book and you haven't yet read "Firestar" and "Rogue Star" then put this book carefully away somewhere and don't open it until you've read the first two in the series.

A few years have passed, Mariesa is getting old but to some extent she is achieving her plan: humankind are out in space; there are space-stations and a moon-base. Still lacking is the, in her view, critical defense against asteroid impact.

This is more of a problem that it might have seemed previously, because now it is becoming clear that there are an abnormal number of asteroids targeting the Earth. In fact, there seems to be a deliberate targeting. And now at last, there is pretty clear evidence of aliens.

Okay, so it's not as good as Firestar. But it continues with the same characters, plus of course some new ones, and you have to read it,