A strong sequel, this book continues the previous series with most of the same main characters, but advanced twenty years. The war against the vuhls has been defensive but basically successful (particularly by the previous book’s standards), but a new group emerges claiming that victory is at hand.
Blazing Star is a splinter group founded by Owen Garret that uses a telepathic wave of aggression to kick the vuhl’s over. The first pages of the book set the situation up… then the Prophet is introduced. The prophet is the Destroyer that the vuhls feared in the last book– seemingly human, his leadership inspires Blazing Star to greatness. After he allies with the navy there’s a lot of vuhl stomping.
Of course, it isn’t that simple. There are a lot of groups interested in the distribution of power in the Solar Empire. Jackie has an interesting relationship with Ch’en’ya, who proves an important ally of Blazing Star– sometimes a strained mother/daughter exasperation, sometimes pure opposition. Meanwhile, other power groups in the Empire and among the Zor scheme for their own slice of power… and Stone comes back to tangle it all further.
Very enjoyable– the best book in the series since the first. (Also interestingly, I went to the author website to see when the next book is due… and it’s not. Evidently it didn’t sell that well, so no more books are forthcoming. It’s interesting how that lack changes the feel of the series.)