Whoever wrote the back cover copy for this book needs to find another job - you do not reveal the biggest surprise in the book, happening just a few pages before the end of the book, on the back cover of said book.

This book uses the format of the early books in the series - the stories don't flow one after another but get intersected with each other - thus making that more of a mosaic novel than an anthology. That format had always worked better for this series anyway because of the way the the different authors tell the stories (and the type of stories they tell).

Revolution is in the air and everyone is scrambling for better position - in any way they can think of. The seeds which the Janes threw in the canals are annoying everyone (but at the same time can be used to brew the new type of fuel so the ones at the canals are happy, the ones above - not as much). A baby is born, almost noone dies, people get into tighter and tighter corners and every time you think you can underestimate someone, you get surprised. Before the end of the book, things get even more complicated than usual because the whole "we are too scared from the sharr to explore and innovate" had led to people missing something which had always been in front of their eyes (and which gets spoiled by that back cover...). I am curious to see what happens next.

Larger continuity tidbit: before this book, the connection to the Alliance-Union Universe was somewhat tenuous and mostly implied; a conversation here ties the people who were left behind on Merovingen to the Union much firmer (they even mentioned clones). ( )

best so far in the series. ( )

This is the fifth of the shared world anthologies following the initial Angel With A Sword, featuring stories by: Lynn Abbey, Nancy Asire, C. J. Cherryh, Leslie Fish, Mercedes Lackey, Chris Morris, Janet Morris and Bradley Sinor. ( )