A stand-alone science fiction novel. Humanity is at war with an alien species, and for many years warp ships have been disappearing. This has generally been put down to mis-jumps in combat; until a warp engine from one of the missing ships turns up at a space station. Encrusted with coral, and with odd modifications, a crew is sent to follow it back - and try and solve the mystery. What they find is bizarre beyond belief; but they manage to return to 'normal' space and at the same time, bring the war to an end.

This was one of the first Spencers I read. It's available as an ebook, but I still have my paperback copy.

Recommended.

Wen Spencer is amazing at depicting cultures - worldbuilding, quickly and without any data dumps. Here we get three cultures in the first chapter - Novaya Rus, the United Colonies, and the Reds. Then aspects of those - the new Reds and their owner have an entirely different slant on things. Then the various ships and landings of Sargasso - cultures, and individuals within cultures. There's an adventure story and a couple romances threaded through, mysteries and puzzles - I kept thinking "why don't these people _talk_ to one another?" If Mikhail had told Turk what he'd learned, and vice versa, it would have simplified things immensely. An amazing story, I'd like to read more in this universe(s), but the story is complete in this book. It reminded me why I like Wen Spencer. ( )

Very fast flowing story in a marvelous inverted world with good aliens and good human characters. ( )

I enjoyed this story of two "brothers", one the cloned heir of a famous Russian leader (Mikail), and the other a genetically enhanced cat/person hybrid (Turk). There were a lot of ongoing subplots with prejudice, the pressures of leadership and the support of family. I found the characters to all be very likeable. I enjoyed the romantic aspects of the story between Turk and Paige, as well as the mystery of the planet they land on. My only complaint would be the ending of the story. I would have liked to have a little expansion of what happened after the resolution of the main story. I felt that after going through this journey with these characters, the abrupt ending, especially of Mikhail's particular storyline, to feel like a little bit of a let down. Overall, I would definitely recommend reading this very entertaining science fiction tale. ( )

I'm sorry for not rating, but I was unable to finish this book and it really was not to my preference. I felt so bad when I just couldn't go on reading this, but it wasn't because it wasn't well written. I was unable to finish this book because it simply was not to my taste.

I love Wen Spencer's books and I think she's absolutely brilliant and I would recommend her books to anyone that loves urban fantasy at its finest.