Helpful Score: 7
Excellent read. This book is the 4th in the series and really the end of the trilogy in The Chanur Saga omnibus. You must read the series in order. Very smoothly written. Lots of action and science. It definitely kept me on the edge of my seat. And it's interesting because Tully - the male human who clings to the Chanur for safety - opens the Chanur females' eyes to the possibility of the male of a species as stable, contributing members of a space-going vessel. The other alien races in the series are all frightening and very untrustworthy. There is political intrigue, fighting, hyper-space, and lots of action of all kinds. Highly recommended for anyone who likes space science fiction or wants to try reading science fiction about space. I can't stress how much this series HAS to be read in sequence.
When those enigmatic entities call humans sent their first exploration ship into Compact space all the traditional power alliances of the seven Compact races were totally disrupted. And, giving shelter to Tully, the only surviving human, Pyanfar Chanur and her hani crew were pitched into the center of a galactic maelstrom, key players in a power game they scarcely understood. Now, with space stations destroyed by rival factions, unwillingly "allied" with the most devious and untrustworthy kif, and forced to doubt their own long-time champions, the mahendo' sat, Pyanfar and her space-going comrades had become the last desperate hope of the entire hani race! For, a one-planet race among whom only the females wre allowed into space, the hani were in the direct path of a running space battle which might wipe the very memory of their world from the galactic maps!
