WARNING: THIS CONTAINS SPOILERS REGARDING CITY OF PEARL

The second of Karen Traviss's Wess'har Wars 6 part series (although only three have been published to date) is Crossing the Line.

This book starts in February of our year 2376, shortly after the conclusion of the events in City of Pearl, with Shan Frankland reflecting on her new C'naatat status and Eddie watching the Thetis beginning its return trip to earth.

We see that those on Earth have had some realisation of the existence of and potential uses for C'naatat and the lengths to which some will go in trying to secure/eradicate the parasite.

We also see that many people have to make choices about where to draw the line in making decisions and following orders, some making better decisions than others - and with some of those decisions having a catastrophic impact at a personal and broader level.

The book continues the story of Aras and Shan, plus a few extra characters that we did not expect to see again. We also get more of a look at the Wess'har - their homes, their lives and their political structure - and how Shan settles into life as a refugee among them. The Bezer and Constantine settlement also feature, as do the Isenj, with Minister Ual's character being developed further.

As with the first book in the series many issues are raised - issues of environmental responsibility continue to feature and be developed to an even greater degree than in the first book. However the author continues to do this is a subtle way with the reader being able to empathise with most characters and their views.

Once again the narrative is very fast paced but fabulously descriptive, the characters continue to be well developed with those central characters that survive being ones that I am certainly keen to follow in future books. The ending is absolutely stunning.

The book is even better than the first and I again highly recommend it to everyone (but strangely once again the cover doesn't seem to really reflect what happens in the story).

The third book, The World Before, came out this week, with another three books in the series planned for next year according to the author's website.


Links to all of my reviews/overview blogs can be found in this blog.