"fabulous science fiction thriller"

Man has colonized many planets and belongs to the Interspecies Union who fixed The Transect that enables ships to get from Point A to Point B in an instant. Brymn, a seven foot seven blue alien Dhryn, informs the government and Norcoast Salmon Research Facility's Dr. Mac Connor that a hostile race the Ro is coming to destroy Earthlings; nobody will be aware of it because of a unique stealth technology they use. Trusting Brymn, Mac travels to the Dhryn home world where he and species transform into feeders, devouring every planet that is in their path.

Back on Earth, Mac wants to forget the horror she witnessed first hand. Unfortunately she is the only one who can read and speak Dhyrn and is needed at a top secret conference of the Interspecies Union. The leaders of the Union want Mac to figure out why the Dhyrn turned from allies to carnivorous predators. Mac who specializes in the migrations of salmons thinks that the Dhryn are acting on a similar biological impulse. She finds evidence that though the Ro can deal with the Dhryn, they are not the saviors of the IC or earth but their enemy. Mac must convince the powers that be who is the foe and who is the ally.

Book two of the Species Imperative saga is a fascinating, action packed work that brings together believable sentient beings working together for a common cause. Mac is a terrific heroine who though she fears the Dhryn is willing to work with a captured one in order to figure out why they changed and devoured three planets, leaving them barren of all life. She is the heroic thread that brings a fabulous science fiction thriller together.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted June 8, 2005