In Carver's complex new novel, space "riggers" use the currents of an amorphous, mind-altering continuum called the Flux to guide sleek starships through space. But the Flux also has frightening, deep calms. A rigger needs emotional control and concentration to avoid being trapped in the calms and drifting endlessly. Rigger Renwald Le-groeder has been highly successful at that task but doesn't anticipate his captain's treacherous betrayal of the Ciudad de Los Angeles and all aboard her to space pirates. After seven long years, Legroeder escapes, only to discover that higher authorities than his captain have made profitable deals with the pirates, and those forces now want Le-groeder dead. In his struggle to discover the truth about his situation, he joins forces with the alien Narseil, whose flexible time sense makes them superior navigators in the Flux. He also partners with two mechanically augmented humans: the sexy representative of a rival pirate clan and a fellow escapee from the pirates' forced labor troops. Characterization occasionally falters, but every word of the space battles and voyages convinces. Roberta Johnson
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"A big, broad, bountiful adventure...you don't want to wait for the paperback." -- Science Fiction Chronicle, Oct.-Nov. 2000
"Straight into the jaws of doom and destiny...and a final resolution that leaves the reader both breathless and satisfied." -- Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, Dec. 2000
