This follow-up to True Blood takes place in the same part of space as that book, although with different characters. Like the previous book, the hero here is a Korcian, but Aedon Rawn's life is somewhat different from that of Cullon Gavriel. Aedon's wife and child were killed four years before by the Conglomerate, the group causing great concern to the Korcians and the League of Planets. Aedon agrees to go on a spy mission to the planet Hachyn to find out what the Conglomerate leader Rendhal is up to. Aedon is given the name of a resistance contact on Hachyn, Eiven Jein, and sets off to start his mission, building a cover as a smuggler of weapons.

As soon as Aedon arrives on Hachyn, however, he finds himself in the thick of the action. He teams up with Kala Char'ari, second-in-command to Eiven Jein, and the two of them work together to find out what's going on on Hachyn and defeat Rendhal's plans for arming his planet. Much of the action reads rather like a James Bond film with escapes, attacks on various installations (including an underwater approach), explosives, sex and betrayal. It's an enjoyable and action-packed read with a few twists and turns and a lot of charm.

The romance between the hero and heroine feels, at times, a little spurious. The sex scenes are formulaic and don't really add anything to the plot, but both Aedon and Kala are interesting characters and they seemed well-matched. Those who enjoyed True Blood will like this book, as will others who like romantic science fiction that contains a lot of action.

• True Blood (The True Series, Book 1)