This is the sequel to The Abyss Beyond Dreams, and you do really need to have read the previous book. It helps somewhat if you've also read the Void trilogy.
I mean, I'm not saying it doesn't stand alone at all, but it sadly doesn't do so all that well. It's still a good book. It exists in the Commonwealth universe, which is a high tech space opera world, but this book comes more down to Earth, or rather Bienvenido. It's set on an isolated world located outside our galaxy, and the inhabitants enjoy about a 1960s level of technology, complete with astronauts going into space in reverse engineered Soyuz capsules.
The characters are solid, but in a couple of cases it suffers from the fact that some of them are essentially superheroes, due to a vast disparity in tech. The biggest flaw is a twist that is so obvious it had me rolling my eyes. YMMV, of course.
Overall, the plot is interesting, and the stakes rise through the book until they hit planetary levels with....well, spoilers, but the world nearly ends. Of course, that is mitigated by the fact that this is one isolated human colony, with the entire Commonwealth still out there. But he does make us care about the characters, if not the world of Bienvenido itself. (It's rather messed up).
It's a solid read, but I'm taking off half a star for not standing alone and another half for the insultingly obvious twist.
Four stars - Recommended
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