"Gilliland's quirky mix of eccentric characters, cynical power politics, and old-style hard sf engineering-in-space is fun to read," writes Dani Sweig in Belated Reviews. The odd assortment of refugees who have escaped Earth to the shelter of the asteroid habitat, Rosinante, thought they had won a temporary "hands off" from Earth's major governments. But an unknown foe on Earth has a secret agenda, and for that agenda to succeed Rosinante must be destroyed. That enemy has launched an oh-so polite and intelligent, but utterly incorruptible, missile at Rosinante. To save the colony, its governor Charles Cantrell will have to discover who is behind the attack, and why. Meanwhile, the missile homes in on the fragile colony feeling "gratified to be of use." "The story elements come early, fast, and furious," Dani Sweig writes, "Gilliland's quirky mix of eccentric characters, cynical power politics, and old-style hard sf engineering-in-space is fun to read. Gilliland's novels are about people who, mostly through accident of circumstance, find themselves holding a tiger by the tail, with a choice of hanging on or being eaten."

Genre: Fantasy