Description:

In the 21st-century, eleven extraterrestrial races have settled the planets and moons of the solar system, sometimes interacting with humans, sometimes ignoring them altogether. The alien races reached human space with faster-than-light drives -- deepdrives -- designed to self-destruct after use, taking the secret of their construction with them. Without deepdrives of their own, humans have no way to cross the vast interstellar gulf separating them from galactic civilization. But then a renegade Vronnan, the only one ever to enter the solar system, crashes on Venus and is taken into "protective custody". There is no telling what he knows -- perhaps even the elusive secret of the deepdrive. Now a ragtag group of mercenaries, thrown together by chance and failure, determines to break him out and learn his secrets for themselves.

Amazon.com Review

In Alexander Jablokov's new novel, no less than 11 different alien races have visited our solar system, setting up home on the planets and moons most hospitable to them. Humanity would love to join these far-flung adventurers in their travels, but we lack the deepdrive that makes trekking between the stars possible. So far no human has been able to acquire a drive or find a way to create one, and none of the aliens are willing to pass along the secret. But a few years ago, an alien by the name of Ripi crash-landed in our system, and he may have brought an intact drive with him. Since his landing, Ripi has been held on Venus, half exile and half political prisoner, refusing to say anything about the drive. But now Ripi has put the word out that he'd like to be rescued from his enforced vacation, and mercenary Soph Trost is one of many people (and aliens) who want a piece of the action... and the deepdrive. This is a ripping tale by Jablokov, who has no trouble mixing good old-fashioned action with an intricate plot and colorful characters. --Craig E. Engler

From Publishers Weekly

In the 21st century, our solar system has been radically transformed by the presence of 11 different alien races. Some have come to colonize, others to trade and still others for reasons too inscrutable for humans to understand. The Bgarth, intelligent, wormlike beings larger than supertankers, tunnel beneath the soil of a terraformed Venus. A race known only as the Gunners has set up shop on Mercury and fires an enormous isotopic cannon at the Sun, possibly for religious reasons. A gigantic commensal being that calls itself Doc Kraken rents itself out as a tourist attraction in order to finance its thousand-year trip around the galaxy. Human beings, however, lacking a deepdrive, the only means of achieving faster-than-light travel, have remained second-class citizens, locked in their solar system and unable to compete on a galactic scale. Now, aging human mercenary Sophonisba Trost has been hired to help break a renegade alien named Ripi out of protective custody on Venus. Ripi may know the whereabouts of a deepdrive, or at least that's what Soph has been told. Of course, Soph's employers haven't given her the whole story. Jablokov (River of Dust) has a talent for creating truly strange aliens, creatures who are much more than just oddly dressed humans with bumpy foreheads. His multispecies future is complex, at times perhaps too much so, as his plot can be hard to follow. Overall, however, this is a sound example of latter-day space opera with some nicely developed characters and just a touch of noir atmospherics.
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