A Game of Perfection

by Elizabeth Vonarburg

Edge, 333 pp, $16.95

A Game of Perfection is the second book in the Tyranael series.

Tyraneal is a planet colonized by humans and called Virginia. But another race of humanoids had lived there and gone before the humans came.

The planet has a phenomenon in which the sea withdraws for half the two year cycle and then returns for half a cycle. When it floods in it goes to an altitude of 1000 meters and neutralizes the electricity even higher. The humans ignore the unanswered questions and continue their exploitation of the planet. But people are born with unusual talents, and must hide from the normals. All this has been dreamed by Eilaia; dreamer from the ancients who dreams other universes that may or may not come to pass. She treasures Simon and his brothers who are changed by the planet and who may change the planet and its future.

In typical Vonarburg style, she weaves multiple plot twists with characters we relate to despite an alien quality and visual imagery that has us exploring the nature of reality itself. Now, I have to hunt Dreams of the Sea, the first book in the series. Her books are keepers. Gotta haves for the library. - Pam Allan