Maelstrom

by Ann McCaffery and Elizabeth Ann Scarborough

Del Ray, 237 pp, $23.85

Maelstrom is book two off the twins of Petaybee, the second trilogy of the Powers that Bee series

The Intergal corporation lost Petaybee to the sentient planet and its adapted population They have left the workers on a dying planet to be destroyed . Peytaybeans saved them but it gave Intergal a chance to arrest their allies, and a chance to reclaim the planet The struggle which sets up the next book.

The characters are charming and well realized,. The future speculations are fascinating, complete with sentient planets , changing ecologies., and shape shifters fighting predatory corporations., all combine to make a colorful and well realized adventure. My bone to pick is the incomplete ending that leaves the reader with no closure to carry them to the next volume. - Pam Allan