They were prisoners, exiles, pawns of a corrupt government. Now they are Dr Rachel Dycek's adin: surgically transformed beings who can survive new lives on the surface of Mars. But they are still exiles, unable ever again to breathe Earth's air … And they are still pawns.

For the adin exist to terraform Mars for human colonists, not for themselves. Creating a new Earth, they will destroy their world; killed by their own success. Desperate, adin leader Boris Tiban launches a suicide campaign to sabotage the Mars Project, knowing his people will perish in a glorious, doomed orgy of mayhem. Unless embattled, bitter Rachel Dycek can find a miracle to save both the Mars Project and the race she created.

"Kevin J. Anderson is the heir apparent to Arthur C. Clarke."DANIEL KEYS MORAN