The second volume in a no-holds-barred adventure set in Asher's popular Polity universe, sequel to Dark Intelligence.

One seeks judgement, another faces damnation and one man will have his revenge . . .

Thorvald Spear is losing his mind as he drowns in dark memories that aren't his own. Penny Royal, rogue artificial intelligence, has linked Spear with the stored personalities of those it's murdered. And whether the AI seeks redemption or has some more sinister motive, Spear needs to destroy it. He feels the anger of the dead and shares their pain.

As Spear tracks the AI across a hostile starscape, he has company. Sverl, an alien prador, has been warped by Penny Royal and hungers to confront it. But will the AI's pursuers destroy each other or hunt it together? Sverl's prador enemies aren't far behind either. They plan to use his transition to prove human meddling, triggering a devastating new war.

Clues suggest Penny Royal's heading for the defective war factory that made it. So allies and enemies converge, heading for the biggest firestorm that sector of space has ever seen. But will Spear secure vengeance for his unquiet dead?

PRAISE FOR THE TRANSFORMATION SERIES

"One of his best works so far ... Asher is a modern master of Sci-Fi" Starburst magazine

"Beautifully paced ... does just as well as at slam-bang action scenes as at painting frightening pictures" Publishers Weekly, starred review

"Blends large portions of horror and mystery into an SF tale of revenge and redemption ... a complex and satisfying work" Library Journal, starred review

"Hardboiled, fast-paced space opera epic ... Asher's books are similar to the world of Iain M. Banks' Culture universe, but the Polity is arguably a much darker and more vicious environment - and all the better for it" TheRegister.co.uk