Instead of resuming the adventures of Alcius, the fourth volume of the Corean Chronicles adopts the points of view of Dainyl, an Alector, and Mykel, one of his talented (and Talented--i.e., psychic) company captains. As previous chronicles (Legacies, 2002; Darknesses, 2003; Scepters, 2004) have imparted, Corus has been developed as a future home for aliens who live by draining one planet's biological life force before moving to another. The development is supervised by Alectors, bigger, stronger, technologically superior to the natives, and all possessed of Talent, which most natives lack. The aliens' transfer to Corus is imminent, but the highest-ranked Alectors are intriguing among themselves, making use of the natives' political and economic aspirations. Dainyl, a just-promoted Alector, is supposed to straighten out a revolt among the steers, as the natives are derisively called. He discovers that higher-up Alectors instigated it, and the rarely seen aboriginal inhabitants of the planet, the Soarers, have gotten involved. Readers of its predecessors may most relish this book, which does, however, stand on its own.