Mankind has lived among the stars for generations with interstellar trade primarily occurring through a series of space stations that connect Earth and the outer worlds. These stations were created by the Sol Corporation, known as the Earth Company, one after the other slowly extending mankind's reach out into the universe. Merchant ships that travel between the stations are run by families that have spent generations in space and the same is true for the inhabitants of the stations. These generations of space faring humans have developed social structures completely independent of Earth and eventually this causes the human race to begin to splinter. The long standing earth centric society is now breaking down as the outer planets exert their influence. They have now created their own military fleet and are rejecting the company, and earth centric, way of life. As the company military fleet falls back the conflict coalesces around Pell station which is in orbit around the planet Downbelow.

Pell station quickly becomes overwhelmed with refugees and although they are doing their best to remain neutral, the powers that be on each side of the war are not likely to give them that chance. Things go from bad to worse quickly and the story follows a few different individuals caught up in this interplanetary refugee crisis. Long standing ways of life begin to crumble, old grudges start to be acted upon, and the primitive aliens native to Downbelow find they are caught in the middle of a war they don't even understand. These primitive aliens are the only thing in the book that will bring a smile to your face and it hurts all the more when they are victims of what is going on.

This future as created by C. J. Cherryh is deep and rich and this can make things a bit overwhelming at the beginning. I started this one twice just to better get my bearings and I initially wondered if I would bounce off it; however, I eventually sorted things out and got into it. Part of the initial slowness is caused by a lack of understanding regarding the bigger picture. There are 27 novels in the Alliance/Union universe and it made me wonder if I should have started with a different book. Author C. J. Cherryh claims that much like works of history the books in her universe can be read in almost any order and perhaps she is right as it eventually did come together. The comparison to works of history is a good one because this book feels like it could be such a work in the future as opposed to something created merely for entertainment purposes.

Ultimately this is a story about war and crisis with little to no humor. It is about a turbulent future with suffering and turmoil at its core. Despite the fact that there is little joy within the story itself I did enjoy reading it. If you are considering the audiobook know that Brian Troxell's narration of the audiobook is only "good enough." His voices make all the characters recognizable but they don't really enhance the storytelling so reading might be the better option for this book. If you want sci-fi that resembles a historical account of war then give this one a go but if you prefer something more focused on entertainment then you should look elsewhere.