in this brilliant evocative novel greg bear takes the reader into a strangely familiar nearfuture world and shatters our conceptions of perfection punishment and the elusive nature of the human soul one is ultimately awed it may be the most ambitious novel ive ever read washington post book world theres a new ship of vampirates roaming the seas leaving a trail of fear and devastation in its wake when a highprofile pirate is slain the pirate federation takes decisive action and begins training up a ship of dedicated vampire hunters the team will be led by newly appointed captain cheng li and will include pirate prodigy connor tempestmeanwhile connors twin sister grace enjoys a bittersweet reunion with their mother sally tempest has some important and shocking news that will leave the twins facing a very uncertain future