A swashbuckling thriller - Pirates of the Caribbean meets Firefly - that nevertheless combines
the author's trademark hard SF with effective coming-of-age characterisation' GUARDIAN 'A
blindingly clever imagining of our solar system in the far flung future' SUN Return to the
Revenger universe for another thrilling tale set among the stars . . . Quoins are accepted
currency throughout the thousands of worlds of the Congregation. Ancient and of unknown origin
and purpose people have traded with them fought for them and stolen quoin hordes from
booby-trapped caches at risk to life and limb throughout the Thirteen Occupations. Only now
it's becoming clear they have another purpose . . . as do the bankers who've been collecting
them. The Occupations themselves are another puzzle. The rise and fall of civilisation may have
been unevenly spaced across history but there is also a pattern. Could something be sparking
the Occupations - or ending them? And if so what could it be lurking far beyond the outermost
worlds of the Congregation? The Ness sisters are being hunted for crimes they didn't commit by
a fleet whose crimes are worse than their own. If they're to survive and stay one step ahead
of their pursuers - if they're to answer the questions which have plagued them - it's going to
require every dirty piratical trick in the book . . . 'By far the most enjoyable book Reynolds
has ever written' SFX
