The 2nd novel of The Hinder Stars series returns to an intergalactic
corporate conflict, set in the Hugo Award-winning Alliance-Union
Universe.
With deft prose and complex characters, Alliance Unbound is
thought-provoking science fiction that shrewdly examines the
technological and sociopolitical challenges of humanity's journey to the
stars.
When Cyteen opened up faster-than-light travel, it gave the technology
for free to any ship that could reach it; and with that technology, it
provided a map of jump-points, points of mass enabling starships to
navigate hyperspace safely.
The map of jump-points, however, stopped with the route to Alpha--thus
excluding Sol, and Earth, and the Earth Company, whose gateway to the
stars was Alpha. Cyteen knew exactly what it was doing with its gift.
Sol and the EC could still reach Alpha with sub-light pusher-ships as it
always had--but Sol and the Earth Company no longer had any authority in
the Beyond.
But Sol intends to take back control of its star-stations and stop
Cyteen's unbridled expansion, however it can. To do that, they are
willing to starve Alpha and concentrate their efforts on a huge FTLer
capable of carrying military force.
