This was the best of the crisis of empire series, a standalone novel set in the same universe as the rest of the series. Although there are some tieins to the rest of the series this can be enjoyed on its own and conclusion does not affect the rest of the series. The main character, Al Spencer is a navel intellignce officer who has just had his life ruined by the whims of the empire. He is picked up out of the gutter by the Kona Tatsu (secret police), cleaned up, given a small task force and sent to a world where KT agents keep disappearing. The novel deals with the problems of understanding and dealing with an Artificial Life form (AI) while at the same time trying to deal with his own problems. One of the books stregenths is the personality built into the AI. Although enormously powerful it has its own weakness and gaps in understanding. The book takes a little while to develop its characters and situation but by a third of the way through it is hard to put down. Highly reccomended