Charlie Windar is a ranger on Lym, one of the last surviving planets in human galactic civilization. He helps return the planet to a more primitive state, healing it after humankind's long exploitation of its natural resources. Nona Hall is a wealthy young woman born on the Diamond Deep, a planet-sized space station containing most of the current human population. Nona hires Charlie for a tour of Lym after her father dies with a parting request that she "see a sky." Nona's childhood friend Chrystal lives in a quad marriage aboard space station High Sweet Home, working with her three partners to produce a new strain of herd animal for the good of humanity. Until, that is, her entire station is stolen by the Next--a civilization of machine-based beings--and she wakes up one day inside a robot body.
The incursion by these inscrutable and powerful machine entities sets the story in motion, one that follows the physical, mental and spiritual journey of all three people as they learn more about the mysterious Next and their plans to return to human space.
The first in the Glittering Edge series, Edge of Dark takes place in the same universe as Brenda Cooper's two Ruby's Song novels (The Creative Fire and The Diamond Deep); Nona Hall is the great-granddaughter of Ruby Martin, the protagonist of the earlier books. The characters in Edge of Dark are sharply drawn, and the plot is full of action and deep insight into the future of human society as it takes to the stars. --Rob LeFebvre, freelance writer and editor