SOJALS rating:

Very good (4/5)

I first read this on the 17th April 2012.

Ed Rico watches his elder brother, Verne, heading down the escalator at Chancery Lane underground station in London. As Verne descends, a swirling haze of light appears and Verne and the other commuters disappear into it. This turns out to the be first arch to appear on Earth.

Ed, and Verne's wife Mary, would very much like to find Verne again. Partly to apologise, in fact.

Out in the depths of space, in the Bubble Belt, Katherine Abdulov is searching for a paying job to get her the money she needs to escape from the dirt-hole world on which she's trapped herself.

And far, far away is an alien menace, a destructive cloud that consumes all in its path. This cloud is bigger than a planet. Indeed it eats planets, converting everything eventually to ash. It's malignant, indestructible, inexorable and getting closer

Stunning, fresh and exciting, great adventure, elegantly strung together. It's "Stargate" with a dash of Ian MacDonald and Alistair Reynolds. I admit some elements might be a little illogical but I was so swept up in the excitement that I frankly just didn't care. I will be reading more from Mr Powell.