"Scardown" goes off in a totally unexpected direction. The three-part saga that in the author's "Hammered" seemed to be establishing itself as a cyberpunky "band of outlaws up against globalism and the corporations" turns into something quite different, soaring off into international conflict, character conflict, space opera, and more than a hint of mysterious aliens.

As before, the tale is told in a series of jagged, short, time-stamped chapters from multiple povs. Jenny Casey, with her "wetware" upgraded, is now going to be plugged in as a starship pilot, while the scientists, teenagers, gangsters, et al. from the previous volume continue to play their roles. (Bear cleverly borrows the "mad space pilot" concept from Cordwainer Smith.) The characters' motivations are constantly in flux, and it's impossible to clearly tell who are the good guys and who are the bad guys. Let's just say they're all mostly imperfect, but try to do what they think is best. Also, the author is, fortunately, interested as much in character as she is in plot and action. Indeed, there are times when you're likely to tear up at some of the hard choices that the characters have to make.

Bear's a clever writer, too--a great prose stylist, and her dialogue can often go off in unexpected directions. Sometimes a character will begin speaking, after which some other bit of business starts, and the other speaker doesn't respond for a paragraph or so. Disconcerting at first, but you'll get used to it.

Notes and asides: Second of three, so obviously you should read "Hammered" before tackling this one.

Hammered sucked you into Bear's future world of climate change, cyberware and strange technologies of dubious origin, Scardown ratchets up the tension a few more notches.

Giving little concession to those who did not read the first, Scardown gives us MORE. Alien technology influenced spacecraft. Space Warfare. Nanotechnology. Artificial Intelligences. And characters we care about.

Its no wonder that Bear won the John Campbell award for best new writer at the 2005 Hugo Awards. If you've not read Hammered, go read that, and you will want to read this. And if you did read Hammered, its likely you don't need me to sell you on reading this book, save for me to tell you that its not as good as Hammered.

It's BETTER.