The Ultimate Vampire Resource and Directory

After ten thousand years in exile, the cyber-warriors return in their fleet of spaceships to the planet that rejected them: Earth.

In Adiamante, Modesitt once again weaves a tapestry of suspense, revenge, and above all, philosophy. It is twelve millennia since the cybs (cybernetically enhanced humans) were driven from Old Earth by the demis (telepaths) and the draffs (old-style humans), who then formed a now-fallen star empire.

When a fleet of revenge-bent cybs arrives above Earth, which is decimated by ecological catastrophe, its genetically-engineered pacifist population appoints Ecktor DeJanes as Coordinator. The position is one of "pacifist war leader;" Ektor must plan to defeat the cybs, without striking the first blow. He cannot even warn the cybs, as that could be perceived an aggressive threat. The newly-widowed Ecktor struggles to avert catastrophe as hard as he struggles against his attraction to the cyb fleet's navigator, who resembles his dead wife.

Modesitt skillfully interweaves philosophical discussions of power and its consequences into the fast-moving plot.