Never forget that when Stephen R. Donaldson is the man doing the writing that there is no end to the misery that the universe will dump onto the main characters. It is no surprise when fate (aka Donaldson) conspires to back all three of his main protagonists into a corner at the same location in Forbidden Space, a little outpost known as Billingate.  This illegal outpost, where human pirates and Amnion conduct dark dealings, becomes the backdrop for the convergence of Angus, Nick, and Morn and all the vitriol they carry for each other. It is not mere coincidence that this happens because two of the most powerful men in existence, Holt Fasner, head of the United Mining Company, and Warden Dios, head of the UMCP, are plotting against each other and using Morn, Angus, and Nick as unwilling pawns in their struggle. 

After Nick Succorso discovered that Davies was not his child, and that Morn's passion for him had been fake all along, he decided to get back at her by trading her son to the Amnion. The Amnion eagerly agreed to the trade because of their desire to conduct mutagenic experiments on Davies; however, Morn manages to divert Davies' pod at the last instant away from the Amnion ship and toward Billingate where he winds up a prisoner. Of course this infuriates Nick Succorso because he is now in a position of total weakness as his ship arrives at Billingate with little to bargain for the return of Davies and no other way to make good on his promise to the Amnion, who just happen to have two warships on his tail.

Meanwhile, Angus, who is now a fully 'welded' cyborg with incredible abilities, is also sent to Billingate on a secret mission by Warden Dios. Ironically, during this mission Angus suffers constant abuse at the hands of Milos Taverner and it is the zone implants in his head that prevent him from taking any action against his abuser. Nevertheless his arrival brings everything to a boil when he learns that he must work with Nick Succorso as part of his mission and now the original gang is all back together with their hatred for each other reaching new heights.

The story remains compelling and the slow reveal of the bigger picture keeps things interesting; however, there is no end to the creative and sinister use of technology to make the lives of the main characters miserable. Since it is hard to feel sorry for any of them, except Morn, one just needs to sit back and ponder how things are going to get worse for everyone in the next chapter. Basically more of the same from the first two books with more backstory to raise the stakes. For audiobook fans, Scott Brick remains his steady self as the narrator of the series, so more of the same there too.