Starcross

The sequel to LARKLIGHT finds adventurer Arthur Mumby, his heart-broken sister, Myrtle, and their "four-and-a-half-thousand-million-year-old" mother vacationing at an asteroid resort while their house is being redecorated. It doesn't take long before the trio meets eccentric characters, such as a brilliant professor who happens to be a plant; witnesses curious happenings, such as guests turning into trees while others are eaten by hats; and comes to understand that the hotel is filled with shape-shifters and time disturbances. The book becomes an uproarious mix of bizarre characters and circumstances, Victorian mores and British imperialism, and romps across time and space. Greg Steinbruner narrates for both Arthur and Myrtle, rockets through moods, orbits around themes, and gives stellar cameos of a French spy and a pirate turned British agent. S.W. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine