From Publishers Weekly
The entire human race is in hock to insectoid aliens in this new novel from SF author and Star Trek writer Gerrold. Suckered into debt by the galactic InterChange, junior member Earth is about to become an indentured race to aliens whose idea of sportsmanship comprises the winner eatings the loser. Wising up quickly, Terran diplomat Yake Singh Browne realizes that the InterChange isn't the altruistic government it seems but something closer to cutthroat poker, where individual players make up their own rules. This playful, intricate game of survival, told from the points of view of several different races, is one of Gerrold's best books. Its touch of the macabre spices his light, inventive story. Ages 10-up.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
Grade 8-11 In a distant future in which only 12 of the registered 2017 sentient species are mammalian, the human species is at a distinct disadvantage. Yake Singh Brown questions the game which mankind seems to have lost and decides to ask the Dragon, a member of one of the fiercest and wisest species, if there is a way for humanity to survive. He learns that although there is a way, Yake and his friends must discover it for themselves. Using his hunch that the game encourages bluffs and cheating, Yake not only finds a way out of the trap but also negotiates two contracts that may put mankind in the position to ``retire'' two other species in a few years. Gerrold has written a fine but demanding science-fiction novel. Readers must follow a complicated series of narrative changes as the main story and a sub-plot unfold. However those with perseverance will enjoy the story's campy humor and unexpected plot twists. The old-fashioned pulp science-fiction feeling is reinforced by Torres' black-and-white illustrations with their deco settings and Dick Tracy-ish characters. Anne Connor, Los Angeles Public Library
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.
