This sequel to The Book in the Loft is aspiraling journey to a world inhabited by the very creatures who are behind theleather-bound books. The powers within the books take the crew of the Councilof Planets starship Explorer to an encounter with a superior force, theresult being a whirlwind trip through time and space that involves those fromthe J'rlonian Circle of Planets and seemingly familiar faces from NeilMacBruce's imagination. Imagination or real, MacBruce alone cannot find his wayback to his own time and space, and in the events that follow he becomesentangled with enemies in both dimensions and discovers a connection with anancient race that perhaps explains his own origins -and a mystery with noanswers.