This is the fourth novel in the Priscilla Hutchins series and like the previous one, it has nothing to do with the omega cloud threat per se, even though it is a threat from one of those 'clouds' which starts the story off.
Given that this threat was discovered in the first book in the series, you would think by now that humanity would have monitors on every known omega cloud out there, tracking it, but once again they're taken by surprise as an omega threatens a planet with a civilization on it. In true Star Trek mode (barf! I am not a fan of Star Trek), they've somehow convinced themselves that they must save the planet without revealing themselves to the aliens. This makes zero sense.
The idea in Star Trek is that civilizations must inevitably suffer after contact with a superior civilization, but this is bullshit based on a primitive and ignorant past. It makes no sense in an enlightened future (and Star Trek breaches the rule constantly!). It especially makes no sense here when an entire plant is threatened. Rather than try to tackle the Omega cloud, the focus inexplicably is on the planet and of course they end up making contact.
One again we have minor and uninteresting characters and a planetary threat - pretty much the same as in previous volumes, which is why I detest series for the most part - it's inevitably the same story over and over again with the same characters and that's precisely what happens here; same threat, same urgency. These novels could each have been written independently with new characters instead of being part of the same series and nothing would have been lost while there stood much to gain. Of course, then the cloning of the earlier volumes for re-use in later ones would have been far more stark. I guess maybe that's why it's a series? The more I reconsider these though, the more I wonder why I stayed with this series as long as I did. I must have viewed them differently when I was younger than I do now! Clearly my tastes and tolerance have changed!
