WHEN TRUE NIGHT FALLS

Second volume in the Cold Fire trilogy (after the well- received Black Sun Rising, 1991—not reviewed)—a disquieting hybrid epic with a science-fiction backdrop (starship colonists marooned on a remote, hostile planet) and a fantasy plotline: to survive, humanity must battle planet Erna's inimical fae, a sort of evil magic, not to mention the cat-like natives, human sorcerers, demons, and what-all. Not for the purists, but competently wrought, independently intelligible, reasonably engaging, and worth a try for eclectic readers.