INFINITY'S SHORE

Book Two (Brightness Reef, 1995) of ``a new Uplift trilogy,'' so-called because both old and new trilogies describe how advanced Galactic races ``uplift'' younger, lesser races into full sentience and membership in the Galactic community. On planet Jijo, six sets of illegal immigrants—five different alien species, plus humans- -have overcome interspecies hostilities, successfully concealing their presence. Now, however, ships from the Five Galaxies—gene raiders, exterminators, busybodies, and what-all—threaten their isolationist idyll. Indistinguishable characters, wildly overcomplicated plotting, and cluttered backdrop: as before, a combination utterly unintelligible to newcomers, and a tough slog even for series fans.