Search Worlds Without End

Like every child in Is-Land, all Astra Ordott wants is to have her Security Shot, do her National Service and defend her Gaian homeland from Non-Lander 'infiltrators'. But when one of her Shelter mothers, the formidable Dr Hokma Blesser, tells her the shot will limit her chances of becoming a scientist and offers her an alternative, Astra agrees to her plan.

When the orphaned Lil arrives to share Astra's home, Astra is torn between jealousy and fascination. Lil's father taught her some alarming ideas about Is-Land and the world, but when she pushes Astra too far, the heartache that results goes far beyond the loss of a friend.

If she is to survive, Astra must learn to deal with devastating truths about Is-Land, Non-Land and the secret web of adult relationships that surrounds her.

Astra Ordott is in exile. Evicted from Is-Land for a crime she cannot regret, she has found work in an ancient fortress in Non-Land: headquarters of the Council of New Continents, the global body charged with providing humanitarian aid to the inhabitants of this toxic refugee camp.

Recovering from a disorienting course of Memory Pacification Treatment, Astra struggles to focus on her overriding goals - to find her Code father and avenge the death of her Shelter mother, Hokma.

But can the CONC compound director, the ambiguous Major Thames, protect her from the hawk-eyed attentions of her old enemies? And who in this world of competing agendas can she trust? The deeper Astra ventures into this new world, the more she realises her true quest may be to find herself.

Astra is the long prophesied icon of unification for the peoples of Non-Land, but is she ready to accept her destiny?

War is breaking out in Kadingir. Still struggling to accept her role as a long-prophesied icon of unification between Is-Land and Non-Land, Astra Ordott is on a journey across the windsands to join her father in Shiimti, where powerful mystics claim to be truly healing the damaged relationship between human beings and the Earth. Astra is desperate to get there quickly, but when her guide and companion, the shepherd Muzi, leads her off-course into the path of a vicious sandstorm, she is forced to confront what the gods of their devastated world might be telling her: that there will be no refuge from her destiny.

For ten years Astra Ordott has lived as a traitor, hated by most of her fellow prisoners and abused by the guards. She made the ultimate sacrifice to save those she loved, voluntarily giving up her freedom when she handed herself over to the Is-Land authorities. Now long-simmering conflicts are beginning to boil over again as the wider world faces devastating threats both old and new. Non-Land and Is-Land are further from reunification than ever.

Outside Astra's fortified Gaian homeland, an infertility crisis is threatening the survival of the human race, while the world's reliance on rare earth metals is infuriating the ancient spirits of the planet.

Astra may have found her voice as a messenger of cosmic harmony - but is anyone listening?