This sequel to The Book in the Loft is a spiraling journey to a world inhabited by the very creatures who are behind the leather-bound books. The powers within the books take the crew of the Council of Planets starship Explorer to an encounter with a superior force, the result being a whirlwind trip through time and space that involves those from the J'rlonian Circle of Planets and seemingly familiar faces from Neil MacBruce's imagination. Imagination or real, MacBruce alone cannot find the way back to his own time and space, and in the events that follow he becomes entangled with enemies in both dimensions and discovers a connection with an ancient race that perhaps explains his own origins - and a mystery with no answers.