Description de l’éditeur
In this conclusion to The Star Shards Chronicles, powerful and terrifying invaders have arrived from a parallel dimension, and only the Star Shards can prevent the destruction of the human race.
Six children were conceived at the exact moment that the star Mentaras-H went supernova, and the explosion transformed their souls into living star fragments. Now the Star Shards face the ultimate battle—and the true purpose of their gifts be revealed, for it is no accident they have these powers. Once despised for their “deformities,” the Star Shards are now worshiped and feared as gods. Their power is unlimited, as is the temptation to abuse it. But a new and terrifying force has torn a wound in the universe, infecting it like a deadly, intelligent virus. Only one power exists that could conceivably prevent the extermination of the human race: the Star Shards. But only if they can put aside their titanic egos and join forces one final time.
Acclaimed author Neal Shusterman’s “talent for depicting superhuman characters with human strengths and weaknesses lends depth and immediacy to a tale of cosmic proportions” (School Library Journal) in this stunning conclusion to a visionary trilogy.
Originally published by Tor Fantasy in 2002.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The third and final book in Shusterman's Star Shards Chronicles (Scorpion Shards; Thief of Souls) is not for the squeamish, as it mixes plenty of blood and gore with big philosophical questions. The earlier novels followed the six superhuman "Star Shards" Dillon, Winston, Michael, Deanna, Tory and Lourdes into rocky adulthood, and saw the deaths of Deanna, Michael and Tory, even as Dillon, the most powerful of them, became a legendary villain for collapsing the Hoover Dam. Though believed dead in the disaster, Winston, Lourdes and Dillon still live. Dillon is held prisoner in a secret military installation where the government hopes to exploit his power to resurrect the dead. He escapes with the help of Elon Tessic, the brilliant Israeli engineer who designed his prison, and is reunited with Winston, who's been searching for him and Lourdes, driven by a strange dream that portends disaster. The Shards' old enemy, soul-eating alien Okoya, warns them of the arrival of three Vectors, beings of his own race who've come to Earth after being driven out of their own space by a mysterious virus. Now Lourdes is cooperating with the aliens and Dillon and his remaining companions must somehow recover and reunite the rest of the missing Shards if they have any hope of saving Earth. Though things come together a bit too easily in the end, strong themes of morality, vengeance and the emotional cost of great power should intrigue thoughtful readers, whether or not they've read the previous volumes.
