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From early on in The Entire and the Rose series, a terrible choice has loomed before Titus Quinn. Our universe, the Rose, is home to family and friends. But his life in the Entire has brought with it new family and friends, and has given him a position of power and influence. What everyone now wonders is how Titus will use that power. If confronted with the choice of saving the Entire or the Rose, which will he choose? There are those, including his estranged daughter Sydney, now known as Sen Ni, and the rogue navitar Geng De, who are sure Titus will choose the Rose, and plot accordingly. Titus, meanwhile, feels more and more like he is caught in a trap where he is faced with two alternatives, both unacceptable. The story of Prince of Storms is, in many ways, the story of Titus's quest to get out of that trap.

That's the simple version of what's going on. Readers of the previous three volumes in the series will know that there are lots of complications involved, from corporate politics on Earth to the remaining Tariq in the Entire. There's also a not-so-new player in the game. The Jinda ceb Horat, who fought against the Tariq in the Long War, have returned, and no one is quite sure whose side they're on this time. Then, of course, there is Titus's relationships women. From his sister-in-law Caitlin, to first wife Johanna and daughter Sydney, to his new wife Anzi, Titus' desire, and need to save, protect, reconcile with, and love the women in his life, and the tragedy of his too often failures to do so, pervades the decisions Titus makes throughout the series. Those relationships also guarantee that no matter how grand the scheme of Kay Kenyon's creation becomes, the story remains grounded in human concerns. The fate of two universes may be at stake, but the true tragedy lies in the fate of the people, human and otherwise, who live there.

When Bright of the Sky, the first novel in The Entire and the Rose appeared, comparisons were quickly made between Kenyon's Bright, Larry Niven's Ringworld, and Philip José Farmer's Riverworld. With the publication of Prince of Storms, it's just as easy to make comparisons to C.J. Cherryh's many novels dealing with the relationships of power in society, and to Frank Herbert's examination in Dune of the dangers inherent in trying to control the future. That's pretty rarified company, and in the case of The Entire and the Rose completely deserved. With The Entire and the Rose, Kay Kenyon has crafted one of the most captivating multi-universe, multi-cultural settings in science fiction history, and used it tell a story of tragedy and loss, of decisions made and regretted, sacrifices made, and an ultimate re-birth and renewal. It's a grand theme that more than matches its brilliant setting, and that makes The Entire and the Rose a landmark science fiction series of the twenty-first century, one that deserves a place on the bookshelf of science fiction readers everywhere.

Reviewer Greg L Johnson now has the Entire firmly placed on his list of imaginary universes that he'd most like to visit. His reviews also appear in the The New York Review of Science Fiction. And, for something different, Greg blogs about news and politics relating to outdoors issues and the environment at Thinking Outside.