The novel “Stargazer: Civil War” (“Stargazer: Bürgerkrieg”) by Ivan Ertlov was published for the first time in 2021 and translated from German by Marly Gram. It’s the third book in the After Terra series and follows “Stargazer: New Home – Ancient Foes”.

The crew of the starship Yrsha are on trial on a moon of Grarosh for allegedly eating their captain, Frank Gazer. The defense argues that there was an accident on board that practically fried Frank and he would never have wanted to end up wasted: on the contrary, he would have considered it an honor to be eaten by his colleagues and friends but something doesn’t add up.

Troshk is contacted by his home planet’s authorities because a subordinate of his believed dead years ago has returned home after years, alive but physically and mentally battered. In lucid moments, he tells Troshk that a rebellion has begun within the Plachtharr Alliance freeing their symbiotes from slavery. There’s a chance to transform the Alliance but the Protectorate can’t risk open war, so it’s decided to send the Stargazer consortium on a secret mission.

The novel “Finder” by Suzanne Palmer was published for the first time in 2019. It’s the first book in The Finder Chronicles series.

Fergus Ferguson was tasked with retrieving the “Venetia’s Sword”, a starship stolen from its makers by Arum Gilger, a sort of local boss of the Cerneken colony, or Cernee for its residents. The colony consists of an uneven group of asteroids and artificial wheels joined by a transportation system.

While Fergus Ferguson is in a pressurized cable car of the transportation system, an attack by Gilger’s men threatens to kill him and “Mother” Vahn, the woman traveling in the same car. Fergus is saved by the woman and ends up in the habitat of the Vahn family, a group of practically identical-looking women who immediately make him think they’re clones. It’s only the beginning of a kind of civil war in the colony with the further complication of the Asiig aliens, whose spaceships start flying closer and closer.