Tiger

The Terran Empire is dying. In the thirty-first century, Dominic Flandry knows it. Every stellar map shows the creeping shadow, every intelligence report confirms what he refuses to admit: the Long Night is coming. But tonight, in this moment, there is still work to be done. When Flandry is captured by the Scothani, horned, barbaric aliens hungry for conquest, he finds himself trapped in a brutal game of survival. To live, he must decipher their ancient rivalries and newer alliances, navigate their blood-soaked politics, and somehow turn their ambitions toward his empire's advantage. The Terran Empire's finest saboteur must become a prisoner, a diplomat, a pawn in a civilization that makes war like poetry. Yet even as he plays their game, the question haunts him: when the empire falls, will it matter how many small victories he won? Poul Anderson writes space opera with the melancholy of a jazz standard, knowing the ending, playing anyway.