The gaudy years of the Restoration are long gone. Robert Merivel, physician and courtier to Charles II, loved for his gift to turn sorrow into laughter, now faces the agitations and anxieties of middle age. Questions crowd his mind: has he been a good father? Is he a fair master? Is he the King’s friend or the King’s slave?
Millions of years ago, the Ice Warriors fled to Deimos to sit out the death throes of their home planet, and it is now a popular tourist attraction. But it seems that the Ice Warriors are far from extinct...