A sequel to last year’s Star­glass, a fas­ci­nat­ing Jew­ish sci-fi, polit­i­cal, soci­o­log­i­cal adven­ture thriller, Star­break takes a com­plete­ly turn. The peo­ple of the Asher­ah, the space­ship which has trav­eled for gen­er­a­tions to escape a dying Earth and estab­lish a cul­tur­al­ly Jew­ish colony on a plan­et to be named Zeha­va, find as they near the new plan­et that it is already inhab­it­ed and they face a cri­sis of lead­er­ship and faith. They begin to won­der what kind of future they have in store and start to split into war­ring fac­tions, fight­ing bit­ter­ly amongst them­selves as their long-cher­ished plans begin to crum­ble with no log­i­cal solu­tion in sight. Ter­ra, the pro­tag­o­nist from the first book, once again takes charge but, as she falls in love with a gen­tle and kind alien from whom she can learn great wis­dom, she must grap­ple with what it real­ly means to be human and she must find the strength to lead fright­ened peo­ple into an unchart­ed world despite their own very human fears and the uncer­tain­ty that comes from hav­ing no his­to­ry, no role mod­els, and no maps to guide them through such dras­tic changes and such new direc­tions. While per­haps not quite as grip­ping as the first vol­ume, this book, too, gives the read­er much to con­tem­plate and dis­cuss and is a worth­while read. Rec­om­mend­ed for ages 13 and up.