Stretto, the grand finale of the Marqssan Cycle, weaves together the major threads of the Marqssan story and encourages readers, as feminist theorist Joan Haran says, to write beyond the ending. The novel, like the series as a whole, inquires Whose world is it? and shows several possible ways of answering the question through the respective perceptions and perspectives of the novels five viewpoint characters: Alexandra Sedgewick, heir to the Sedgewick estate; Anne Hawthorne, Security operative; Hazel Bell, subversive activist; Celia Espin, human rights lawyer; and Emily Madden, star pupil of the maverick Marqssan, Astrea l Betut san Imu. As always, never predictable, never finished, the consequences of all that has gone before continues to play out. The final volume in the Marqssan series will encourage its readers to write beyond the ending. There are no gift-wrapped resolutions or easy redemptions on offer, rather there is a clear-sighted focus on the always-unfolding consequencesintended and unintendedof personal and political action taken. This is a series that is deeply invested in social transformation while resisting any temptation to consolation. As a resolute utopian, I see this as a hopeful strategy.Joan Haran, author of Human Cloning in the Media
