What does it mean to be human? Imagine you're in a tragic accident. You expect to die! Instead you awaken in a body that is not yours. Not even your own species! Not even your own gender. In a desperate attempt to save your life your brain has been transplanted into the only body available, the body of a genetically engineered slave. Everyone is quick to assure you that you are still “legally human,” but you know that when any stranger sees you they see property or perhaps a Frankenstenian abomination. It is a transformation that forces Todd Hershel to reevaluate his sense of self, his gender identity, her sexual orientation and how humanity relates to its biological creations. If your brain is in a new body whose soul do you have?

When everyone doubts your humanity, can you hang on to being humane? The sequel to The Face in the Mirror: a transhuman identity crisis Todd Hershel had tried to start a new life in the artificial islands of the Libertarian Colonies. A place where humans and escaped neo-people, genetically engineered anthropomorphic animals, lived as equals. Having her brain transplanted into one of their bodies had given Todd common cause with these bioengineered escaped slaves. When an attack by her former homeland tore Todd's family apart, she couldn't stay in her new home. Not when a chance to challenge the legality of enslaving her new people arose. When a dishonest judge unites with the industrial system that profits from the enslavement of neos Todd finds herself stripped of the rights she'd had as a human and forced into slavery. Escape and flight is her only choice. To regain her freedom will be arduous. To free her people seems impossible. When her road to freedom brings her into the hands of the family that raised Shade, the young woman who had provided her new feline body, Todd finds it difficult to be sure who she really is anymore. Can Todd regain her freedom, reunite her family and stop the struggle for neo-person freedom from becoming a race war?