When the festive season arrives at Larklight, so does some unsettling news. A sinister-looking cloud is fast approaching the outskirts of the Known Universe. The closest planet, Georgium Sidus, has but two human inhabitants: the missionary Revd Cruet and his daughter Charity. Their most recent communication read: 'Great danger . . . imperative that -'

And so, aboard a naval gunship, Art, Myrtle and family bravely go where only one man and his daughter have gone before, to determine the nature of the menacing cloud and rescue the Cruets.

But the evil which awaits them is far beyond their imagining, and it looks as though Mother may have finally Met Her Match. Lucky, then, that Jack Havock is hot on their heels to help in the battle to save the Universe (again) from an evil demigod and its army of blue lizards, who are intent on deposing none other than Queen Victoria to gain control of the Universe.

Philip Reeve