Several centuries ago, the Idiran War ended the largest conflict in the history of the galaxy. But only now the light of the New Twins the stars , destroyed in the last and most brutal battle of the Idiran with the Culture , will reach the Masak orbit, Where Does Mahray Ziller Live , Famous throughout the galaxy composer and dissident-chelgrian, and where the premiere of his new symphony is to take place, the Battle of the New Twins and the entire Idiran War . But the Chelgrians (the only highly developed civilization descended from predators) believe that it is Culture that is to blame for the civil war that recently raged on the planet Chel and send a special emissary to Mahray Ziller on Masak .. Major Quilan is called upon to convince Ziller to return to Chel but in fact his mission is much larger...The classic novel from the cycle about Culture is in a new translation!