Tight and square with flat spine - probably unread. Back cover shows a faint white speckling at left side - where close contact with another book caused ink transfer to another book.

The Dumarest series lasted about 30 books, and I would recommend most of the early ones (particularly the Ace-Doubles) as good reading. If you're not familiar with the premise, Earl Dumarest was born on Earth, but wandered so far from it in a crowded galaxy that people in the region he is currently in think that Earth is but a legend, like "El Dorado." (The Traveller gaming system, with High and Low Passage, quicktime and basic, is loosely based on the very populated galaxy Dumarest travels in.) He picks up friends and enemies, and occaisionally a clue pointing towards Earth.

Prison of Night - 17th in the series. Dumarest was still on Zakym of the double-sun, which had two very strange aspects. One was the daily recurrence of the dead - the time of delusia when spectres walked and criticized the works of the living. The other was the Pact - the unwritten treaty with an unseen species that divided the world forever. In daytime Zakym belonged to humanity; after dark it became a hostile and alien planet. The Cyclan had discovered Dumarest's presence on Zakym, and rushed to detain him for the secret he carried which they so desparately sought. They wanted him caught and removed before he became involved in a local war. But Dumarest had a romance to defend, a mystery to solve, and his next step in his quest for the mysterious Sol system had yet to be determined.