Despite the corny cover art, this book was surprisingly good.The Foreword brings the main characters, who are on trial on Earth, into the chamber of a just judge, who asks them to tell their story.Then, most of the action takes place on Ishtar. It has three suns, one a red giant with an eccentric orbit that passes close enough to the planet to threaten life - particularly in the northern hemisphere - every 1,000 years. It's that time - Fire Time.A group of Northern Ishtarians starts a war in an attempt to gain territory and survive Fire Time. The Southerners want to defend their territory. The human inhabitants are allies of the Southerners. However, they are unable to provide help because the Navy from Earth sets up an outpost on Ishtar for a war across the galaxy and requisitions all their supplies and weapons. The characters are all sympathetic - Northern and Southern Ishtarians, human Ishtarians, and Navy Earthlings alike. The sadness of war is clear and the ending poignant without being tragic. And Anderson did a really interesting job creating the biology of Ishtar.
