Continuing the storyline from Freedom's Landing, this second book in the series finds the human and aliens on the penal planet Botany planning a rebellion against their slavemasters. After the Catteni subdue and transport to penal colony planets people from Earth and other civilizations for their Eosi masters, one Catteni, Zainal, chooses to remain on Botany. His plan? To join his fellow slaves in convincing the absentee owners of the planet to turn against the Eosi and free the colonists. McCaffrey is at her best with interspecies interactions and uniting for a goal against a common enemy.

Crime and Punishment is one of the most important novels of the nineteenth century. It is the story of a murder committed on principle, of a killer who wishes to set himself outside and above society. The novel is marked by Dostoevsky's own harrowing experience in penal servitude, and yet contains moments of wild humor.