Dinged in signs on the road to nirvanic buggery-life had never felt so much like this before. Tricked through a Bridge into Sanat by Zephyr and a splinter group of the Eventyr, Alexandru 'Sandu' Barr is left no choice but to complete his search for the weapon and what is supposed to be a final confrontation with Loehr. In a confused, surprising, phantastic, and bloody run across the heartland of the Nexus-then back on Earth-Sandu is forced to confront the fundamental nature of his rage; the intentions of the cabal known as the Rada; the confusing, duplicitous love of a transmogrifying woman; the existential nature of the weapon and his relationship to this; lastly, the fundamental nature and appearance of redemption-behind the drum and bugle. In 'The Dog Particle', Book II and conclusion of 'The Burdened Air', Sandu's skip across dimensional frontiers, and then back, takes its toll on man, planet, and the metaverse in ways unexpected and troubling for all. Hope, of sorts, remains, because in this is the only way forward-even if ludicrous, debilitating, and-finally-another episode in the Eternal Return, unless Sandu can break the cycle of violation and violence.