This is the sequel to Kenyon's Maximum Ice, which I reviewed positively last month. Unfortunately, the sequel doesn't live up to the original.

Braided World begins several centuries after MI, on an Earth that is only beginning to recover from thousands of years of turmoil and desolation. In spite of the slow steps toward recovery, Earth is reeling from the loss of genetic diversity (the result of events in MI), and the human population is wracked with epi- and endemic diseases of all sorts. Then a radio message from another planet is received, urging humans to "Come get what you have lost...."

Since Earth's governments can't come to an agreement about whether to respond to the message, Bailey Shaw, a famous singer, sponsors a private mission. A plucky crew travels across space to visit a world populated by humans -- which is surprise enough in and of itself, but there is (of course) more. The new humans aren't exactly human -- they have an unusual way of reproducing, one that leads to several cultural practices the Earth humans find revolting. While dealing with their revulsion and trying to find "what they have lost," the crew is struck by yet another disease, the new humans decide to fight a civil war, there's some backstory about Shaw, a weird love triangle develops and the Earth anthropologist goes insane. Everything is wrapped up neatly, predictably and quickly in the last few chapters and everyone lives happily ever after.

I found it tiresome.