When Matt Raimey had his accident, he thought his life was over. He never dreamed, in his wildest fantasies, that he’d end up in a spot like this. In the toxic atmosphere of Jupiter, born into the body of an enormous creature that looked like a cross between a manta ray and a dolphin, he is living a new life, unlike any humankind had previously experienced. An unbelievable turn of events, it gave him a reason to live, to survive, no matter what happened . . . but every second chance comes with conditions and responsibilities. And as those who brought him to this strange destiny have their authority stripped from them and he discovers the truth that only he can know about the giant alien creatures he now calls family, this man reborn as the one they now call Manta suddenly isn’t sure he wasn’t better off before. . . . The discovery of the Qanska, a race of intelligent creatures resembling mantas or dolphins "swimming" in the atmosphere of Jupiter, provides quadriplegic Matt Rainey with a perfect opportunity to regain a functional body-through implantation in the womb of a Qanska female. The belief that the Qanska possess superior technology, which humanity covets for its own expansion into space, leads to a change in the leadership of the research project on Jupiter. Despite his unwitting violation of the Qanska's most sacred laws, Rainey finds himself the only person capable of preventing disaster for both races. The author of Angelmass brings a new twist to a classic tale of human-alien encounter, combining fast-paced action and hard science with personal drama. A good choice for most sf collections. Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. Zahn's latest effectively combines alien contact, hard science, and action-sf elements. Explorer Jakob Faraday discovers the Quanska, a race of gigantic, mantalike aliens in the Jovian cryosphere. To open intercommunication, he persuades crippled Matt Rainey to bond with a female Quanska by being placed in her womb. When this leads to the belief that the Quanska possess the knowledge for a faster-than-light drive, which would greatly facilitate space travel, Faraday is dismissed, leaving Rainey to deal with the impending collapse of the Quanska environment. The humans want to exploit the Quanska, and the Quanska hold that human knowledge violates strict taboos. Given the hideously hostile environment of the giant planet, everything seems headed down the tubes for humans and Quanska. Another thoroughly literate sf yarn from Zahn, though one that fans of the florid won't care for. Roland Green Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved "[Zahn's] portrayal of Matt/Manta is direct and involving." -- Publishers Weekly  "Entertaining and edifying adventure." -- Kirkus Reviews  "A cheery coming-of-age novel." -- The New York Times Timothy Zahn, the Hugo Award-winning author of more than twenty original novels and the all-time bestselling original Star Wars ™ novel Heir to the Empire , has captivated readers with his Cobra and Blackcollar series, as well as such marvelous works as his recent Angelmass . He lives in the Pacific Northwest. Manta's Gift ONEThe doctors had been and gone, the neurologists had been and gone, and the biotron people had been and gone. For the first time in days, it seemed, Matthew Raimey was alone.All alone.He lay on his back and stared up at the ceiling. That was about all he could do, really, lie there and stare at the ceiling. The clean, soothing, pastel blue--colored damned hospital ceiling.Like the ceilings he would now be staring at for the rest of his life.It was quiet at this end of the hospital. The kind of quiet that made it easy to think. To think, and to remember.Mostly, he found himself remembering the accident.It replayed itself over and over against the pastel blue background, in exquisite and painful detail. The little squeaks and crunches of his skis as they slid lightly over the packed snow. The icy wind whipping at his ears and forehead and freezing the edges of his nostrils. The sharp aroma of the pine trees, mixed with a hint of drifting smoke from the lodge below. The familiar tension in his bent knees as he rode the crests and smoothed out the bumps of the mountain. Brianna's clear soprano voice behind him as she laughed and chattered and threatened to zoom past him. The tiny mound of snow that had caught the tip of his left ski and spun him a few degrees off course.The giant Douglas fir that had loomed suddenly in his path.He'd tried very hard to dodge that tree. Used every bit of his skill and the precious quarter-second of time he had to make sure he didn't slam into it. And to his rather smug satisfaction at the time, he had succeeded.He shouldn't have tried. He wished desperately now that he hadn't. He should have just hit the tree, accepted whatever broken ribs it would have cost him, and been done with it.But he had been too clever for that. Too clever and too skillful and too arrogant