Its sequel is Phthor and two additional novels in the series were written by Charles Platt: Plasm and Soma.

He develops an obsession for her and, ignoring his father's warning that she is a legendary and dangerous siren called a minionette, leaves Hvee to search for her, abandoning his betrothed before even meeting her.

Coquina had left Hvee and put herself into slavery following the shame of Aton's abandoning her and their families had secretly set up this reunion.

The upper level cuts off food supplies in retaliation, forcing the entire inmate population to attempt escape.

In the final stretch of the escape, a mucus starts to build up in the throats of the survivors, sapping their strength and will until all but Aton succumb to a form of zombification.

Aton returns to Hvee and finds and confronts Malice, where he comes to realize that he has been blinding himself to the truth and suppressing memories.

He finally accepts that Malice is his real mother, and he was conceived when Aurelius was filled with sadness following the death of his previous wife.

As the son of a minionette, Aton is himself semi-telepathic and delights in negative emotions such as the fear and pain of his fellow inmates as they were devoured by the chimera in Chthon.

Aton is repulsed by this aspect of himself and Malice realizes that trying to bring out his Minion nature would only push him back towards Chthon.

Aton sinks into madness after Malice's death but is cared for by Coquina under heavy sedation while his mind repairs itself.

Chthon, meanwhile, realizes that humanity is not wholly evil, and its view of mankind had been skewed by the criminals and madmen that had been imprisoned within the caves.

Also, in curing Coquina, Chthon finds that the chill is an unintended side effect of a message sent by a superior intellect across the galaxy.

[3] Charlie Jane Anders called it "dark and weird as heck",[4] Galactic Journey lambasted it as "terrible" and "an odious turd", and noted that its "premise (is) fundamentally implausible".