genre: sci-fi/fantasy

"The author pushes her cast of Herans and earthlings-along with readers-through an unforgettable emotional crucible. ... YA and sci-fi audiences should love this ferociously smart sequel."

-Kirkus Review

Earth descendants struggle to survive on an inhospitable planet in this sci-fi sequel to The Rasken (2011). Colonists on Hera have clung to life for over two millennium despite the fact that the native plants and animals are inedible to humans. Early space travelers brought designer yeasts to make the native foods digestible, never anticipating that they would be forgotten. The Herans must keep the designer yeasts alive, or perish.

In Return to Hera [Noku's Invaders II], the colonists face a storm of challenges. The designer yeasts are in danger, scientists from Earth rediscover Hera and travel to the planet, and humans from both planets learn that they are not the only ones that desire Hera. Margole of Mellansh, a young villager struggling to adapt to the tedious duties of adult life is cast out of the village after she runs away from a young man she selected during an Eros Ceremony. She teams up with Karl Traxt, a scientist from Earth, as they become embroiled in a struggle to save the Herans from extermination by a beautiful, but deadly, alien life form that emerges from the depths of the Noku River.