By the way, the six titles in the Daedalus Mission series are: The Florians, Critical Threshold, Wildeblood's Empire, The City of the Sun, Balance of Power, The Paradox of the Sets.

It is a shame that the British sci-fi writer Brian Stableford is not better known in the U.S. "The Florians" is the first in an outstanding six-part series known as "The Daedelus Mission", which I would rank as the best science fiction series I have ever read.

The plot of the series is rather "Star Trek" like - a mission to visit remote planets and check up on previous colonization attempts. But the intricate plots and scientific detail go far beyond anything in "Star Trek." Each planet visited has a unique ecosystem and evolutionary history which Stableford (a biologist himself) describes in detail. The speculation about alternative results of evolution is fascinating, and the problems encountered make for exciting stories. If you can find this or any of the other five in the series, grab them.