In interest of full disclosure, I was given a copy of Altered Reality by the author in exchange for an honest review.
I found the best parts of this second installment of a trilogy, as I did in the first, were the interesting ideas regarding biological evolution. Particularly enjoyable were the scenes set in the Indigene community and the interaction between characters, demonstrating how their society is structured and how they were similar and different from humans.
The origin of the Indigene species was revealed in the previous novel. In Altered Reality, we get the deeper reason why, how it was accomplished, and who did it. Too bad so much of it was a standard “government conspiracy masterminded by a madman” that's been done a lot.
Like the first novel in the series, this sacrifices a lot of characterization for plot. I still don't feel really connected to the main characters. Plus, it was hard keeping track of all the points of view. I had to go back a couple times to refresh my memory of who was who, which slowed me down.
Altogether, though, the author has made enough good choices that I want to know what happens next.