Trillions of miles from an Earth in political and ecological turmoil, Captain Leo Davidson has crash landed on a different world -- a terrifying place where people are in chains... and apes rule. Here, beneath twin suns, humans are lower creatures to be cornered, captured and broken, suitable only for the amusement of their simian masters, for hard labor, laboratory experimentation, and breeding. But Leo Davidson has brought something unthinkable to the Planet of the Apes: rebellion. And in the all-consuming fire to come, a future will be determined... and a past as well.

The starship Oberon is searching for its AWOL pilot when it crash-lands on an unknown planet, leaving all but a handful of its crewmembers dead. And those who remain are not alone in this strange, inhospitable world. A savage insectile race waits just below the surface, massing to obliterate the unwanted invaders. And the Oberon's last human survivors must look to unlikely allies for help: the apes they carried onboard. Using controversial gene technology, the starship's scientists hope to transform the primates into a powerful army -- strong, agile, subservient... and intelligent. But the consequences of playing God promise to be more devastating than anyone could have ever anticipated, ushering in a dark and terrifying future that will pit slave against master, ape against Man.

A race of intelligent primates has made a distant world their home. Over the years their numbers have grown. And now, needing more room, the colony sends scouts into the unknown land beyond. But by venturing forward, the apes are encroaching upon hostile ground -- where creatures dwell that can rip an adult simian to pieces in less than an instant; monstrous reptilians whose incredible savagery is equaled only by their awesome brainpower. To venture into their midst is almost certain doom -- but to remain behind would be suicide. Because another foe is lurking in the shadows: the enemy called Man. And in the ruins of a crashed human starship a hideous melding of brain, flesh, and metal lives on -- waiting... plotting... refusing to die as long as a single ape draws breath on the planet.