When the SIL series was first conceived, the primary audience was individuals in their teens to mid-twenties. Due to the life-freeing insights in the book that inspired the SIL series (Alice Miller's The Drama of the Gifted Child ), the environment and far-reaching story line ends up being both entertaining and educational; able to be loved by all ages. Second Pass opens the series with a fast-paced, but intricate, plot driven story of an emerging civilization under attack before it is ready. This basic situation mimics the experience of young adulthood, when the world starts making demands of us all before we want to stop playing and start paying. Second Pass explores both rebellion and the web-like relationship between an individual and the greater society in which they live. It teaches not by lecture, but by vicarious involvement in action/adventure that has implications for the larger picture such that it is clear that personal decisions affect the world at large.

The book is truly American as it is the tale of an unwitting dream of utopia that ends up in a reality that is anything but utopian, yet is near perfect as an example of what happens when society develops. SIL is naïve in Second Pass , a baby of a nation that didn't even really want to be born. This group of scientists find themselves embroiled in the game of international relations with the highest of stakes, yet unaware they are approaching that situation until they are in it. Therefore, the book is also aimed at those who are drawn to intricate plots and international intrigue.

In the final assessment, Second Pass is a good story, with vibrant characters and plausible technologies, which will make any reader consider the immediate and far-reaching results of personal choices.