Althea M. (althea) reviewed on 9/11/2008 + 774 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 1

Well, it's better than Kings Blood Four (Tepper's first novel) - it shows the promise that is realized with her more recent works, but is still not as polished.

It's an interesting riff on the quest novel - discussing the reasons for quests (mostly, that someone wants to get rid of you) - and the fact that each person values most what someone else is bound to dismiss, or simply fail to recognize as a thing of value...

The characters (the usual motley assortment that become a Company) are interesting and varied, but I was left with the feeling that I would have liked to explore them further - especially the "bad guys" - the reasons for their turning to evil were never really mentioned at all...

The flow of the plot was also slightly awkward - as far as balancing the points of view of different characters, and when elements of the story were hidden or revealed...

Overall, worth reading for a Tepper fan - but I feel that she could do a much better job with the story if she were writing it now!

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