The story in this book was good, a planet dealing with the aftermath of a terrible disaster that wiped out a whole civilization and left 2 races with hardly any memory and no understanding of what happened to their ancestors. The writing is too flowery in some parts, especially where Norton uses dialogue to give backstory- I felt like I was reading one of those bad Star Trek scenes people like to parody. No one really talks like that. So, while this was a fun story, I'd love to read a modern reworking of this story, though I love that there is no romance between the 2 protagonists in Norton's book, and I am not sure modern authors can restrain themselves from turning a story like this into a romance. In the meantime, this is a pretty decent sci-fi book if you want a bit of fast, light reading. ( )

Solid later Norton. A simple story, directly told. Nominally, this is science fiction. Early on, it is revealed that there are two races on this planet because of a colony ship that crashed long ago, and the main character's key skill is telepathy, both reading other minds, human and not, and casting illusions. But it's best to consider it fantasy. An important plot element is the notion that physical spaces can be haunted by events in the past. The flaws are things common the SF heritage Norton grew up in -- info-dumps, a caricature villain, and the "one mind" trope where an entire population speaks and acts as one, making some choice on pretty abstract philosophical grounds. The strengths are the treatment of her two main protagonists, a strong female, and a secondary male, and the uneasy relationship they navigate while on a quest to learn the truth about their cultures' pasts. ( )