Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Arthur C. Clarke Award winner Tchaikovsky (Children of Time) wows with this inventive and empathetic story of courage, science, and magic. Though Lynesse is the mere Fourth Daughter of the Royal Line of Lannesite, she knows she's capable of more than being the family hoyden. When a demon ravages the countryside, Lynesse is determined to emulate her great-grandmother Astresse, who teamed up with the mysterious, ageless sorcerer Elder Nyr to destroy a monster. In truth, however, Nyr is not a mage but an anthropologist, the last of a team from Earth sent to study the colony that became Lynesse's homeworld. He broke protocol to help Astresse defeat the demon, really a leftover piece of Earth-built equipment run amok, and wonders if that transgression is why he's been cut off from Earth for over 300 years. Abandoned and unsure, Nyr knows the choice he makes now--to help or not--will define the rest of his life, and decide the fate of Lynesse's world. Tchaikovsky takes beloved tropes to exciting new places, carried by memorable characters and clever prose. This proves yet again why Tchaikovsky is a master of the genre mash-up. (Nov.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
In this seamless blend of science fiction and fantasy from Arthur C. Clarke Award-winner Tchaikovsky (Children of Time), a neglected princess and a wizard who's actually an anthropologist join together to save a kingdom and each other. Princess Lynesse believes that Nyr is the great sorcerer Elder Nyrgoth who once helped her great-grandmother defeat a demon and so must have powerful magic that can once again vanquish the demon who has arisen on the borderlands of her mother's kingdom. As an anthropologist sent to study the planet's population, Nyr knows this is not true. But Lynesse needs the powerful Elder Nyrgoth and Nyr needs a reason to continue existing, abandoned as he is on this planet. Neither is who the other hoped for, but they work together in a story that highlights mutual respect, shared risk, and friendship reaching across a chasm of misunderstanding. Lynesse and her people are extraterrestrials, but there is the implication that they are analogous to Indigenous peoples. VERDICT Recommended for lovers of portal fantasy, lost colony science fiction, and stories on the border between the two genres.--Marlene Harris, Reading Reality, LLC, Duluth, GA
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