This was my favorite of the trilogy. I read it before either of the others, back before the Internet was available & finding books was much tougher. There were a lot of these around in used book stores, but I never could seem to find the first & the third. It took years, but I finally got them. Yay!

Perhaps part of its charm was that I knew so much went on before & would come after, although I really liked both of those books, too. (Unlike what happened in a similar situation with [a:Piers Anthony|8516|Piers Anthony|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1234056775p2/8516.jpg]'s Battle Circle. I loved the first 2, but the last ruined the trilogy.)

The hero is one of those silent types, more than human, in a wonderfully painted future world. Modesitt shines with his sketches of diverse political & economic systems, too. The way they help paint the story makes it really interesting. ( )