In some ways the climax of the Flandry series. Flandry is now a senior (but semiretired) adviser to the Emperor Gerhard, roughly equivalent to Domitian in Roman history. Miriam Abrams (called Banner by the natives she works with)discovers something sinister is up on the planet Ramnu, where she studies the native culture by a mental ink with a senior matriarch. Being the daughter of Flandry's old mentor she turns to him for help. Meanwhile, the villain, Edwin Cairncross, ambitious regional ruler who is actually plotting revolt but meanwhile is on good terms with the emperor, is moving to undercut Flandry. Spolier" Flandry and Miriam (who become lovers) return to the Ramnu system and finally block Cairncross's plot but at the cost of the devastating loss of Miriam's native link. Flandry and MIriam marry. This version includes a helpful timeline of Anderson's future history, including non-Flandry stories. ( )

Pretty good. I will say the massive infodump that occurred in chapter six, sharing the well-thought out detail of how this planet and the biology of same works, brought everything to a screeching halt. Just the sort of thing that today would be consigned to an appendix. ( )