Locus lauded this as 'Bradley's best novel.'
As the longest and most intricate of the Darkover books, it serves as a brilliant epic centered around a crucial event in the complex love-hate relationship between the Terran worlds and the semi-alien descendants of forgotten peoples.
This novel delves into the Hastur tradition and the conflict between those willing to trade their world for the advancements of star-borne science and those determined to preserve the unique "matrix" power, both a treasure and a burden for the red-sunned Darkover.