An excellent action adventure story. One of my favorites.
I first found this book years ago and have re-read it many times. It is a good action-adventure story with a touch of romance (just enough to spice - NO goo!) Val Con is cool and polished as the "agent of change" and Miri, the red-haired firebrand of a mercenary adds a good dose of hard-headed practicality to the mix. Add in some large turtle-like, extremely likeable aliens and some nasty criminal types and you have a first-rate, fast paced story. Here you also get introduced to the Liaden world in general, where humans have branched into at least three subcultures. I would highly recommend this book for any science fiction fan!