After the adventures in Fools Errant, Filidor Vesh has returned to his customary haunts and has backslid considerably; I nearly put the book down when he demonstrated the juvenile thoughtlessness that starts the plot going, and probably would have reached the "I don't care what happens to any of these people" if I hadn't seen him improve over the course of the previous book. He does, however, manage to grow and develop once placed in situations where he is required to use his wits. Hughes does better about showing rather than telling than in the first book. I get the feeling this is meant to be a far-future fairy tale, rather like the Liaden space operas by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, but the narrative doesn't make that clear to me the way the Liaden books do. ( )