On a distant planet ruled by three despotic governments—human (specifically French), reptilian, and amphibian—the populace is forced to wear a second organic skin which keeps them docile and connected to one another psychically. The human leader of the rebel underground, Jean-Jacques Rastignac, fears that the human population will soon be vanquished by the other two. He wishes nothing more than to leave the planet and travel among the stars. He might get his chance when his best friend, a giant Ssassaror named Mapfarity, breaks him out of jail and informs him that a spaceman from Earth has crash landed and is being held captive by the amphibian king. Of course, there’s the small matter of getting to him.

If you have enough patience and stamina to endure three chapters of info dumping and talking heads that Farmer uses to impart the society's historical, cultural, and political background, you might enjoy one of the most bizarre and, at times, repulsive science fantasy tales in Farmer’s oeuvre. ( )

Listened to an audiobook of this while mixing sand for brass molds in a small foundry in northern Washington. Other than being an enjoyable story, it spurred a yearning to quit my job, break out of that prison and join the bandits