In this novella Dickson introduces us to the Dilbians, a primitive woodsman/agrarian race of kodiak bears walking around on their hind legs, and has the humans and the Hemnoids fight for the right to influence their development. Which is all the set up for a basic everyman discovers he's a hero (of course the everyman is an Olympic athlete that just wants to be known for his brain) and rescues the fair maiden. There is a little bit of world-building, but the Dilbians are really just caricatures of the noble savage, and the main human character is a two-dimensional cutout that has all of his character traits filled in by the end of the first chapter.

It's not a bad quick read, and it has the advantage of brevity over the re-titled rewrite that is Spacepaw. ( )