Imagine a future where Man's technology has become so advanced that it's no longer Technology-- but Instrumentality, powerful and ubiquitous. So ubiquitous that no longer is an issue to be remarked upon. Instead, the story is about the Different Cultures of Man that have grown over the centuries on different worlds. Each one different. Each one strange. But they all have one thing in common-- Man is Alone.

Until they find a world where a Creature who is NOT Man is found. How would the People and their disparate Cultures actually cope with this discovery? A Team of Scholars is sent to this world to determine whether this Creature is a Man or Other. . .or just an animal.

The Technology in this book is fantastically Timeless-- and all subordinated to the dictates of Desire and Culture. This story was a slow, not very interesting slog for me when I was a kid-- but as an Adult, it was deep scrolling of inter-personal philosophy and cultural What-If's.

This one is Adult Science Fiction. ( )

Geary Gravel is very high on my list of "underrated writers," in large part because of this book. He's created a complex cast of characters as well as an interesting and thoroughly believable world. The setting unfolds slowly and naturally, through the actions of the characters and not by long passages of explication.

What makes this book stand out, though, is the social commentary that's less social commentary and more about ethics in general, about choices that people make, and their consequences. Still one of my favorite books. ( )