This novel is probably one of Zelazny's best. We start of by following several interesting characters each following their own story and are then taken through many different twists until they each intersect at the books conclusion. We have an embittered ex-Soldier, still bitter as he was on the losing side. We have his former second-in-command who now works for the winning side. We have a dead-man,a doctor kept alive artificially still searching for a cure to a particular disease and a man whose touch means death.

The way Zelazny handles these characters shows what the man was capable of in his writing. This is by no means one of the ultimiate great novels but this stands out as one of Zelazny's best