Cruelly cast out of an order of spies, assassins, and bodyguards, Jofre is forced out into an unfamiliar world, where he encounters an obsessed alien archaeologist and a beautiful, deadly rival. Reprint.
**
From Publishers Weekly
The well-known author of the Witch World series sets her disappointingly thin mix of fantasy and space opera in the far future on the recently settled planet of Asborgan. After being expelled from the brotherhood of assassins by a corrupt priest, Jofre makes his way to a rundown Asborgan city. There he rescues from street thieves a reptilian alien named Zurzal, who hires the young man to be his bodyguard on a quest for valuable ruins left behind billions of years ago in the first wave of galactic colonization. They are dogged during their travels by others who want to reach the ruins first and by the cohorts of the priest who exiled Jofre. After a desperate battle of half-magical, half-scientific forces, Jofre and Zurzal triumph; the former even acquires an assassin girlfriend. Although possessed of a certain old-fashioned charm, the novel is static and expository, the characters more archetypes than real people and the plot extremely predictable. A forgettable effort from a writer who has done much better.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Cast out of his monastery because of his off-world birth, the young issha-monk Jofre seeks his fortune in the employ of an alien scholar whose inventions have gained him deadly enemies throughout the galaxy. Set in her Forerunner universe, Norton's latest sf adventure features a youthful protagonist and a supporting cast of believable aliens as well as a plot that combines both intrigue and space adventure. Despite a less than successful overlay of Asian culture, this is still classic Norton. Suitable for both YA and adult sf collections.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Description:
Cruelly cast out of an order of spies, assassins, and bodyguards, Jofre is forced out into an unfamiliar world, where he encounters an obsessed alien archaeologist and a beautiful, deadly rival. Reprint.
**
From Publishers Weekly
The well-known author of the Witch World series sets her disappointingly thin mix of fantasy and space opera in the far future on the recently settled planet of Asborgan. After being expelled from the brotherhood of assassins by a corrupt priest, Jofre makes his way to a rundown Asborgan city. There he rescues from street thieves a reptilian alien named Zurzal, who hires the young man to be his bodyguard on a quest for valuable ruins left behind billions of years ago in the first wave of galactic colonization. They are dogged during their travels by others who want to reach the ruins first and by the cohorts of the priest who exiled Jofre. After a desperate battle of half-magical, half-scientific forces, Jofre and Zurzal triumph; the former even acquires an assassin girlfriend. Although possessed of a certain old-fashioned charm, the novel is static and expository, the characters more archetypes than real people and the plot extremely predictable. A forgettable effort from a writer who has done much better.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Cast out of his monastery because of his off-world birth, the young issha-monk Jofre seeks his fortune in the employ of an alien scholar whose inventions have gained him deadly enemies throughout the galaxy. Set in her Forerunner universe, Norton's latest sf adventure features a youthful protagonist and a supporting cast of believable aliens as well as a plot that combines both intrigue and space adventure. Despite a less than successful overlay of Asian culture, this is still classic Norton. Suitable for both YA and adult sf collections.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.