One thing I've noticed as I dip into paperback SF novels from the mid-70's is how amazingly thin they can be in more than just length. This has a scenario of a future Earth with underground Watchers, above ground feudal kingdoms in constant war, and then it gets weird. How things got this way, how people live in it day to day, etc., is completely unexplored. Instead we have passages like the following: "But had the blacksmith really seen her? She could not be the only woman with red hair. And who, assuming it was she, was the rider accompanying her? They rode towards Verdun. What did she want there? And--the thought suddenly occurred to him--what if she would not come back with him...?" Question after question. This goes on with character after character, for pages, throughout the book. The effect is not transformative, the way some books with odd narrative styles are. It certainly is not a window into the 1-dimensional characters. It's just exhausting.

Not recommended. ( )