A by the numbers post-apocalyptic quest story of a young warrior on the run protecting a child. The ideas of the different types of societies the two encounter along the way are interesting, but like many of these types of stories it starts to loose focus when too many of our contemporary references and technologies are introduced. Overall an enjoyable light adventure perfect for a plane ride.

Years ago, before the Internet & his well known Xanth books, I found this book by Anthony. I loved it, but didn't find the 1st & 3d to this trilogy for about 2 decades. It is an ingenious post apocalyptic world - if you read just this book. The first one was pretty good, too. Knowing there was more probably made it even better. Don't read the last one, [b:Neq the Sword|2346651|Neq the Sword (Battle Circle, #3)|Piers Anthony|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1234061884s/2346651.jpg|2353361]. It sucked. Glockenspiel? Seriously. Blech. Ruined the entire trilogy for me. ( )