Agents of the Galactic Synthesis were missing on the silent planet of Kamm - possibly destroyed by a death ray. Agent Jan Darzek's mission is to find out the truth & to do so, he is surgically altered to resemble the natives & learns sign language to communicate. He finds a dark, complex sociaty and is unprepared for the difficulties he encounters. Unusual and interesting, but sometimes the hero is "saved" a bit too fortuitously. Nevertheless, a fun and fast, read.

This book is one of those where, after a single reading, fifteen years ago, I can remember the main plot very clearly, because it is (basically) a single idea, beautifully strung out and delivered with zest by a real storytelling craftsman.

Actually it is a single idea about "a single idea", which is an amusing symmetry.

I wish I'd had this and more like it to read when I was younger.

Science fiction authors tackle many themes in their work, from politics to sociology, from history to the military. But how many write creatively of the interplay between people and their artistic culture? The only author I know to attempt this regularly is Lloyd Biggle. In Trumpets, a prequel to World Mendors, he asks the question: how would a deeply artistic people appear to those who are blind to this aspect of culture? And, given that the blind have a worthy goal in mind, how can they effect a cultural change in an artistic society without ruining it? I wouldn't say that Biggle explores this topic perfectly in Trumpets (for that, see either World Mendors or Monument), but this book is still a highly exciting, thought-provoking read. Better still, it is a book you will remember long after you close the last pages. And, in the end, what more can one ask of a volume?

I enjoyed the idea of Holmes taking on a former Irregular as an assistant though Porter seems somewhat narrow-minded when it comes to describing Watson and other charcters. But it is a good mysteries.