The storyline concerns Conrad Nomikos, one of about 4 million people still living on Earth centuries in the future, after a nuclear war, and after the bulk of the population has gone to the stars to work for the advanced, civilized Vegans. Conrad and some of his friends had years before been involved in the "Returnist" movement, urging people to return to Earth, and resisting the Vegans' moves to buy up the best Earth real estate. Nowadays, the situation is a stalemate, with Earth's exile population preferring not to return, but with the Vegans not buying any more of Earth either. But Cort Mishtigo, a high status Vegan, has come to Earth to tour some of the ancient sites. Conrad, who seems to have some mysterious past identities that go back a long way, is recruited to guide Mishtigo, and to protect him from assassins. He is in danger because the more radical Returnists believe that his "tour" is a pretext for evaluating more real estate, in advance of a renewed Vegan buying campaign. Conrad is unsure of Cort's motives, and anyway unhappy with the idea of murder. The novel consists, then, of Cort's tour, and a number of well-done battles between Conrad and a variety of monsters and mutants. The fight scenes, and the descriptions of the mutants (based on Greek mythology), are really good. It's only the eventual revelation of the Vegan motives that's a bit pat and anti-climatic.

Lest I be seen to damn with faint praise, I should reiterate that this is great fun to read, and very skilled and clever. Conrad is a fairly standard Zelazny hero, wisecracking and self-deprecating. The dialogue crackles throughout, and the other characters are nicely limned. Conrad's dilemma is believable: the conflict between his professional desire to protect his client (along with his personal distaste for murder) and his loyalties to Earth and the Returnists against the Vegan domination of Earth is well handled. And the various set-pieces and fight scenes are exciting and original. And the ultimate message of the book, about proper stewardship of our planet, and who deserves to be stewards, is clearly seen, and resolved with irony and honesty. It's good to have this book in print again.