More recent critics have struck much the same note. William Mattathias Robins called it "a simple detective adventure in an exotic setting." Colleen Power wrote more charitably that "the novel seems dated, with its tough-talking detective slang and philosophy, [its satire combines nicely with comic swordplay to present the reader with a short, light science fiction detective novel." She also pointed out that "the overwhelming concern ... to prevent modern technological humans from influencing or interfering with the normal development of native cultures" in it and the other "Viagens" novels "predat'Star Trek's' 'prime directive' by nearly twenty years." David Pringle characterized it as "[light-hearted planetary romance -- or fantasy in an ostensibly science fictional setting."