The book is rated more harshly in some of the most recent assessments, particularly by feminist reviewers. Steven Silver, after praising "the first half of the novel describing the amazing society of the Avtini," regrets that "[unfortunately, de Camp turns the story into an adventure novel about half way through ... losing the train of the novel. Instead of exploring the changing gender roles, he is merely relating a sword and sorcery adventure, with science taking the place of the sorcery." He states that it "begins as the sort of novel in which Ursula K. Le Guin examines gender roles and makes us think about what society forces on a person based solely on their sex de Camp does not sustain this anthropological study, partly, perhaps, due to the phase in his career, and in science fiction, during which it was written." Had it been written later it "[perhaps ... could live[d up to its potential." He is not unmindful, however, of the book's role in making works such as Le Guin's possible.