There have been eighty requests to send an Observer into the hinterlands of the planet Aka to study the natives. Much to everyone's surprise, the eighty first request is granted, and Observer Sutty is sent upriver to Okzat Ozkat, a small city in the foothills of Rangma, to talk to the remnants in hiding of a cult practising a banned religion. On Aka, everything that was written in the old scripts has been destroyed; modern aural literature is all written to Corporation specifications. The Corporation expects Sutty to report back so the non standardised folk stories and songs can be wiped out and the people 're educated'. But Sutty herself is in for an education she never imagined.
- ISBN10 057507258X
- ISBN13 9780575072589
- Publish Date 18 October 2001 (first published 1 January 2000)
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 2 July 2005
- Publish Country GB
- Imprint Gollancz
- Format Paperback (UK Trade)
- Pages 272
- Language English