Publisher's Weekly Review
Centuries after a war shattered the star-spanning Empire, the planet Artemis is a fable-an artificial paradise lost to mainstream civilization. Archaeologist Griffin Dane is the first to rediscover Artemis, but his attempt to explore it in person leaves him stranded on the forgotten planet. With Artemis local Adara to assist him, Dane searches for remnants of high technology, treasures that might allow him to return home. Dane is not the only person interested in Artemis's secrets, and, as he soon learns, his rival is unbounded by decency or law. Seeking only knowledge, Dane and Adara are propelled into the role of the planet's protectors. Lindskold (Five Odd Honors)-paying homage to golden-age SF by authors like Andre Norton, Leigh Brackett, and C.L. Moore-offers familiar set pieces like fallen civilizations, mad scientists, telepathic animals, and enigmatic mechanisms bordering on the mystical, all filtered through a modern sensibility and polished prose. Embracing and building on tradition, the work is a promising series launch. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
Lindskold (Five Odd Honors, 2010, etc.) opens a new series with a lost civilization, psychic powers and a truly despicable villain.Once there was an incredibly advanced galactic empire that controlled vast technologies with a thought. Its rulers developed the planet Artemis as a vacation spot, creating a carefully cultivated "primitive" milieu and genetically engineering the humans and animals who served as staff. Hundreds of years later, historian Griffin Dane confirms he's rediscovered Artemis by crash-landing onto the planet. Huntress Adara, her telepathically bonded puma, Sand Shadow, and her friends attempt to help Griffin return home by seeking advice from the Old One Who Is Young, a seemingly immortal man with his own scheme to recover Artemis' lost technology. Lindskold does an excellent job of turning what could be stock characters (nave city boy, wild huntress, etc.) into real men and women. It's particularly refreshing that Adara and the other Artermisians are not, as Griffin initially assumes, "noble savages"but intelligent, resourceful people with intellectual curiosity. The plot, if not especially complex or groundbreaking (and with a final twist too obviously lampshaded by the novel's title), does offer enough puzzles to set up future volumes.Worth sticking around to see what happens next. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Library Journal Review
The inhabitants (human and animal alike) of the pleasure planet Artemis were sculpted and designed to serve as entertainment to wealthy tourists, but the visitors stopped coming centuries ago. Archaeologist Griffin Dane has rediscovered the planet, although his arrival was more of a crash landing than a diplomatic mission. The hunter Adara discovers Griffin at the site of the wreck and along with her companion animal Sand Shadow attempts to help him find some of the answers to his questions about Artemis and its mysterious creators. -VERDICT Linskold's ("Firekeeper" books) new series launch offers an interesting look at a planet littered with advanced technology that was designed to appear to be a primitive paradise and that actually becomes one after the disappearance of the planet's designers. Rediscovered civilizations is a great trope and Griffin an appealing fish out of water, but Adara and her psychically linked puma -really steal the show. (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
