Another outing for the psi-powered wizard Magnus d'Armand (A Wizard in Chaos, 1997, etc.) and his intelligent spaceship, Herkimer. This time, Magnus (he calls himself ""Gar Pike"" when he's on a mission) arrives on planet Siegfried, rescues young Alea (she'll eventually become his new, strictly platonic, sidekick) from a bunch of thugs, then realizes that he'll have to rescue all the inhabitants (Vikings, giants, dwarves, all constantly feuding) from the meddlesome galactic do-gooders of SCENT--but most of all from each other. Standard fare for series regulars.