This is the second volume of the 'Book Of The Short Sun', building it toward a strange and seductive climax. It is again narrated by Horn, who has embarked on a quest from his home on the planet Blue in search of the heroic leader Patera Silk.
By the end of 'On Blue's Waters', the question of Horn's identity had been raised by references to changes in his physique. Now Horn's identity has become ambiguous, a complex question embedded in the vivid and intriguing story, whose telling is itself complex, shifting from place to place, present to past.
Horn recalls visiting the "Whorl", the enormous spacecraft in orbit that brought the settlers from Urth, and going thence to the planet Green, home of the blood-drinking alien inhumi. There, he led a band of mercenary soldiers, answered to the name of Rajan, and later become the ruler of a city-state. He has also encountered the mysterious aliens, the Neighbours, who once inhabited both Blue and Green.
At some point, he died. His personality now seemingly inhabits a different body, so that even his sons do not recognise him. And people mistake him for Silk, to whom he now bears a remarkable resemblance.
