Kirkus Reviews: The first of a two-book series concerning a future Earth society patterned after the principles of the Enlightenment.
In 2454, nations are no longer tied to geography; instead, people ally themselves to Hives, according to their philosophical and intellectual inclinations. Discussion of gender and gender roles is essentially taboo, and organized religion is extinct. Instead, everyone is allotted a sensayer to discuss all of one’s spiritual concerns. In a world where there is no collective belief in God, what does it mean when a child appears who can do miracles? This is only one strand of the complexly webbed plot of this debut novel, written by a historian who has clearly brought all her knowledge and research to bear upon her fiction. […] Alas, the reader will apparently have to wait until Volume 2 to receive most of these answers, but the questions raised are at once thought-provoking, disturbing, occasionally perverted, and always entertaining.