These are the startling adventures of small time thief Danny Briggs as he attempts to succeed Black Orpheus, the famous bard of the Inner Frontier, a place where each criminal and vigilante lawman is more dangerous and infamous than the last. And in the long history of this vast interplanetary wild west there is one figure more infamous than all others combined, Santiago. A man of countless legends beyond credulity, with a record of dastardly deeds so fantastic it borders on the absurd.

As Danny Briggs reads the short poems composing this history as told by Black Orpheus he realizes that Santiago was not one man but a series of them. And as he begins to pen his own mediocre poetry he decides that each bard needs his own Santiago, and his mission to revive the legend is born.

What the book lacks in subtlety, and it certainly is lacking, it makes up for in pure fun. Indeed, while the larger plot holds no real surprises once the story gets rolling, the specific happenings are often unexpected and almost always entertaining.

Still, the main value of the book is in the large and varied cast of oddballs. There are cat-burglars and gunslingers, crack-shots and crackpots, countless colorful characters each one with a fascinating story of his own. And as Briggs meets each of them he composes an uninspired little poem or two recording their deeds and summing up the lives for posterity.

Supposedly this is the story of the search for Santiago, a figure needed to keep the Democracy, a.k.a. the tyrannical intergalactic government, from excessively exploiting the lawless Inner and Outer Frontiers. In truth it's the story of personal change. I know that sounds incredibly cornball, and it is. Fortunately this is an area where Mike Resnick seems capable of subtly storytelling. You don't even realize it until you've finished and put down the book, so don't let that scare you.

My advice is this, if you read solely for a fresh unexpected plot you might want gives this one a pass. But if a book can catch you by cast alone pick a copy up. I didn't regret it and I don't think will you.

p.s. The blurb on the back seems to have been written under the influence of something quite unbalancing. Ignore it completely. ( )