Sword and Sorcery is turned on its head and made into a setting to explore issues of race, sexuality, slavery, economics, and language within the nested narrative that is Nevèrÿon. This is ponderous despite itself--the philosophical, talky style frequently drowns out the readability of the short fiction format and sword and sorcery genre. But going in with those expectations--expectations which the framing narrative insists on--also make it a compelling and effective experiment. It's tongue-in-cheek in tone, demanding in content, and intentionally metatextual; Delaney's ruminations on social structures and social tools are as pedantic as they are creative, and they're intimately tied to the protagonist's stories. I find that I like this more than I enjoy it, because I admire what it does but the reading experience perpetually kept me at a distance. I would still recommend it to the interested reader.