I disliked Fen so early on that I almost didn't want to continue past the first few pages, but I was drawn in quickly as soon as Bankson was introduced. He and Nell are such lovely characters, and the relationship between the three of them is summed up perfectly in the scene where Nell describes how a tribe had responded to her telling of Romeo and Juliet. 
 Nell said, "Funny how irony is never tragic to them, only comic." 
 "Because death is not tragic to them, not in the way it is to us," I said. 
 "They mourn." 
 "They feel sorrow, great sorrow. But it isn't tragic." 
 "No, it isn't. They know their ancestors have a plan for them. There's no sense that it was wrong. Tragedy is based on this sense that there's been a terrible mistake, isn't it?" 
 That's what the relationship is between our three anthropologists, particularly Fen and Nell: a terrible mistake. I loved this book and I'm positive I'll want to read it again sometime soon, along with more of Lily King's work.