Arriving in the capital city of Penthesilea, the men are ostensibly repatriating looted artwork, but in truth the ambassador-spies have been tasked with obtaining the Amazonians' secret energy technology by any means necessary, and doing what they can to facilitate a Coalition conquest.

[1] Paul Kincaid of SF Site noted that Vincent and Michelangelo "are homosexuals from a world whose regressive and repressive mores mean that this could get them killed, but for the fact that they are exceptionally well-skilled at their job and also well-practiced in deception".

[1]Explaining that the Amazonian women subjugate their men as a means to diffuse the potential of male aggression, Kincaid compared the matriarchal premise to "the feminist science fiction of twenty or perhaps thirty years ago".

[7] Kincaid wrote, "Strip away the sexual politics overlaid on the story, which add complexity to the plot but not necessarily depth to the novel, and this is a book that could have come straight from the so-called golden age.

"[2] Though suggesting that "there are too many layers of betrayal and deception for a book of this length", Kincaid wrote that "Bear keeps the whole thing moving at a brisk and satisfying pace ... this is exactly the sort of vivid, pacy novel that used to make science fiction such an exciting genre to read.

"[2] Writing for SF Crowsnest, Tomas L. Martin called the characters "interesting and very dynamic", the galactic politics "top-notch" and some of the technology "breathtaking", while noting that the novel occasionally "gets a little bogged down and hard to navigate".