On re-reading, i wasn’t as impressed as the first time. (I think i red about the opening sentence, and that was what got me started on Varley in the first place.)

Bits of it were just too long. With Hildy witnessing the deth of Silvio up close and personal, there was really no need for the sene with
Hildy witnessing the deth of David Earth up close and personal. Other bits where just Varley tying up different bits of the Eight Worlds technology he had used earlier. For example this “introduces” the null suits from “Retrograde Summer”, he hints at the clone body and memory recording tecnology from “The Phantom of Kansas” and (to a lesser degree)"Overdrawn at the Memory Bank" and the wether manipulation as art from “The Phantom of Kansas” again. We even get that story’s main character, Fox, as a minor character here.

Also, kudos i ges for trying to write about “sex change”, but with not even an attempt at separating gender identity from biologial se this reads rather dated.

Still, mostly a god read. Read the other reviews about why.