Readers have rightly come to expect excitement in science fantasy of the 'sword and sorcery' type, and from [Androids at Arms] they will not come away unfed. (p. 150)
Yet readers have come to expect structural efficiency in Andre Norton's science fantasy, and from this book they will come away confused. The plot poses two questions: 'Will Andras win back his throne in the real Inyaga?' and 'Is he android?' In the effort to answer the second, the first is rather forgotten. The first 150 pages, obediently developing the title, continuously revolve around question one. But Andras's journey into the future is one way, so that the climax exists exclusively in the future Inyanga: it is preoccupied with working out question two, leaving the android double untouched upon the throne. Perhaps he/it disintegrates in the general overthrow of evil—if not, much remains to be done. There are two halves of two good books here. (pp. 150-51)
C. S. Hannabuss, in Children's Book Review (© 1972 by Five Owls Press Ltd.; all rights reserved), October, 1972.
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