Clan Ground is a study of how some societies change. Both religion and technology play important roles in that change, for good and for ill. While Shongshar uses religion to manipulate the other characters and to control the Clan, the author is also careful to point out that religion need not be oppressive. Ratha allows a less dogmatic form of fire-worship to take place under her rule because she sees that her people have a need to express themselves through religion.

Male and female characters have equally important roles in the story.

While Shongshar becomes a villain, he is not entirely unsympathetic. His bitterness over the loss of his cubs makes his resentment real and his wish for power understandable. Some readers may find Ratha's abandonment of Shongshar's witless cubs disturbing, even in the context of fantasy, because of its possible human parallels with infanticide or...