Coming of age story with a lot of interesting world building, but no real conflict or denouement.

The idea of cutting special crystal with a blade tuned to your voice appealed to me, and using these tuned crystals to power an ansible-like network was a cool touch. I also enjoyed reading about the guild structured society that springs up around this. Perhaps there was a subtle political commentary here?

Our strong female protagonist learns a lot, but also spends a lot of time jumping into bed with various other members of the cast. Parts of this book do have a Romance aspect.

I read this originally as a youth, after reading 3 or more of the Pern books. I remember liking this setting better, perhaps because crystal is more believable than dragons? This book, at least, was a quick read.