Publisher's Weekly
The intersecting spheres of dreams and earthly passions that marked Murphy's recent novel The Falling Woman and her novelette ''Rachel in Love'' (both Nebula Award winners in 1988) continue in this story of a depopulated San Francisco. In the wake of a devastating worldwide plague, the handful of artists who have transformed the city with mirror mazes, self-propelled clockwork creatures and a coat of blue paint on the Golden Gate Bridge find that the city itself collaborates in unpredictable ways, from rains of flowers--or frogs--to the appearance of angels. When megalomaniac General Miles threatens the city, newcomer Jax works with painter Danny-boy, mechanical genius The Machine and others on a pacifist version of guerrilla warfare. Too often this novel recalls the studiously surreal antiwar stories of the '60s. A sweet fable, this is pleasing but evanescent, fading like the half-forgotten dreams it delicately evokes. (Mar.)

Library Journal
After a deadly plague sweeps the world, toppling governments in its wake, a few surviving artists who have claimed San Francisco as their home wage an unorthodox war against an invading army intent on bringing the blessings of law and order to a community that has discovered a better way of life. The author of The Falling Woman , a Nebula Award winner, evokes a haunting vision of life after society's collapse, as art becomes magic and combines with the power of love to defeat the engines of war. Highly recommended.-- JC