"A technologically aware and emotionally wrenching twist on the old tale of Beauty and the Beast." -Gerald Jonas NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEWS 22nd century Vancouver is a vibrant seaport city struggling to survive climate change and permanently divided between its prospering Guild citizens and the starving descendents of American refugees who flooded in during the global Collapse. Klale Renhardt, fish boat captain, fled the confines of her north coast Guild town only to learn how bitterly difficult survival is on the ungoverned island of "Downtown" where beggars line the streets and every type of trade is controlled by tongs and gangs. A bartender at the notorious KlonDyke nightclub gives Klale a job and Klale thinks she's found a friend--until she hears that Toni may once have been a torturer for the tongs. And what is Toni's connection to Blade, the giant, bio-altered slave of Downtown's most feared blackmailer? When Klale's naive meddling attracts a vengeful enemy, Blade may be the only one able to save her. But Blade doesn't know that he is human.... Previously published by Tor, 2001.