This book was part of the Del Rey Discovery series, which I am making a point of reading ALL of! The feel of this book reminded me of another in that series: Delia Marshall-Turner's 'Of Swords and Spells'. I'm not surprised that the same editors would have selected both. It also reminded me a bit, at first, of "The Blue Sword" by Robin McKinley - although not as good. Ronica, a self-important young woman brought up in privilege, in a starfaring society, because of her mental powers, is shocked to find herself stranded on a primitive planet, with no memory of how she got there., and without her most valued mental strengths. But soon, she finds herself in the tent of a strong and seductive primitive tribal leader, and begins to make herself a place in this new society. At this point, the romance element in the story gets a bit heavy, and the end suffers from a case of too-many-radical-revelations, too quickly - but overall, this was a good first novel, and an enjoyable sci-fantasy tale.
This story raises the question of how to balance your ethics against your sub-species' continued survival; it does not get discussed in this story, though. ... I was surprised that Ronica is moved from "civilization" to a "wilderworld" half way across The Galaxy with no comment about language differences being essentially zero.
Great blend of fantasy and sci/fi that has it all; adventure, mystery and great character development. You won't be able to put it down till you finish and then you'll want more.
