Star Born! The title itself is something of a pun on the two groups of the story: those born on Astra and those borne to Astra.

The events are told from two different viewpoints: on the one hand by a colonist—a descendant of a small group of fugitives from a 1984 life on earth—and on the other, by a member of a party of explorers from the now liberated earth. Andre Norton uses this alternation of narrators to give a broader view of events, but also, more important, to sustain suspense in a way which could not be done by straightforward narrative.

The story tells what happens when the party of explorers lands on Astra during the culmination of a war between the two native races: the Astrans, belligerent, callous and domineering, the former masters of their world, and the Sea People, a gentle, telepathic race of...