Killashandra is one of McCaffrey's most complex characters. She is a selfpossessed, gutsy, intelligent woman with a light sense of humor. She is also capable of tremendous antagonism in order to get what she wants, is sometimes compassionate, and is rather obsessive in all her relationships—whether crystalline or masculine. While McCaffrey has been praised for her "subconscious" feminist agenda (she does not admit to being a feminist), some critical studies of Killashandra note an interesting paradox.

While she is admittedly strong and selfwilled, her greatest pleasures are found through submission: first, to the Ballybran symbiote, then to the seductive danger of singing crystal and crystal-thrall, and finally to the men in her life.

While Killashandra is demanding and manipulative, she is also unable to see how easily she is manipulated by men.

Lanzecki, Guild Master in Crystal Singer (1982), places the Guild first in his life.

He...