In this concluding phase of Poul Anderson's Technic History, narrative continuity is provided not by continuing characters or even by surnames recognized across the generations but only by the names of planets that had appeared or in some cases just been mentioned in the background in earlier instalments:
Kraken
Atheia
Lochlann
Neuvameruica
Gwydion
Ifri
Freehold
- and by a few very basic future historical references:
ruins or wreck of empire
Long Night
the dead language, Anglic
However, all of these names and references are rich in connotations for consecutive readers. We are still in the same series as when we had been reading about van Rijn, Falkayn or Flandry.
The historical innovation is the Allied Planets which must have grown out of alliances forged in the two previous instalments.
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