I've been seeing this book in the Sci-Fi section of bookstores forever, but only just got a copy and i wonder now why I've deprived myself this long. Chalker has always been to me an unsung hero of Sci-Fi, crafting entertaining stories without the accolades other Sci-Fi writers get. If you're looking for something a little different you can't go wrong with Chalker and I think this book is from his best-known series. Various characters are whisked away from their lives and land on a huge world that's divided up into thousands of different ecological environments, where they are changed into different species and become players in a game that could change the course of the universe.