 He described the storyline, the endless treks back and forth across the desert, as "Idiot-Plot circumbendibus", adding that it "walks in its own bitter water".A New England Science Fiction Association reviewer, Elisabeth Carey said that "Hammerfall" reads like a fantasy because it is written from Marak's perspective, a non-technological nomad, who probably interprets the technology he witnesses as magic.She found the book "interesting and mostly enjoyable", but added that it might be enjoyed more by fans of Cherryh's fantasy than her science fiction.