Honestly, I don’t understand the point of this one.
At best, it tangentially fits into his Clipper Ship universe, but only barely and there is no clear point to the plot. No mysteries. No villains. A bunch of nice people solving a humdrum problem. A whole book that is ostensibly organized around the concept of a Shaman in an otherwise lightweight Sci-fi universe, but with just short of no development of the shamanism at all.
As a rule, Lowell’s bold are a relaxing read with a pleasant combination of mundane detail and a challenge or two to be overcome by sincere characters, often with a bad-ish guy or two as antagonists. Easy, fun reads. But this one is simply labeling any discernible raison d’être.
Very odd.