While I rate this a 3, it is better than the Silverberg novella (Sailing to Byzantium) with which it is bound. (They are published in a Tor Double--two novellas bound together.) I was tempted to rate it a 4, but the ending was a bit of a letdown. The writing was extremely competent, though. And of course it's always fun to read about a world in which America has regressed to an agrarian, pre-industrial state (think extremely poor third-world country) and Islam is dominant over the world. Well, at least they have all the money and technology. Europe seems not to be mentioned at all.