magistrate

Somewhat surprisingly, that Andre Norton book, the cover of which I was complaining about recently, actually is that, more or less. It's post-apocalyptic but long enough after the apocalypse that life is pretty decent again, and it's mostly a sort of SF quest story about people exploring their interesting post-apocalyptic world with telepathic animal companions, meeting new people and seeing new places. (I'm also vaguely astounded at how dated the book doesn't feel considering that the first half was published in 1952 and the second half about 20 years later. It's racially diverse without being terribly stilted about it, there are female leaders and adventurers ... it just feels a lot more contemporary than the majority of SF from its era. And refreshingly non-depressing.)