It is a well written and enjoyable book. The underlying idea of mental instead of physical evolution is interesting, and taken in an interesting direction. Sturgeon was an excellent writer, and it shows in the variety of styles he writes with here. His love for humanity also clearly comes through in this book. In the end though, it's all a little too hokey and things tie up a bit too nicely and optimistically.

So, if you like well written, hokey, and optimistic SF that is not technological, I would recommend this book.

This is a work of literature that just happens to fall into the science fiction genre. If you don't normally read science fiction (there are lots of reasons not to) don't hesitate to pick this one up.

This was the first book I have read by T. Sturgeon, but I'm pretty sure it won't be the last, or so I hope. The story was compelling even if I found it absurd at the beginning, but I couldn't stop reading, Unluckily the first part was better than the second, that was better than the third, but still a very good story.

Questo é il primo libro che leggo di Sturgeon, ma spero non sará l'ultimo. La storia mi ha preso sin dall'inizio, anche se non ci stavo capendo nulla e la trovavo assurda, ciononostante non riuscivo a smettere di leggere; purtroppo la parte migliore é la prima e poi si va a scalare fino alla terza, ma resta comunque una bella storia da quattro stelle.

Long considered a classic in the genre, I found this one both enlightening and frustrating. It's constructed as three separate novelettes (the central one, "Baby is Three," was originally published in Galaxy) which together link up to tell a larger tale. This structure echoes the novel's theme: the creation and evolution of a Gestalt, a single being composed of disparate parts that are incomplete alone but together form a whole.

This is an idea that has its roots in psychiatry, and this is where my tension with the book emerged. The entire middle portion of the book is framed as a long psychiatric session, in which the Gestalt slowly, for the first time, achieves self-awareness. As such, the psycho-babble seems dated and jarred we me as a reader. The premise is sound enough, but I found the execution a little tedious.

This is something of a shame, as the central thesis is both worthy and profound. There is a real warmth and deep humanity not seen in many novels. For that alone, it is certainly worth reading. Ultimately, I read it as an observation of loneliness and social connection that is partially let down by a pedestrian style that tends to drag through with little indication of where everything is leading. In this sense, it’s more to be endured than enjoyed.

DNF with only 70 pages to go.

Have you ever read a book that made you feel nothing? Made you feel like you were eating a lump of ash that fell apart in your mouth? That's what reading this book felt like. Just nothing.

I can't say that I liked this book, but rather that I found it really interesting. The basic concept is that of completely amoral tele-children* being brought up by people afraid of them (or thrown out to grow up wild), and finding each other. When they find each other they work together with their tele-powers* but still have no real guiding principles. And the key question is What is to become of them?, with a linked question of What will hapen to any ordinary human who discovers what they can do?

The characters are unlikable but compelling, and I am very pleased to have found this book (through the Literature Map and a connected challenge).

*tele-children / tele-people = those who can use *tele-powers such as telepathy, telekinesis, teleportation, telecompulsion (have I coined a new word? - it clearly means controlling others by your mind)

I've read worse, Sturgeon can be mildly interesting. But still. He wrote this as an expansion of hit award winning short story ‘Baby is Three’. He wrote one chapter as a prequel and one as a sequel to that, all of about equal length. He should have let it be. The story wasn’t all that interesting and a little too long to start with. The additions feel like perfunctory extrapolations.

Sturgeon's writing is a cut above most of the science fiction authors of his time. The story and characters are compelling, though I found the ending a little unsatisfying.

This was an interesting read. Sturgeon clearly knows what he is doing as a writer when it comes to constructing a story. And I enjoyed his prose. But it never really….touched me on a deeper emotional level.

Still, this won’t be the last of Sturgeon’s novels I’ve read.