More Than Human

“You don't need morals. No set of morals can apply to you. You can obey no rules set down by your kind because there are no more of your kind. And you are not an ordinary man, so the morals of ordinary men would do you no better than the morals of an anthill would do me.”

My first Sturgeon. This is a fix-up novel of three linked novellas, the first and third written around “Baby Is Three” (Galaxy Science Fiction, October 1952). If I was to read “Baby Is Three” as a standalone story, it would have been a four-star rating, hands down.

I must confess I'm not fond of his poetic writing style, I had a hard time following the story and had to go back and reread some paragraphs. I felt disoriented at times but somehow I think this was intended, you have to keep going and try to make sense out of it, live it through the character. Which leads to the characters: very solid ones. Overall the story is acceptable, it didn't feel too dated considering the overwhelming amount of superhuman plots you see nowadays. It occurs to me that the psychic powers could have been better exploited... what do I know? The concluding part explores the nuances of power, ethics and morality. That was okay. The concept of the Homo Gestalt didn't quite fit for me, it's a little awkward if you ask me.

More sturgeon is on its way as I write all this nonsense. So we'll see.