I absolutely adored this book when I read it as a teenager. It became my benchmark for how a good science fiction story should be written. I finally managede to pick up an old tatterede copy of it and just reread it as an adult (41) and still loved it.

It is amazing that the story can still feel fresh after all this time, but it does. Highly recommended! ( )

Accomplished author writing classical, 'soft' sci-fi. Book written in three parts - 'the fabulous idiot', 'baby is three' and 'morality', where the second (Gerry's transformation at the hand of Dr Stern) is the strongest. ( )

I used to work with people with mental handicap and mental illness and through this connection happened to hear about this book by Sturgeon years ago but never got round to getting hold of it: I was very pleased therefore to discover last year that it had been re-issued as part of the SF Masterworks series.I have to admit that it's hard-going at first: the initial protagonist's viewpoint feels like an amalgam of concurrent perspectives, leaving the reader uncertain as to who is speaking. But the narrative soon picks up, despite some somewhat cliched set pieces at the beginning.This is a book of which I can say, I like the idea of it, I like the way it is done, and I like that Sturgeon himself intended his writing to be about, as someone else has described it: "affirmations of love and human possibility." ( )

This book changed the way I saw the world. It's one of the most important books I ever read. ( )

Classic science fiction, when it was at its best, was often some of the most relevant reading of its time. The dialog might be wooden, the characters likewise, and any given author's attempt to write a literary sentence would usually end in embarrassment, but the works hold up over time for their social commentary and generally nimble storytelling. 'More Than Human' is a prime example of this trait. It tells the story of a group of social outcasts with remarkable abilities who all come together, forming a family unit that may be a new step in human evolution. Sturgeon knew his limits and in this novel never tries to exceed what he is capable of as a writer, which cuts out much of the embarrassing elements found in, say, Robert Heinlein. The storytelling has a sparseness and only borders on the linear, jumping from one incident to another to build a pastiche that eventually winds tightly together. There are elements of psychological drama and the American Gothic tradition in the work, but no overall schema is allowed to get in the way of the story, which works to the novel's advantage. While I wouldn't call it an out-and-out brilliant work, 'More Than Human' displays all of the strengths of great science fiction and few, if any, of its faults.

(This review originally appeared on zombieunderground.net) ( )