More Than Human by Theodore Sturgeon

Through time and collective gestalt, a gang of dexterous freaks have evolved to into the ultimate single human entity.



Rating: Two Stars **

Genre: Science Fiction

Awards: 1954 International Fantasy Award
2004 "Retro Hugo" award

Summary: Lone, Janie, Baby, Gerry, Bonnie, and Beanie, the tele-porting twins, individually have strange abilities, and over time have taken their strongest traits to form and evolve as a single entity, the homo gestalt. The first part of the book focuses on how the group in introduced to each other through the adoption of a poor farmer and conception of Baby, and with all their abilities create an anti-gravity device. Seven years later, Lone dies and Gerry takes over the leadership of the gestalt. This is where the family is taken in my Alicia, but Gerry finds that the influence of domestication weakens the team, so they murder her and return to the woods. Another seven years later, Lt. Hip Barrows discovers their anti-gravity device, which threatens the homo gestalts very existence.

Evaluation: This is a book full of disjointed characters and broken sequences, which makes the story difficult to understand and connect with. The style is confusing, but can be attractive to those who expect it and are willing to tackle feat! NOT A LIGHT READ.

Read-a-likes: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and other titles by Philip K. Dick
The Demolished Man and other titles by Alfred Bester
Slan: A Novel by A. E. Van Vogt and Kevin J. Anderson